20 must-see contemporary art exhibits in Art Basel month
With the third edition of Art Basel Hong Kong and the launch of a new satellite fair, March is the busiest month on the city's contemporary art calendar. Here are 20 shows you shouldn't miss
01
Check out the 20 pieces presented in the giant fair's Encounters sector. With a new curator - Alexie Glass-Kantor of Artspace in Sydney - at the helm, the selection of large-scale sculptural installations by Joao Vasco Paiva, Xu Longsen, Sterling Ruby and many others will be the talk of the week.
02
If this programme is anything to go by, expect the M+ visual culture museum to be an exciting education platform for years to come. It's great to see the likes of Isaac Julien and Haegue Yang join Zhang Peili and animator Wong Ping in the screening and exhibition series, which covers formats from feature film and television to video art, shorts and documentaries.
03
A cosy venue for residency, Spring Workshop also presents curated programmes involving a global range of creatives. Taking time as its theme, this group exhibition showcases artworks and performances, and features an interesting mix of artists including Elmgreen & Dragset, Job Koelewijn and Lee Kit.
04
Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong has had his say on many political issues: from the detention on the mainland of Ai Weiwei to the umbrella movement. This solo exhibit of recent photographs and installations reveals his sarcastic wit and brazen showmanship.
05
Yoshitomo Nara - known for his cartoonish pieces of wide-eyed children - is here for two shows. Recent works are being featured at Pace gallery under the title "stars", and his retrospective "Life is Only One" at Asia Society offers a broader view of his oeuvre.
06
While Hong Kong artist Leung Chi-wo's research-based inquiry into history might occasionally verge on the opaque, this ongoing photography series - which he developed with his wife and occasional collaborator, Sara Wong, to re-enact anonymous figures in archival materials - is conceptually straightforward yet fascinating.
07
After moving out from its Sheung Wan space, the non-profit Para Site is set to open a larger venue with this politically minded group exhibit. In "Songs of Resistance and Scenarios for Chinese Nations", artists look to reconsider and subvert the Chinese notion of nationalism. Expect controversy.
08
Co-presented by Pearl Lam Galleries and Hongkong Land, this public display of Chinese artist Zhu Jinshi's is a rare spectacle in our crowded urban space. Made of bamboo, cotton and more than 10,000 sheets of Xuan paper, the large installation is a spiritual experience for some - and a photo opportunity for others.
09
It's a cheeky put-on that Adrian Cheng and David Chau - both successful businessmen turned influential collectors - should co-host the Shanghai-based artist Xu Zhen, who has turned the market's commodification process on its head with his production label MadeIn Company. Themed on the simple pleasures of 20-year-olds, the show almost guarantees irony.
10
Previously presented at Palais de Tokyo last October, this exhibition by the eminent Paris contemporary art space and Hong Kong's K11 Art Foundation is returning in an expanded edition. This cultural exchange among five French and six Chinese artists also marks the inaugural collaboration of the two organisers.
11
Not so much a retrospective as a multifaceted investigation into an artist's career, this exhibition considers the influences on the work of Ha Bik-chuen (1925-2009). It features reference materials that not only fuelled the practice of the revered Hong Kong sculptor and printmaker, but also served as a visual library.
12
Here's an absurdly bleak experience courtesy of Dinh Q. Lê, an American-trained Vietnamese who tweaks perceptions of his motherland's wartime past. Through the new multimedia works in this gallery space - decorated to evoke the beach at Danang - he asks poignant questions about Vietnam's much-exploited tourism industry.
13
JR may be hiding behind his pseudonym, but there's no denying he has transcended his roots in urban art and become a ubiquitous presence. The French artist is having a gallery show of new pieces - titled "Ghosts of Ellis Island" - and a large-scale survey concurrently.
14
The good thing about visiting a Rudolf Stingel exhibit is that, if pressed for time, you can finish in minutes. The New York-based artist's admirers, however, are known to spend hours in front of his abstract pieces. A continuation of his fundamental inquiries into art-making, this set of gold paintings could turn out to be a religious encounter for some.
15
It's not just about spotting the influences: Cindy Sherman, and stills from David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock movies. In her lushly coloured and strangely cinematic images of crowds, Los Angeles-based Alex Prager hints at a psychological depth that has made her one of the most rapidly emerging stars in fine art photography.
16
Featuring more than 50 pieces of varying historical importance, the two selling exhibitions at Sotheby's - "Gutai and its Legacy" and "Lines of Korean Masters" - provide a glimpse into pioneering movements in Japan and Korea since the 1950s. Highlights include works by Kazuo Shiraga, Atsuko Tanaka, Lee Ufan and Park Seo-bo.
17
It's just as well that Alec Monopoly is showing when the richest collectors come to town. Nominally a commentary on capitalism, the American street artist's Monopoly-inspired pieces have surely crashed into the mainstream; he has even painted a mural for Justin Bieber's movie premiere and autographed Miley Cyrus' thigh.
18
As a founder of the 1960s' Arte Povera movement, Michelangelo Pistoletto, now 81, is best known for his . The Italian icon's latest series - full-body portraits of a woman silk-screened onto reflective stainless steel panels - are said to incorporate the spectator. It is, in other words, a great occasion for selfies.
19
Fresh off her first solo US museum retrospective at Pérez Art Museum Miami, Beatriz Milhazes presents a new series of collages and abstract paintings. Brazil's representative at Venice Biennale 2003, Milhazes' colourful works consist of rich textures that evoke modernist lineages of both Latin America and Europe.
20
Satellite fairs have been a fixture during Art Basel Hong Kong - and its previous incarnation, ART HK. Launched by ART HK's founders, the new Art Central intrigues with its ambition: more than 75 local and international galleries will showcase emerging and established artists in a 10,000-square-metre purpose-built structure. Sounds like fun.