East Contemporary

Art Basel Hong Kong 2016: random moments

Hong Kong, March 22 – 26, 2016, HKCEC

Another year and another Art Basel fair in Hong Kong. It’s close to impossible to encompass everything that has been going on, but here a few random moments from the fair itself, which I found worthy enough to pull my phone out of the pocket and press the shutter.

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It was crowded, more than ever before. Maybe also because of the timing that coincided with Easter holidays. ABHK should take this into consideration next time. The only time the fair was enjoyable was during the preopening and VIP hours, on the first public day (Thursday) it started to get very dense and from thereon it was sheer madness. The photo is from the Thursday ticket queue, so you can imagine Friday and Saturday…

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Wan Lee’s (이완) Made in Korea project at 313 Art Project (ABHK Discoveries section). The artist is mapping traditional industries through documentary video shown along with the ‘product’ (i.e. wig and video on the right side). At the same time he produces artworks inpired by this interaction with craftsmen and producers (i.e. the Colourful Wig Fall on the centre/left or the Landscape above it).

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Another work from Wan Lee, this time a photo of religious statues with price tags unremoved. Most touching was the conclusion the gallery’s press release: “Lee expects this exhibition to act as an opportunity to begin a new discourse on Korea’s present situation and hopes his problem-posing will ultimately develop his mother country into a healthy and balanced society.” With such a brilliant and hardworking artist, Korea will surely have a bright future and develop into a society of smiling and happy people, as could be seen in this exhibition.

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Zhu Jinshi’s 2010 sculpture-like painting with impressive blobs of paint… probably at Pearl Lam gallery booth?

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Idris Khan The World of Perception (2010). Not sure what impressed me on this one, even not sure what is depicted. Probably his photo-overlapping method applied to a text? Philosophic text?

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The smallest video installation at the whole fair – Tony Oursler

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2x Au Hoi Lam at Osage Gallery. I remember how Osage showed her work 3 years ago and I almost mistook it for Lee Kit, who also briefly worked with Osage. Here it seems to be a stable relationship. This year Au Hoi Lam’s work looks more feminine.

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Discussion between Ju Anqi and Li Zhenhua after the screening of the movie Ju Anqi’s film Poet on a Business Trip《詩人出差了》(2014). Originally shot ten years ago and intended as a kind of road porn movie (a Shanghai poet travelling to Xinjiang and having sex with a prostitute in every city he passes through), it has morphed into a rather poetic and intimate portrait of the places and people. Raw but not obscene, very gentle actually.

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Yang Haegue (양혜규) who I mostly known for her assemblages of mass produced household objects, here showing a set of medium sized works consisting of handmade paper spiced with the seasoning packs from cup noodles. Kind of post-pop art, very decent. I’m sure this has work has found its new home in someone’s dining room or kitchen.

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Gabriel Kuri I Collate, I Convey, I Comply (2015) at Johnen Galerie. Is this the capitalist version of China’s cynical realism? Cynical art-capitalism? Kind of fascinating….

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