While Art Basel Miami Beach is just around the corner, Art Basel Hong Kong has already announced the gallery lineup and details for its 2025 show, scheduled for March 28-30 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. This year's edition will showcase 242 galleries from 42 countries and regions, more than half representing Asia-Pacific—a clear testament to Art Basel's role as a major platform for the region's dynamic and vibrant art scene. During the announcement, which was made during Shanghai Art Week, we sat down with Angelle Siyang-Le, director of Art Basel Hong Kong, to discuss this year's strategy, what she expects and what she thinks about Hong Kong becoming a global art region. the epicenter.
Siang-Le, who was born in Mainland China but grew up in the UK, carved a path in the art world in Dubai, where he ran the not-for-profit art gallery Traffic and the then-founded Mobile Art Gallery. the event had not yet come. The same can be said of Hong Kong art where he moved to in 2012; it was smaller, scrappier and off the beaten path. “It was in its early days, with a very small innovation cycle,” he recalls. In a recent Art Basel interview, he shared that, when he told a Hong Kong taxi driver about his new work, he laughed, “Didn't you hear? Hong Kong is a cultural desert!” Fast forward to today, and no closet misses an opportunity to cash in on March Art Week. The arrival of Art Basel in 2013 was a game-changer, starting a rapid transformation that transformed Hong Kong into one of the most active and connected art destinations in the world. “Through this international platform established in Hong Kong, local galleries and artists felt more expressive about the work they were doing,” Siyang-Le tells us.
Despite the disruption of the pandemic and the lingering cloud of national security concerns, this year has been monumental in Hong Kong, marked by the opening of Christie's and Sotheby's new headquarters — a move that cements the city's status as a world-leading art center. “I feel that Hong Kong stands firmly as a representative of the region, a major international center that connects Asia and the world,” said Siyang-Le. Hong Kong's unique role can be attributed to its complex history—it is a former British colony that has been infused with ongoing Chinese influence, resulting in a veritable melting pot. “The concept here is global, open to new cultures and ideas,” explained Siyang-Le. “Hong Kong people have learned, historically, to adapt and embrace change.” The city's multicultural population and social dynamics inspire New York's spirit of fusion, fostering a sense of belonging among long-term residents from all over the world. “After a few years here, people see themselves as locals,” added Siyang-Le. “I have colleagues from England, South Africa, America—we all feel at home, especially those who built families here, including me.”
Apparently the days of Hong Kong's “cultural desert” are a distant memory—we can only imagine what that taxi driver would say now.
The arrival of Art Basel in Hong Kong has greatly enhanced the international status of the city, creating a prominent stage for the multicultural art community and bringing an array of artistic voices from the region and beyond. The exhibition served as a catalyst for the creation of a local art scene, as happened in Miami where that city had no institutional anchor or public cultural policy to call its own. “We like to think that we have helped to grow contemporary art in Hong Kong and the region as a whole,” says Siyang-Le modestly.
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As Siyang-Le explains, Hong Kong is considered an important validation point for galleries across Asia, especially for new entrants. For this reason, the exhibition is deeply committed to providing a premier platform for art from the Asia-Pacific region. “Asia is one of the fastest growing regions when it comes to the contemporary art market,” notes Siang-Le, adding wryly, “We have a responsibility to educate. Asians see the Basel brand almost as a symbol of approval on which to lean.”
A strict gallery selection process, carefully selected by established galleries across Asia, ensures both the quality and relevance of the presentations, echoing Bridget Finn's approach in Miami. This collaborative screening expands the exhibition's offerings, presenting a wide range of ideas, interpretations and artistic expressions—important, given the great diversity of Asia. Siang-Le is well aware of the need to encompass a broad definition of 'Asian' that ranges from Turkey and the Middle East to South Asia and the Pacific—regions that are among the most dynamic and fastest growing areas in the art world today.
This year's gallery sector will feature a strong mix of exhibitors from the Asia-Pacific region, including emerging, medium and blue-chip galleries from Japan, Korea, India, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and Australia. Prominent independent representations include Lawrie.Shabibi (Dubai), Rossi & Rossi (Hong Kong), P420 (Bologna) and Ronchini Gallery (London). The “Insights” section will showcase historical photographs from Asia, with contributions from Flowers Gallery (Hong Kong, London), Engine Modern (Taipei), Takuro Someya Contemporary Art (Tokyo), Yutaka Kikutake Gallery (Tokyo) and Drawing Room (Manila) ), marking its return after hiatus.
