Three Days at Art Basel Hong Kong With PAPER

Monday, 03/23

It was an early 9 AM start, with a welcome breakfast at the famed Duddell’s Cantonese restaurant celebrating Asian American art leaders Clara Kim, Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and John Tain, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Together, they reflected on the difficulties of promoting Asian art on an American stage. Despite the early hour, turnout was strong; the seats were crowded with prominent Asian art collectors fresh from the airport, who stole pieces of deep fried pork belly and duck hors d'oeuvres while listening to their conversation.

Afterwards, a friend shepherded me across town to the CHAT (Center for Heritage, Arts and Textile) museum to see Threading Inwards, a contemporary textile exhibition that pushed the medium well beyond its usual two-dimensional confines. There I met the rising artist Liu Xuan, who walked me through her piece Lilayati: a floating, octopus-like form made of brushed tree fibers that extend into tentacles suspended by chains. When activated, the sculpture bobs gently, bells chiming at its ends. The effect was vaguely eldritch, but I was entranced.

In the evening, all eyes were on the M+ Museum, which threw its signature opening bash in order to kick off art week. Headlining the party entertainment was KPop sensation Hwasa, whose single Good Goodbye has become a smash hit in Asia after being released last October. Lines for entry wrapped around the block, as fashionable art enthusiasts and exhausted curators stood side by side waiting to get in; once inside, they were greeted with an open bar and late-night access to exhibition spaces ahead of the performance. M+’s latest exhibition, Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now, was by far the most popular show; revelers roamed the Korean artist’s futuristic dreamscape, ducking through chromatic metal tunnels and roaming through infinity-mirror mazes.

TUESDAY, 3/24 

My only goal this day was to see as many galleries and art spaces as possible; a task significantly easier said than done. Hong Kong galleries are often far from each other, and hidden in old warehouses and office buildings, meaning that finding these spaces usually requires much pestering of old Cantonese security guards, in hopes they will give some direction. Still, I was able to check most of my list off; of the spaces I saw, standouts included PODIUM’s group show Amour Aquatique, and Blindspot Gallery’s Trevor Yeung show.

At night, all the hot curators were at the Terrace Party, hosted by chic art patron Cherry Xu, anonymous street artist Lousy, and the Octave Art Foundation. Outdoors in the balmy Hong Kong evening, the buttoned-up art world energy relaxed considerably, as guests gave slightly drunken embraces and eagerly swapped art world gossip. DJs included New York nightlife fixture Zoë Marden alongside Manuka Honey, Tanat Teeradakorn, Hen Yanni, Lousy x Kit, and Tang Kwok Hin.

Wednesday, 03/25

Turnout was strong as doors opened at 11am; by noon, the halls were thick with ArtBasel’s top VIP clientele, who were granted entrance a day earlier than regular audiences. The fair felt particularly regional this year, with more than half of the 240 galleries coming from across the Asia-Pacific. However, this robust Asian representation underscores the fair’s role as a bridge between the European and Asian art worlds. At the VIP preview, the collector crowd was similarly regional, with strong attendance from Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Galleries brought their very best to Hong Kong, and with two floors packed with art it quickly became a race to see everything before closing. Greeting visitors at the entrance was the late Suki Seokyeong Kang’s massive installation, presented by Kukje Gallery. Made from large Korean hwamunseok floor mats suspended from the ceiling and surrounded by delicate metal clouds and mobile textile sculptures, the work brought together different eras of Kang’s practice. It felt both like an ode to Korean culture and a tribute to the artist, who passed away last year.

Elsewhere, a beautiful Louise Bourgeois installation crowned Hauser & Wirth’s formidable booth with a series of large-scale works on paper. At Perrotin, Lauren Tsai’s Poison Little Girl channelled the uncanny valley with a life-sized doll figure whose headless body sits on the edge of a childhood bed while its head rests on the pillow. Upstairs, Hong Kong’s iconic Empty Gallery brought a curated selection of its artists; my favorite was Cici Wu’s ghostly paper lanterns. Shaped like books, their pages were filled with the fluttering silhouettes of insects trapped inside.

Art Basel also premiered Zero 10, a new initiative highlighting digital art. While the growing presence of AI and technology in the art world remains controversial, the momentum feels hard to ignore. The section was small but ambitious. Among the most striking works was

Oscar-winning director Tim Yip’s Lilli, a hulking fifteen-foot humanoid robot sculpture gazing down at viewers below. Sougwen Chung presented two robotic arms poised over a long scroll of paper, programmed to paint in Chung’s own style even in the artist’s absence.

By the time the halls began to empty, it was clear that Art Basel Hong Kong had fallen back in stride, and had once again become the art world’s favorite springtime playground.

Photography and art courtesy of: M+, Hong Kong, Art Basel Hong Kong, Tim Yip, Asprey Studio at Booth Z4, Suki Seokyeong Kang, Sebastiano Pellion di Persano, Kukje Gallery, Sougwen Chung, Lauren Tsai, Mengqi Bao, Perrotin, Hauser & Wirth, JJYPHOTO, Trevor Yeung, Blindspot Gallery, PODIUM, Lok Hang Wu, CHAT Museum, Liu Xuan, Felix S.C. Wong, Doris Guo, Richard Hawkins, Tishan Hsu, Taro Masushio, Henry Shum, Vunkwan Tam, and Cici Wu, Felix S.C. Wong