Has Art SG fair boosted Singapore’s hopes to become Southeast Asia’s primary art market?
- Running from January 11-15, Art SG is Southeast Asia’s largest contemporary art fair, with around 160 galleries from 35 countries and territories taking part
- Early verdicts on the fair are mixed. ‘It feels a bit like Hong Kong a decade ago,’ one gallery co-founder says
Art dealers and collectors from around Asia, including representatives from many Hong Kong institutions and galleries, congregated in Singapore for the inaugural edition of Art SG, Southeast Asia’s largest contemporary art fair, with around 160 galleries from 35 countries and territories taking part.
The name itself invites comparison with Hong Kong; the co-founders are the same art fair veterans who set up Art HK 15 years ago and later sold it to Art Basel as the Asian edition of the world’s biggest art fair franchise. Art SG fair director Shuyin Yang was also previously in charge of Art Central in Hong Kong.
And then there is the torrent of hot money flowing into a country nicknamed the “Switzerland of Asia”, as it becomes a popular alternative to Hong Kong, a Chinese special administrative region whose reputation as a financial centre has been damaged by three years of harsh Covid-19 restrictions and the introduction of a sweeping security law by Beijing that is seen to have drastically reduced its autonomy.
Art SG co-founder Magnus Renfrew said new wealth coming from China was a bonus for Singapore, a well-established art haven for the Indo-Pacific region.