Siang-Le explains that the gallery selection committee not only evaluates the gallery program but also the depth of the relationship between the galleries and their artists: “As representatives of our cultural region, our watchwords are accessibility, inclusiveness, communication and sustainability.”
An important goal of Art Basel Hong Kong, as elsewhere, is to highlight new talent in emerging artists and galleries, especially in these challenging economic times. To support this, Art Basel Hong Kong has created Discoveries, a category with heavily subsidized participation costs. This year, 23 new participants joined the show, and 10 made their debut in that category. Highlights include Shanghai-based Gallery Vacancy, presenting exciting new works by artists such as Chen Ting-Jung, Henry Curchod, Alice Gong, Vivian Greven, Michael Ho, Huang Ko Wei, Peng Ke, Sydney Shen and Sun Woo. Hunsand Space (Beijing, Hangzhou, Shijiazhuang) will exhibit provocative paintings, sculptures and installations by Zhang Donghui, Yang Yang and Li Xinyao (Quanzi). Vanguard Gallery (Shanghai) will present paintings, installations, and photography by Lin Tianmiao, Yuki Onodera, Jin Haofan and Xiao Jiang—artists dealing with the uncertainty of the crumbling capitalist system. Returning exhibitors include Chapter NY (New York), with a multimedia installation by Stella Zhong, and Bangkok CityCity Gallery, which will show Tanat Teeradakorn's transformation of a fictional souvenir kiosk into a recorded sound installation.
Since its inception, Art Basel Hong Kong has worked closely with local institutions through partnerships and collaborations that have expanded and diversified its Hong Kong Art Week programs year after year. This year, an exciting new addition is support from Macau-based MGM Resort, which has launched the MGM Discoveries Art Award to support emerging artists. The prize will award $50,000 to be shared between the artist and his gallery, as well as an opportunity for the artist to exhibit in Macau, reflecting the recent policy encouraging Macau companies to invest in public art, explained Siyang-Le.
Another highlight this year is the collaboration with Para Site, the first non-profit organization known for its screening programs, which will curate the film section of Art Basel Hong Kong. “Para Site started in a small room, presenting great projects with young artists,” Siang-Le explained. “Many of the artists shown there, especially from Hong Kong, already have representatives in foreign countries.”
Perhaps surprisingly, the film program attracts many young people—something unique in Hong Kong—which shows the strength of the region that is raising a new generation of art collectors, fans and patrons, more than anywhere else, who seem ready to give a lasting boost to the flourishing Asian art scene.
In another proposal to engage a younger audience, Art Basel Hong Kong will place a special emphasis on digital art to promote exchange sessions between those involved in the digital field and those in the traditional art field. “We can't ignore or ignore the importance these art forms will have,” Siyang-Le tells us, pointing out how the new generation of artists is fully involved in the digital world. He firmly believes that digital art should be integrated into a large exhibition rather than given a separate section, and a perfect example of a presentation on the cross between digital and analog will be included by the Project Native Informant based in London, showing the works of DIS, Juliana Huxtable, Sean Steadman, Sophia Al-Maria, Shu Lea Cheang and Ahn Tae Won.
Looking at future opportunities, Siyang-Le points to the Bay Area—a region with a lot of young wealth and a global outlook, where many have studied abroad and are more culturally aware of the world than previous generations. “We always work in Hong Kong as a region and not just as a city, because we feel obliged to promote the art of our region,” he said. “And we're lucky to be close to China, which accounts for over 80 percent of the art market.” In order to build momentum in the lead up to Hong Kong Art Week (or more accurately, Art Month), the fair has started organizing talks, launches and warm-up events in cities such as Shenzhen, Macau, Chongqing, Chengdu and Guangzhou in the process. that has the potential to evolve into a pre-show weekend, such as Guadalajara's lead-up to Mexico City, extending the show's impact throughout the region.
As the upcoming edition approaches, Siyang-Le expects this to be one of the most exciting Art Weeks yet, with local galleries, auction houses and institutions such as M+ Museum preparing some of their best exhibitions and events of the year. The M+ Museum will renew its partnership with Art Basel for the launch Night Charades by Ho Tzu Nyen, a video co-directed with UBS that reimagines scenes from the iconic Hong Kong film through animation projected on M+'s giant LED. In conclusion, Siyang-Le comments, “I feel that Hong Kong's growth has been very much in line with the strength of Asia. Hong Kong now plays an important role as a bridge between East and West.”
Art Basel Hong Kong will run from March 28-30, 2025 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
