Hong Kong may well be the only world city not to have a contemporary art museum, but it is far from a cultural desert.
The bustling hive of studios at Fo Tan and the Cattle Depot Artist's Village, the ever-expanding commercial galleries, and now Art HK 08 are evidence that the scene, while still small, is alive and kicking.
For those on the hunt for local art at the fair, the Hong Kong group installation curated by gallery owner Sabrina Fung, who co-ordinated Hong Kong's pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2005, is a must.
The installation, called Mirage, is the only non-commercial art at the fair and explores themes of confined space versus the imagination and ideas that are not what they seem at first glimpse.
'I looked for young, emerging artists who could do site-specific works and work playfully with the theme,' Ms Fung said. 'I want people to enjoy the installation - it's both serious and fun.'
Meta4 Design Forum, an architectural firm known for its creative designs, will create a styrofoam landscape replete with an island, lotus flowers and trees as the stage for the other works.
Homan Ho Man-chung has created a dramatic kinetic sculpture to hang above the exhibition site, Catherine Lee Yiu-man will exhibit ephemeral ceramic lotus flowers, Esther Yip Lai-man has crafted a world of miniatures, and Wong Chung-yu's video is an illusory world with real-time computer simulation that depicts the ancient biblical city of Sodom.
