We knew this was coming, but now it’s official: Art Basel will have a fair in Hong Kong, starting next May (the 23rd to 26th, 2013). “Just what we need,” you may be thinking, “another art fair.” The truly addicted collector can be on the road, traveling from one to the next fair, pretty much all year now. Why does Art Basel want to start something in Hong Kong?
Proximity to Chinese money is the obvious answer — and Art Basel is doing things the smart way. Instead of starting a brand-new fair, AB co-directors Annette Schönholzer and Marc Spiegler (right) have hired Magnus Renfrew, who previously headed ART HK, which will have its fifth interation this May 17 through May 20, as Art Basel’s Director Asia. So ART HK will cease to exist. None of this is a surprise because last July, MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd. , which is the parent company of Art Basel, acquired 60 percent of Asian Art Fairs Limited, which presented ART HK. (It has the option of acquiring the remaining 40 percent in 2014.)
The venue, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, stays the same. And the new show will include more than 250 galleries around the world, chosen by a new selection committee. More than half of them are expected to be based in Asia or somewhere else in the Eastern hemisphere. UPDATE: That comment — that promise — may be in response to what Art in America, in its May issue, said was local “grumbling” about the favor shown to high-profile Western galleries in the fair’s layout, and worry that Art Basel Hong Kong won’t have enough Asian content.
Meantime, Art Basel in Basel gets underway on June 14 (till June 17). It will offer exhibits by more than 300 galleries from 36 countries.