Art Basel Hong Kong returns to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in March 2023 with 171 galleries from 32 countries and territories – a significant increase from 130 exhibitors in 2022    The first edition to take place since Hong Kong lifted the mandatory hotel quarantine, the show will once again welcome a broad global audience    21 first-time exhibitors will join from across the world, including mainland China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States    The 2023 edition marks the return of Encounters, the fair’s sector dedicated to large-scale works and curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of Artspace, Sydney; as well as Kabinett, featuring thematic and focused presentations, making this the first Hong Kong show to feature all special sectors since 2019    Angelle Siyang-Le – previously Head of Development, Greater China and Regional Head of Gallery Relations, Asia at Art Basel – has been appointed to the new position of Director, Art Basel Hong Kong, effective November 2022    Adeline Ooi remains Director Asia and will focus on steering the strategic development of Art Basel’s other initiatives in the region    Art Basel Hong Kong, whose Lead Partner is UBS, will take place from March 23 to March 25, 2023, with preview days on March 21 and March 22, 2023

Today Art Basel announced the list of 171 leading international galleries selected for its 2023 Hong Kong show. Coming from 32 countries and territories across Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Africa, participating galleries will present Modern and contemporary works of the highest quality by emerging and established artists.

Alongside a robust roster of returning galleries, this year’s show features 21 galleries participating in the Hong Kong edition for the first time – among them Galerie Christophe Gaillard and Loevenbruck from Paris; Jan Kaps from Cologne;Helly Nahmad Gallery London from London; Venus Over Manhattan from New York; Denny Dimin Gallery with spaces in New York and Hong Kong; Kosaku Kanechika, Kotaro Nukaga, Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, and Yutaka Kikutake from Tokyo; Yiri Arts from Taipei; YOD Gallery with spaces in Osaka and Tokyo; Gallery2 from Jeju; Vida Heydari Contemporary from Pune; In Lieu from Los Angeles; Umberto di Marino from Naples; moniquemeloche from Chicago; Retro Africa from Abuja; SMAC Art Gallery with spaces in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Stellenbosch; Gallery Vacancy from Shanghai; and Whistle from Seoul.

A number of international exhibitors are returning after a hiatus during the pandemic, including Sabrina Amrani from Madrid; Alfonso Artiaco from Naples; Cardi Gallery with spaces in Milan and London; Galerie Eigen + Art with spaces in Berlin and Leipzig; Galerie Max Hetzler with spaces in Paris, Berlin, London, and Marfa; Xavier Hufkens and Galerie Greta Meert from Brussels; Simon Lee Gallery with spaces in London and Hong Kong; Mazzoleni with spaces in Turin and London; Fergus McCaffrey with spaces in New York, Tokyo, and St Barthélemy; Victoria Miro and Waddington Custot from London; Petzel from New York; Polígrafa Obra Gràfica from Barcelona; Thaddaeus Ropac with spaces in Salzburg, Paris, Paris-Pantin, Seoul, and London; Timothy Taylor with spaces in London and New York; Galerie Jocelyn Wolff from Paris; and Zilberman Gallery with spaces in Istanbul and Berlin.

Art Basel reinforces its commitment to showcasing exceptional art fromAsia and the Asia Pacific, with over two-thirdsof participating galleries having exhibition spaces in the region. Once again, Hong Kong will be strongly represented at the fair, with 32 galleries having exhibition spaces in the city. While galleries from mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will continue to have a strong presence at the show, this year’s edition will also feature standout presentations by galleries from Southeast Asia and India, including, in the Galleries sector, ROH Projects from Jakarta; Richard Koh Fine Art with spaces in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Bangkok; Gajah Gallery, with spaces in Singapore, Jakarta, and Yogyakarta; Vadehra Art Gallery from New Delhi; and Yavuz Gallery, with spaces in Sydney and Singapore; and in Discoveries, Vin Gallery from Ho Chi Minh City; Nova Contemporary from Bangkok, and newcomer Vida Heydari Contemporary from Pune.

The upcoming edition also marks the return of the fair’s Encounters sector, dedicated to large-scale works, and curated for the sixth time by Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of Artspace, Sydney and the curator for the Australian pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale with a project by Marco Fusinato. Curated by multimedia artist and producer Li Zhenhua, the Film sector also returns, in addition to Conversations, the fair’s renowned talks program on the evolving global art scene, curated by author and editor Stephanie Bailey and set to take place once again in person.

Further details on Encounters, Kabinett, Film, and Conversations will be released in the coming months.

In advance of the upcoming Hong Kong show, Angelle Siyang-Le has been appointed to the position of Director Art Basel Hong Kong, effective November 2022. Building on her 10 years of experience with Art Basel in Hong Kong as Regional Head of Gallery Relations, Asia and Head of Development, Greater China, Siyang-Le will be responsible for leading the direction of Art Basel’s flagship show in Asia and will drive its future development.

