Asian art fair aims to make comeback after COVID years | – #Asian #art #fair #aims #comeback #COVID #years
HONG KONG, March 21 (Reuters) – Organizers of Art Basel Hong Kong, one of Asia’s leading contemporary art fairs, said on Tuesday they were optimistic about the prospects for the region’s art market with China and Hong Kong lifting all COVID lockdowns. restrictions.
The annual fair, which is also repeated on the beaches of Basel, Paris and Miami, is held in Hong Kong on March 23-25.
asia, Europethe number of galleries participating in 32 countries and territories in America and Africa increased from 130 in 2022 to 177 this year.
“Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Asian art market has also remained resilient, with Greater China the world’s largest seller 20% and ranks second as the second largest regional art market in the latest edition of Art Basel. Noa Horowitz, CEO of the Basel company, told journalists about this.
Hong Kong attracted 56 million visitors in 2019 before the pandemic, but shops are now empty and the Chinese visitors who once drove the city’s art market have yet to return in droves.
Leading international galleries at Art Basel this year include Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Lehmann Maupin, Victoria Miro, Pace, Perrotin, White Cube and David Zwirner.
At Art Basel, a mall near the glitzy halls of Hong Kong’s harborside convention center, the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun is on display in Gravity by Los Angeles-based artist Avol Erizku. 10 A meter-high inflatable statue has been installed.
The Hong Kong government welcomed the art fair as it seeks to revive Hong Kong’s economy after a nearly three-year slump caused by factors including strict COVID lockdowns and border and security measures with China.
2020since June, to limit the freedoms of a large number of opposition democrats and imprisonment large scale used to make and shut down liberal media outlets national hundreds of thousands of people left the area after the adoption of the security law.
While some Western governments have criticized the law as a tool of repression, China claims it has brought stability following pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Art Basel said it respects creative expression.
“There is no censorship process in our show. We haven’t really changed the show process since 2013,” said Art Basel Hong Kong Director Angelle Siyang-Le.
Reporting by Jessie Pang; Edited by James Pomfret
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Jessie Pang
2023-03-21 12:23:40
Source – reuters
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