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Experience Art Basel in Hong Kong 2024 with exclusive content from UBS

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A homage to Hong Kong for Art Basel

Discover highlights from the 2024 edition of the fair as it boasts a return to full scale

This year the fair returned to its pre-pandemic scale, welcoming more than 75,000 art lovers to explore displays from 242 major international galleries and an exhilarating city-wide program in collaboration with Hong Kong’s galleries, artists, cultural institutions, and partners.

“I am part of all that I have met”: Encounters in 2024

Profound, intimate, human: this edition’s curated Encounters sector contemplates the vast multiplicity of the universe under the banner “I am part of all that I have met”.

Highlights included UBS Art Collection artist Mak2’s 'Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy'. The installation builds upon the artist’s acclaimed Home Sweet Home triptych series, which is inspired by the simulation video game “The Sims” and assembled from paintings by Taobao artisans. Stacked and inverted replicas of Mak2’s Art Basel booth confronted viewers with themes of authenticity, virtual versus reality and social systems, with a view into an ersatz world of simplified and simulated art in various states of decay.

Chilean-born artist Catalina Swinburn presented 'No Land: The Water Ceremony'. Towering handwoven paper cloaks hover like ritual sentinels guarding the passage between the present and the ancient past. Drawing on traditional craftsmanship and ancestral memories, Swinburn’s work embodies collective and female resilience.

Celebrating Hong Kong’s “Lion Rock” spirit

This year the UBS Art Studio explored the theme of city life and featured a unique work by Hong Kong neon artist Chankalun. Paying homage to the city’s urban heritage of handcrafted neon signage, the work takes inspiration from the city’s Lion Rock spirit.

Beyond the show floor

Co-commissioned by M+ and Art Basel, and presented by UBS, Yang Fudong’s love letter to Hong Kong 'Sparrow on the Sea' will light up the M+ Façade at night from 22 March until 9 June 2024. Weaving together immersive black-and-white scenes of seaside villages and the city at night, Yang conjures up the nostalgic charm of classic Hong Kong cinema.

Catch UBS Art Collection artist Sarah Morris’s latest film ETC, a playful exploration of Hong Kong’s rapidly changing electronic and digital life, in “Who is Who” - a solo exhibition of the acclaimed American-British artist at Tai Kwun in Central until 14 April 2024.

Other highlights from UBS Art Collection artist’s include Tsang Kin-wah’s site specific installation Freezing Water: Between Here and There at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and Yin Xiuzhen and Song Dong at CHAT’s 5th anniversary group show Factory of Tomorrow.

Chankalun: What does it take to be a craftmaker?

In this exclusive interview, Chankalun shares her captivating journey as a neon artist, a practice that demands both determination and unwavering resilience.

Exploring the intricate intersection of craft, art, science and even sport, Chankalun invites us into a glowing world of neon - a medium deeply rooted in Hong Kong's collective history.

Chankalun reveals the challenges inherent in the neon-making journey, one that requires a decade to achieve proficiency and an additional four to five decades to attain mastery. Chankalun innovates and adapts the essence of the neon masters to develop her own creative aesthetic.

Her practice embodies a commitment and dedication to her craft, with innovation and experimentation at its core.

Her latest work, 'Dawn of Lion Rock' and 'Evening Sun on Lion Rock' pay homage to Hong Kong's neon craft heritage while showcasing the city's Lion Rock spirit.

Chen Wei: ‘How are you Hong Kong’

In a studio interview, Chen Wei offers his take on city living and reveals details about his latest LED sculpture commissioned by the UBS Art Collection for Art Basel Hong Kong 2024.

Step into UBS Art Collection artist Chen Wei’s studio in Beijing, and learn more about the artist's practice, inspiration and ideas.

Known for his contemporary take on photographic conventions, Chen builds narratives using found objects, props and staged scenes, all of which are meticulously constructed and assembled inside his studio. Scene setting is an important aspect of his creative journey. In the film, the artist reflects on how the audience experience is equally fundamental, with each viewer bringing their own nuanced understanding as they navigate his work.

Chen dives deep into nocturnal cityscapes, exposing the physical and psychological aspects of contemporary urban living: cities characterized by development and redevelopment, streets lined with widespread use of LED advertisements, and the inherent glitches and faults of these screens that we have grown accustomed to, among other universal experiences.

Fascinated by the lights that illuminate cities, Chen started creating LED sculptures to capture the shared experience of people who live in these metropolises. The artist draws inspiration from LED advertising screens ubiquitous across Asian cities and reinterprets these everyday symbols to connect people and craft new realities reflecting the human condition.

Chen’s new work 'How are you Hong Kong' (2023), commissioned by the UBS Art Collection, incorporates colloquial greeting words used in Hong Kong that are made up of both Cantonese and English. It represents his sentiments towards Hong Kong, as he grew up under the immense influence of its popular culture.

Bringing an equal sense of considered stillness and innovative dynamism, the LED sculpture will be featured in the presentation 'City Visions' in the UBS Lounge at the fair. It will be shown alongside works from the UBS Art Collection by multidisciplinary artists who engage with the city landscape and explore the urban living experience through different perspectives.

UBS is the proud Global Lead Partner of Art Basel. Discover more highlights ahead of the fair here.

‘We Are Here Now’: Eko Nugroho

Using art to engage the community in a call for change at ART SG 2024

‘Forever Now’ site-specific installation by Dawn Ng

UBS Art Collection commissioned the Singaporean artist to create an immersive installation for the UBS Lounge at the inaugural ART SG

Collecting Works: Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani

“Our mission is to share art with everyone.” Discover how the Bangladeshi art collectors are building a foundation which impacts generations to come.

The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023

Just published! Discover the latest insights from the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023

The evolution of Hiroshi Sugimoto

From his first memory to the infinity of architecture, the multidisciplinary artist reflects on what has inspired him to explore to new outlets for creative expression

Hilmi Johandi on exploring history, time and space

UBS Art Collection commissioned Singaporean artist Hilmi Johandi to create works for the Singapore office

Art and Collecting

Just published! Art and collecting offers insight and guidance on several overlapping aspects of building a meaningful art collection optimally structured for future value.

The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting in 2023: A Conversation

Listen to a panel of experts discussing the key findings from the survey which provides insight into HNW collector behaviors from eleven key global markets.

‘JUST WHAT YOU LEAST EXPECT’: new acquisitions to the UBS Art Collection

Explore new acquisitions to the UBS Art Collection by visionary artists whose works draw on diverse histories, cultures, materials and processes to explore themes such as community, belonging, collective memories and social justice.

'Reimagining: New Perspectives' – The Book

"We are living in a time of profound and rapid change" says Mary Rozell, Global Head UBS Art Collection, in the opening essay of the collection's new publication Reimagining: New Perspectives.

A Starter Pack for Sustainable Collecting

By Louisa Buck, Contemporary Art Correspondent for The Art Newspaper and Founding Member of the Gallery Climate Coalition.

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