Art Basel Hong Kong: Few global fairs of this scale have as many large installations of sculptural and performance works within the scope of the fair, making this year’s Encounters a rarity.

The sector will showcase a range of artists from a broad spectrum of geographies under this year’s theme of “I am a part of all that I have met”, a line from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses”.

The theme asks questions about how we deal with these encounters, she added: “How do we remain open to possibility and potential, and how can we take everything we encounter – even that which we didn’t wish to encounter – and still bring an openness and willingness to have moments of connection or engagement with community, individually or collectively?”

Meet Art Basel Hong Kong’s curators: Alexie Glass-Kantor brings large-scale installations by Daniel Boyd and Haegue Yang, while Li Zhenhua’s film program includes work by Luka Yuanyuan Yang

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Mar 29 , 2024

Once Upon a time, by Lí Wei from Tang Contemporary Art, part of the Encounters sector. Photo: Handout

A fair of the magnitude of Art Basel Hong Kong is far more than just galleries exhibiting their artists’ works. The event also offers fair visitors and the wider public a tantalising range of programmes that showcase and investigate art in its many forms and approaches.

Curator Alexie Glass-Kantor has managed Art Basel Hong Kong’s Encounters sector – featuring large-scale projects – for the last seven editions of the show. This year, Encounters stretches through four corridors that divide the two floors of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, covering 100 square metres. Few global fairs of this scale have as many large installations of sculptural and performance works within the scope of the fair, making this year’s Encounters a rarity.

Alexie Glass-Kantor, curator of Art Basel Hong Kong’s Encounters sector. Photo: Handout

“It’s remarkable to be curating large-scale installations in Hong Kong through such an exciting time of transformation and growth in the city and a significant expansion of the market,” said Glass-Kantor. 

“It’s also been amazing to be able to foreground and work with artists to really look at what artworks are being created, and the shifts and currents in contemporary visual arts and culture through the lens of this particular platform.”

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Over the nine years she has been curating Encounters, Glass-Kantor has developed the sector into one with unique personality. This year, 11 of the 16 large-scale projects have been created especially for the fair, the highest ratio since the sector was introduced at the event in 2013.

At the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, visitors take in Art Basel Hong Kong 2024, with the fair back at its pre-pandemic scale this year. Photo: Eugene Lee

“It’s less about existing artworks dropped in and more about working with galleries to commission new works,” explained Glass-Kantor. “Audiences can come here and see something unexpected.”
The sector will showcase a range of artists from a broad spectrum of geographies under this year’s theme of “I am a part of all that I have met”, a line from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses”.

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Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy, by Mak2 from De Sarthe, part of the Encounters sector. Photo: Handout

“Everyone’s bringing such different experiences,” said Glass-Kantor, adding that this Art Basel Hong Kong is “our first full show since 2019”.

“Everyone’s lived life so differently from one another over the past four years,” she continued. “It was beautiful to think about how each of us brings distinctive experiences.”

The theme asks questions about how we deal with these encounters, she added: “How do we remain open to possibility and potential, and how can we take everything we encounter – even that which we didn’t wish to encounter – and still bring an openness and willingness to have moments of connection or engagement with community, individually or collectively?”

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Haegue Yang’s Contingent Spheres, from Kukje Gallery, Kurimanzutto and Galerie Chantal Crousel

Highlights of Encounters this year include Contingent Spheres – a pair of rattan sculptures, plus a woven installation – blending the interlocking geometric codes of binakael, a motif used in traditional textiles in north Luzon in the Philippines, and 1960s op art, by South Korean artist Haegue Yang.
Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy by Hong Kong artist Mak2 comprises two connected fair booths, and explores duplication, evolution and simulation, while Wind Study (Hilbert Curve) by Indian artist Jitish Kallat is a suite of intricate drawings created with fire, wind, smoke and ink.

Daniel Boyd, represented by Station, has an off-site installation in the Pacific Place mall in Admiralty. Photo: Handout

A project by Sydney-based indigenous artist Daniel Boyd expands the Encounters sector outside the fair space – it is on show at Pacific Place. Boyd uses dots as visual and conceptual elements to ask questions about identity, memory, perception and history.

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Also stretching beyond the physical boundaries of the fair space, Art Basel’s film programme is free and open to the public. Under the guidance of curator Li Zhenhua for the last decade, the fair’s film sector has gained a reputation for showcasing groundbreaking works by established and emerging filmmakers.

Li Zhenhua, curator of the Art Basel Hong Kong Film sector. Photo: Handout

“The programme has reflected the evolving landscape of moving image art, from the rise of video essays to the exploration of virtual reality as a storytelling medium,” said Li. “This year’s programme promises to be even more thought-provoking, challenging audiences to reconsider the boundaries of cinema in the digital age, touching on topics that include internet aesthetics, the metaverse trend, and issues of gender and identity in contemporary art.”

