Year’s delay for new Singapore art fair, but galleries said to be interested when it now launches in 2020

Art SG puts off its launch from November 2019 to October 2020, but investors claim ‘considerable interest’ from galleries as they ready tour to market the fair
Delay follows collapse of major international fair Art Stage Singapore earlier this year

Art

Enid Tsui

Published: 2:37pm, 20 Jun 2019

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Art SG, the new art fair aimed at reviving Singapore’s flagging art market, has been pushed back by a year to late 2020. On Thursday, the owners of Art SG said the decision was made in response to requests from galleries and key participants for more time to prepare for the fair, which had been slated for November 2019.

The city state no longer has a major international art fair after Art Stage Singapore was cancelled a week ahead of its planned January 24 opening this year. Launched in 2011, the annual trade event has now gone bust.

Its founder, Lorenzo Rudolf, was scathing about the city’s potential as an art hub when asked about the sharp fall in the number of galleries participating in the fair’s last years.

In response, some dealers and artists argue that the failure of Art Stage had more to do with its organisation than the city itself, which many still believe has the wealth, efficiency and the advantage of geography to become Southeast Asia’s leading art hub.

Art Stage Singapore has gone bust. Art SG will be a more intimate affair, with 60 to 80 galleries participating, when it eventually gets off the ground in 2020. Photo: Art Stage Singapore

The launch of Art SG, as well as S.E.A. Focus, a homegrown boutique fair that will be held for a second time in January 2020, is seen as an important vote of confidence in the market.

Art SG suffered an early setback in November 2018 when MCH Group, the parent company of Art Basel, pulled out as co-founder and investor just four months after the fair was announced.

Magnus Renfrew, one of the investors in Art SG. Photo: Antony Dickson

The fair’s other owners, Tim Etchells and Angus Montgomery Art, brought in Magnus Renfrew to take over MCH’s stake. The three parties launched ArtHK in 2007, which later grew into Art Basel Hong Kong, and they recently launched a new art fair in Taipei with another former ArtHK partner, Will Ramsay.

On Thursday, Renfrew said ArtSG would be a medium-sized fair with around 60-80 galleries exhibiting, making it small enough for dealers to interact with clients easily. It will open on October 29, 2020. He said the team only started its international sales efforts in earnest after Art Basel Hong Kong this spring.

“We have had considerable interest. International galleries continue to explore the Southeast Asia market and see the point of having the fair in Singapore. Regarding MCH’s decision, one has to acknowledge its own financial position after [watch maker] Swatch pulled out of [major watch fair] Basel World and it needs to concentrate its energy on other things,” he said.

Manit Sriwanchipoom’s Pink Men vs Pink Buddha at Art Stage Singapore in 2018. The fair’s founder, Lorenzo Rudolf, was scathing about the city’s potential as an art hub. Photo: Art Stage Singapore

While MCH’s troubles reflect the weakness of the global luxury market, Renfrew is confident that a downturn in developed markets would only drive galleries to diversify and seek out new markets, such as Southeast Asia.

He said applications to take part in Art SG would remain open, and the Art SG team would visit various cities to recruit galleries for the first edition of the fair.

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