Adeline Ooi, Director Asia, will focus on steering the strategic development of Art Basel’s initiatives in Asia. She will continue to guide the fair’s broader engagement in the region, such as Art Basel’s recent collaboration with Art Week Tokyo and expand Art Basel’s activities to support the development of the cultural scene in Hong Kong and across Asia.

Angelle Siyang-Le, Director, Art Basel Hong Kong, said: ‘I am truly honored to be appointed to lead Art Basel's show in Hong Kong. Together with my colleagues and the broader Art Basel community, I look forward to further strengthening the show's position as Asia's premier fair. Likewise, I am excited to work closely with the city's vibrant cultural community to reinforce Hong Kong's position as a leading cultural hub. We are delighted to welcome back our international exhibitors and patrons to our show this March and to shine a global spotlight on the city.'

Adeline Ooi, Director Asia, Art Basel said: ‘I am delighted that Angelle will be steering the show's next chapter. Having worked very closely with her for ten years, I am confident that the show will continue to go from strength to strength under her leadership. In parallel, I am delighted to continue leading our broader endeavors in the region, aligned with our mission to strengthen and nurture Asia's diverse and growing art scenes, which we see as complementary to our core focus of staging our show in Hong Kong.'

Galleries

The main sector of the show features 129 of the world’s leading galleries presenting the highest quality of artworks from their program. Galleries will once again stage a unique overview of the diverse art scenes across Asia and beyond. Highlights include:

the first solo art fair presentation of Peter Saul’s work in East Asia at newcomer Venus Over Manhattan; a new body of works by Rao Fu at Mind Set Art Center, on the artist’s perpetual survey of interculturalism, including wall-bound paintings, works on paper, and ceramic sculptures being shown publicly for the first time; a survey of Rasheed Araeen at Rossi & Rossi, examining the artist’s complex practice from his early portraiture drawings to the minimalistic sculptures for which he is known; an installation by Danh Võ at Vitamin Creative Space, which is inspired by the artist’s practices at Güldenhof, a farm garden established with a small group of collaborators in the countryside north of Berlin; and Shibunkaku’s group presentation of leading artists from the Japanese post-war avant-garde calligraphy movement, including Morita Shiryū, Inoue Yūichi, Hidai Nankoku, and Shinoda Tōkō.

For the full gallery list for Galleries, please visit artbasel.com/hongkong/galleries.

Insights

Dedicated to artists from Asia and the Asia-Pacific, Insights will feature 19 galleries this year. Highlights include: the signature elliptical relief works made in the 1970s by Yoshishige Saito, a seminal figure in the pre-war avant-garde movement in Japan, presented by Takuro Someya Contemporary Art; Gallery Vazieux’s booth with ten works produced from the 1960s to the present by Chuang Che, a pioneer of Chinese abstraction; four new paintings and a mural by Amir H. Fallah at newcomer Denny Dimin Gallery, on how the artist’s Iranian heritage and cultural history intersect with China, referencing a long cultural partnership between the two nations; a selection of works by Wu Jian'an at Pifo Gallery; a suite of sculptures by the prominent Mono-ha artist Susumu Koshimizu at newcomer YOD Gallery; and Flowers Gallery’s presentation of an installation by Jakkai Siributr that consists of 21 imagined flags, coarsely embroidered with shells and beads gathered in Sittwe, the city in Myanmar’s Rakhine state from which many Rohingya, the country’s ethnic Muslim minority, have fled persecution.

For the full gallery list for Insights, please visit artbasel.com/hongkong/insights.

Discoveries

The sector for solo presentations by emerging artists, Discoveries will bring together 23 galleries.Highlights include an entirely new body of works by Victor Ehikhamenor at newcomer Retro Africa, including the artist’s rosary bead works, ‘perforation’ works on paper, and paintings taking inspiration from motifs in Benin culture; Commonwealth and Council from Los Angeles returning in person for the first time since 2019, with Kenneth Tam’s project ‘Silent Spikes’, which explores the genre of western cowboy culture and interrogates the homogenized construction of Asian-American masculinity; newcomer Gallery Vacancy, with a new project by Sydney Shen, whose sculptures and installations employ the forms of amusement park recreational facilities with chairs, extending the examination on the carnivalesque as the counterbalance between hierarchical power structures and utopian ideals of individual freedom; Nova Contemporary from Bangkok with Thai artist Kawita Vatanajyankur’s ongoing ‘Field Work’ series, a five-channel video installation that explores the plight of modern-day farmers, labor disruption, and the future of industrialized agriculture; and newcomer Vida Heydari Contemporary showcasing a new body of work by Indian artist M. Pravat titled ‘Concrete Dusk’, which explores the different expressions of a city under construction.

For the full gallery list for Discoveries, please visit artbasel.com/hongkong/discoveries.