A homage to Hong Kong for Art Basel
Discover highlights from the 2024 edition of the fair as it boasts a return to full scale
This year the fair returned to its pre-pandemic scale, welcoming more than 75,000 art lovers to explore displays from 242 major international galleries and an exhilarating city-wide program in collaboration with Hong Kong’s galleries, artists, cultural institutions, and partners.
“I am part of all that I have met”: Encounters in 2024
Profound, intimate, human: this edition’s curated Encounters sector contemplates the vast multiplicity of the universe under the banner “I am part of all that I have met”.
Highlights included UBS Art Collection artist Mak2’s 'Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy'. The installation builds upon the artist’s acclaimed Home Sweet Home triptych series, which is inspired by the simulation video game “The Sims” and assembled from paintings by Taobao artisans. Stacked and inverted replicas of Mak2’s Art Basel booth confronted viewers with themes of authenticity, virtual versus reality and social systems, with a view into an ersatz world of simplified and simulated art in various states of decay.
Chilean-born artist Catalina Swinburn presented 'No Land: The Water Ceremony'. Towering handwoven paper cloaks hover like ritual sentinels guarding the passage between the present and the ancient past. Drawing on traditional craftsmanship and ancestral memories, Swinburn’s work embodies collective and female resilience.
Celebrating Hong Kong’s “Lion Rock” spirit
This year the UBS Art Studio explored the theme of city life and featured a unique work by Hong Kong neon artist Chankalun. Paying homage to the city’s urban heritage of handcrafted neon signage, the work takes inspiration from the city’s Lion Rock spirit.
Beyond the show floor
Co-commissioned by M+ and Art Basel, and presented by UBS, Yang Fudong’s love letter to Hong Kong 'Sparrow on the Sea' will light up the M+ Façade at night from 22 March until 9 June 2024. Weaving together immersive black-and-white scenes of seaside villages and the city at night, Yang conjures up the nostalgic charm of classic Hong Kong cinema.
Catch UBS Art Collection artist Sarah Morris’s latest film ETC, a playful exploration of Hong Kong’s rapidly changing electronic and digital life, in “Who is Who” - a solo exhibition of the acclaimed American-British artist at Tai Kwun in Central until 14 April 2024.
Other highlights from UBS Art Collection artist’s include Tsang Kin-wah’s site specific installation Freezing Water: Between Here and There at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and Yin Xiuzhen and Song Dong at CHAT’s 5th anniversary group show Factory of Tomorrow.
