This spring I was invited by the Chinese University of Hong Kong to give a series of public lectures for their “Art and Museum Lecture Series.” While there I attended the major contemporary art fair in Asia—Art Basel Hong Kong—that is now in its tenth year. For museum curators, art fairs are important not necessarily just for acquiring art, but for networking with dealers, collectors, and artists in the region and internationally. Special exhibitions, panel discussions, gallery openings, and artist talks happen in and around the art fair. Additionally, art fairs allow visitors to see in person recent artworks by established artists to those up-and-coming. Jeff Koons’ work, the stainless steel sculpture Swan (Inflatable), 2011-15, was a crowd favorite at the fair, as well as the debut of Marina Abramović’s new virtual reality work, Rising, 2017.
Aisha Khalid’s Two Worlds As One, 2017, was another stand out. Two monumental rugs hung suspended facing each other. While the heads of hundreds of steel and gold plated pins created stunningly intricate patterns on the rugs, the tips of the steel pins created a menacing field of sharp pin points on the reverse side. An exciting artist I learned about at the fair was Shinji Ohmaki. His popular large-scale installation, Liminal Air Space-Time, 2018, was simply a single cloud-like fabric constantly hovering and moving in the air by unseen fans. It was a magical respite from the general frenzied pace and visual overload of the fair.-Vivian Li, Associate Curator of Asian Art and Global Contemporary Art