This year’s theme, “What is film?”, was created by Li to spark discussion about filmmaking in the digital age and the post-cinema era.

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“We will explore how new technologies and evolving notions of what constitutes ‘film’ are shaping contemporary moving-image practices,” he said. “There is always a high level of artist interest; the selection process ensures that each piece contributes to both the art scene and history,” said Li. “The film sector aims to serve a public role for Hong Kong and cater to the needs of galleries and artists.”

A still from Tales of Chinatown, by Luka Yuanyuan Yang from Flowers Gallery – part of the External History film programme. Photo: Handout

The programme features a variety of Asian artists, reflecting the local cultural landscape.
“To curate a programme of this magnitude needs lots of time and creative thinking to serve the needs of artists and galleries but at the same time elaborate those needs into a common ground and bridge it to people,” said Li.

ART BASEL

• Alexie Glass-Kantor’s Encounters section includes a Daniel Boyd installation at Pacific Place, a woven three-piece work from Haegue Yang, and ‘drawings’ by Jitish Kallat created with fire, wind, smoke and ink
• Showcasing groundbreaking works by established and emerging creators, Li Zhenhua’s film sector includes an External History programme, with work from Luka Yuanyuan Yang, among others

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[Latest]Can Ukraine and the Western Balkans produce arms together?

  

EU Ministers Meet, Urging More Ammo For Ukraine

Emergency personnel work to put out a fire following a drone attack in Kharkiv in a video released on January 31.

Defense ministers from the European Union's 27 member states have opened an informal meeting in Brussels to discuss the need to beef up the bloc's defense industry and its military support to Ukraine, which has pleaded for months for military supplies in its war to repel invading Russian forces.

Ahead of the January 31 meeting, which comes a day before a crucial EU summit that will discuss the bloc's aid for Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Kyiv needs more ammunition to replenish its dwindling stocks as Russia's full-scale invasion nears its second anniversary.

Russia's artillery has been pounding Ukrainian military positions and civilian settlements alike for months, opening a constant flow of victims among civilians and material destruction as Ukrainian defenders are forced to economize their artillery shells in the absence of new deliveries.

"We have to show that our clear commitment with Ukraine remains and continues," Borrell said, adding that it is important to clarify the situation and "know where we are now, where we will be by March, and by the end of the year."

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Ukraine's efforts to transition from Soviet-era to Western-made heavy weapons have faced an obstacle in the shortage of ammunition for the equipment donated by its allies.

To deal with the shell shortage, Brussels pledged to deliver 1 million shells by spring, but so far only some 300,000 have been delivered to the Ukrainian military.

Earlier this month, representatives from 23 countries gathered in Paris to launch an "artillery coalition" for Ukraine, a U.S- and France-led initiative under the umbrella of the so-called Ramstein Contact Group that consists of more than 50 allies of Ukraine.

On that occasion, Paris pledged six more Caesars, the flagship howitzer of French artillery that can strike targets at more than 40 kilometers distance, saying they will be delivered in the following weeks.

On January 30, Politico, citing multiple sources, wrote that Ukraine may receive a new U.S. long-range precision bomb this week. The brand new weapon, made by Boeing, can travel about 145 kilometers and carries a 113-kilogram bomb, the news outlet reported.

The Biden administration last year approved the weapon's transfer to Ukraine but it first had to be tested in the United States.

However, Ukrainian forces are rapidly running out of ammo and arms stocks, prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to call on Kyiv's allies to step up weapons deliveries.

Ahead of the January 31 EU summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz joined four other European prime ministers in urging the bloc's members to boost efforts to provide more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine.

Scholz, Denmark's Mette Frederiksen, the Czech Republic's Petr Fiala, Estonia's Kaja Kallas, and the Netherlands' Mark Rutte admitted in a letter published in the Financial Times that the bloc had "fallen short" of the million-shell pledge.

"We must renew our resolve and redouble our efforts in order to ensure that we sustain our support for as long as it takes," the four leaders urged.

In Kyiv, U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian officials and representatives of the civil society, U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink said on January 31.

"Today we will meet government leaders, veterans, and civil society to underscore our shared commitment to defeating Russian aggression in Ukraine," Brink wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, air defenses shot down 14 out of the 20 drones that Russia's military launched at targets inside Ukraine early on January 31, Kyiv said.

The drones were shot down in the Mykolayiv, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, and Kharkiv regions, the Ukrainian military said in a statement.

At least four people -- three men and a woman -- were wounded and infrastructure was damaged in a drone strike on the eastern region of Kharkiv, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said.

On January 30, at least three people were killed across Ukraine in Russian drone and missile strikes.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Politico