Gazette Drouot - C apencheres

HD
Installation view of Choi Jeong’s work at AANDO FINE ART.
Does it have to do with Hong Kong banking secrecy
and the free harbour advantages only?
Yes, Hong Kong has an advantage but there are multiple
other reasons for its popularity, including being an outstanding
central and accessible location for galleries in
Asia and the rest of the world to participate in. Further
more, there have also been recent significant developments
that have secured Hong Kong as a major arts hub
for Asia: M+, the future museum for 20th and 21st
century visual culture that is part of the HKD21.6 billion
West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) development,
received from Dr Sigg the major donation of 1,430
contemporary Chinese artworks; more and more
Western galleries have officially opened in Hong Kong,
marking this city as their chosen base for Asia, including
White Cube, Galerie Perrotin, Gagosian and Simon Lee
galleries who opened earlier this year. The cultural land-
ART FAIR THE MAGAZINE
scape has changed very quickly in Hong Kong and being
part of this transformation is something we are very
excited about.
Don't you think that this large number of exhibitors
makes your general programme look a bit too big
for the Asian market ?
Over the years, it has been incredibly uplifting seeing
the fast-growing interest and demand for contemporary
art across Asia, particularly in Hong Kong. In terms
of figures, we had 266 participating galleries representing
39 territories at ART Hong Kong this year, which is
actually roughly equivalent to the number of participating
galleries at Art Basel in Miami Beach, but less than
the 300 plus galleries presented at Art Basel in Switzerland.
Given the venue capacity and layout, we don’t
expect the show to become larger but rather the
N° 19 I GAZETTE DROUOT INTERNATIONAL
109
© Kitmin Lee