ART BASEL Hong Kong

SO!

In two days time I should be in Hong Kong to participate in the newest and very exciting Art Basel show. Instead, I am sitting at home writing my dissertation. Oh well...

"Art Basel stages the world's premier Modern and contemporary art shows, held annually in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong. Founded by gallerists in 1970, Art Basel has been a driving force in supporting the role that galleries play in the nurturing of artists, and the development and promotion of visual arts. In 1970, a few Basel gallerists put their passion and determination behind an ambitious vision, and now, over forty years later, Art Basel is recognized as the premier international art show, providing a platform for artists and gallerists from around the world. " (Art Basel)

ART BASEL HISTORY TIMELINE

Why Hong Kong?

Hong Kong Art Basel, which begins Wednesday at the city's harbor front convention center, will this year bring together 245 participating galleries—half coming from Asia and Asia-Pacific.

"One of the biggest contributions that we're able to make is to raise the profile of Hong Kong above and beyond being a centre for finance and retail," Art Basel director for Asia Magnus Renfrew told AFP. "Because we are an event of this scale, we've really been able to help generate discussion around art in the city," he said, adding that he sees "huge" growth potential in the Asian art scene. 

"The art market tends to follow the money and the greatest creation of wealth at the moment is in Asia," Renfrew said. (GmaNews)

Kaputt, Maurizio Cattelan

" With half of the participating galleries coming from Asia and Asia-Pacific, Art Basel in Hong Kong assumes a significant role in the international artworld, providing a portal to the region's artists. The new show gives galleries from around the world a platform in Asia to demonstrate the way they work with artists, and bring their highest quality work to Hong Kong." (Art Basel Hong Kong) 

If you plan to visit this years show happening between May 15 -18, here is some information for visitors.

I am truly gutted that I had to cancel my trip overseas but will make sure to visit one of Art Basel shows in the near future.

Yayoi Kusama

NOW, back to my dissertation!

ART 14 - tourism and cultural exchange

Art industry is fast growing and dynamic field that is expanding globally and internationally involving countries from all over the world, allowing them to share their culture and introduce to their world of art. Thus the art festivals and events are always surprising, exciting and memorable experience to all involved. Having attended this year's Art 14 Festival I will try to tick how important it is to expand globally with art fairs and festivals, giving the opportunity for diverse galleries to become recognisable and artists appreciated not only in their own region but also around the world. 

Art 14 London festival was a global art fair introducing over 700 artists; emerging talents as well as modern masters, 180 galleries and 24 projects from 40 countries. Art 14 can be classified as hallmark event since it has been staged, so far twice with the debut show in 2013. "The inaugural edition of the fair in 2013, attracted 25,000 visitors, including 4,500 VIPs. It was a success with critics, galleries, collectors and art fans alike, with Wallpaper praising the fair’s ‘impressive scope‘, while the Financial Times reported on Art13 London’s ‘refreshingly different‘ approach." (Factum Gallery)

The fair presented works from across the globe; including Berlin, Havana, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Indonesia, Taiwan, Mali, Lithuania, London and Lagos. The fair featured a wide variety of media, including painting, sculpture, photography and editions, ranging from £500 to £500,000 intended for the art collectors, art lovers or people looking to make the first purchase, there was truly something for everyone. As well as all the art, there were events, art talks and activities to enjoy during the show. (Olympia)

The aim of the event was "to rebalance the western hegemony and to show galleries from all over the world on an even playing field: we think all countries are equally important – even if the work is less familiar.” (The Telegraph) The Art 14 London is a fairly new event in the industry. Art 13 hosted the same time last year achieved positive feedback and has been called a new and exciting event and has raised by 20% in visitor numbers this year. Such events are needed in arts industry to prove that not only art, which is established, approved and widely known is valuable. To show that there is a space, appreciation and demand for an exchange of all sorts of art, unknown and international, creating a new link into events tourism in England and overseas. The event has been established on a "strong believe in the need to create a dedicated platform for art from across all corners of the globe, in a dialogue with each other and the visitor, to ensure an experience of the very best of modern and contemporary art for a broad audience."(Visit to Art14)

The main idea of the festival was to bring together international art galleries from across the world and introduce emerging talents from their areas as well as globally appreciated and recognized artists. The core value of the event was the diversity of art shown, cultures mixing and opening the new possibilities in arts and events tourism for young galleries as well as the once worldly famous. It can be notice by the successes both in last year and in this year how valuable Art 14 has become. "Art14 is a young fair held at a relatively quiet time for the European international fairs calendar. It was buzzing with people including just about every important London collector, under the sun. This fair seemed popular and will find the correct balance of galleries through natural selection, dictated by the weak galleries not returning." (Artlyst) The festival allowed for the galleries around the world to exchange, inspire and share with culture and creativity but mainly can continue to contribute to the growth of event tourism in UK, locally and globally.

click here for video ↬ Art14 London First Night