Art Basel Hong Kong 2025 Breaks the Mold
This year’s Art Basel featured 240 exhibitors from 42 countries and territories, with over half hailing from the Asia-Pacific region.
As Art Basel Hong Kong celebrated its 13th edition at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai, we were excited to see how it shaped up this year. It felt bolder, more expansive, and distinctly future-facing.
From immersive large-scale installations that demanded interaction to film programs tackling AI and queer identity, the event pushed beyond the traditional art fair mold, offering a glimpse into where the industry is headed.
As one of only four global Art Basel locations — alongside Basel, Paris, and Miami Beach — the Hong Kong edition continues to draw its largest crowds from the city and mainland China. It is celebrated widely for its diverse representation of galleries from outside the US and Europe, while also highlighting emerging and well-established galleries across the Middle East and Africa.
Encounters Sector
The Encounters sector once again proved to be a crowd-puller, featuring 18 large-scale installations, performances, and sculptures.
The section was clearly divided into four thematic platforms: Passage (cultural resonance and storytelling), Alteration (materiality and abstraction), Charge (digital-meets-physical), and The Return (mythology and spirituality).
This year’s curation leaned into immersive, interactive works that blurred the boundaries between viewer and artwork. AI and digital art made a strong impression, with an entire aisle dedicated to it with Charge, creating a dynamic and multilayered experience. Artists like Lu Yang and Jon Rafman were at the forefront, presenting installations which challenged the status-quo.
Chinese artist Lu Yang presented a pop-up store selling artwork by his AI persona Doku on-site — a novel addition that resonated with tech-savvy collectors.
Kabinett: Spotlight on Solo Projects
The Kabinett sector, which focuses on historical and contemporary themes comprised of 38 projects, a record high, including 21 Asia-Pacific artists and 15 international artists.
It delivered an impressive showing, with a focus on solo projects from the Asia-Pacific region and the Asian diaspora.
This sector included P.P.O.W.’s presentation of gestural ceramics and paintings by the late Martin Wong, offering a glimpse into his 1960s to 70s San Francisco era. Ink Studio’s showcase of post-Mao ink paintings by Liu Dan, Li Jin, and Yang Jiechang illustrated the medium’s evolving language, while Tokyo Gallery + BTAP wowed visitors with Takahiro Kondo’s ethereal ceramic works, crafted using his patented ‘Silver Mist’ technique.
Film Sector
For the first time, local institution Para Site curated the film program, injecting a bold new vision around the theme "In Space, It's Always Night." The centerpiece, Vampires in Space (2022) by Isadora Neves Marques, captured attention with its genre-bending exploration of queer identity and family dynamics.
Other standouts included Cao Shu’s Phantom Sugar (2023), which speculated on AI-controlled farming, and Sung Tieu’s Memory Dispute (2017), a haunting reflection on the lingering scars of Napalm in Vietnam. “What it is we do here is not just for the VIPs or the art lovers — but really for everybody in the city,” said the fair's director of Art Basel 2025, Angelle Siyang-Le, highlighting the fair’s broader cultural impact.
Art and Prizes
Meanwhile, the inaugural MGM Discoveries Art Prize aimed the spotlight on rising stars, with finalists Shin Min, Kayode Ojo, and Saju Kunhan vying for the US$50,000 prize, shared between the artist and their gallery. The winner will be announced at the MGM Lounge during the fair on Mar. 28, 2025.
With an expanded lineup of performances, panel discussions, and experimental works, Art Basel Hong Kong 2025 offered a broader, more inclusive experience that reflected the evolving landscape of contemporary art. “Our goal is always to support the galleries and artists,” Siyang-Le said.
To find out more, visit Art Basel on their website, Instagram or Facebook.
Dates: Friday, Mar. 28, from 2 PM to 8 PM, Saturday, Mar. 29, from 2 PM to 8 PM, Sunday, Mar. 30, from 12 PM to 6 PM
Location: Convention & Exhibition Centre, 1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai
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