LLEI D'ART 10

Como era de esperar, y ya viene siendo la marca de la casa en la mayor parte de los eventos capitaneados por el grupo suizo MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd., la primera edición de Art Basel Hong Kong –que ha tomado con elegancia el relevo de Art HK, tras la adquisición, por parte de aquella, de un 60% de la compañía organizadora de esta última: la Asian Art Fairs Ltd.–, dirigida por el británico Magnus Renfrew, respon- sable de todas las actividades de Art Basel en Asia, ha sido celebrada entre los días 23 y 26 de mayo en el centro de con- venciones y exhibiciones de Hong Kong. LLEI d’ART también estuvo allí, promocionando sus contenidos y su nueva edición bilingüe, acortando distancias y mostrando sus nuevas pro- puestas a algunas de las figuras más influyentes dentro del panorama internacional del arte actual. De hecho la región de Hong Kong, que hasta 1997 no acabó de independizarse por completo de la colonización británica, lidera, junto a Nueva York y Londres, el mercado mundial de las subastas de arte y es, además, uno de los núcleos financieros más importantes del planeta y, cómo no, nuevo centro neurálgico de operacio- nes para el insaciable mercado de arte contemporáneo que olfatea sin descanso nuevos caladeros donde lanzar redes. Desde luego, la irrebatible rúbrica suiza ha vuelto a hacer gala de un indiscutible liderazgo en la organización de eventos de arte de envergadura, contando siempre con el incondicional apoyo de sus prestigiosos patrocinadores, algo que, dentro del escenario comercial del arte contemporáneo de primeras espadas, no hace sino reforzar la tan venerada imagen de Art Basel Conquers Hong Kong As is the case with the majority of events run by the MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd., the first edition of Art Basel Hong Kong –which has elegantly taken over from Art HK, after the acquisition of 60% of the com- pany that organisated the latter (Asian Art Fairs Ltd.) organised by Magnus Renfrew, the man in charge of Art Basel’s activities in Asia –took place from the 23rd to the 26th of May in the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre. LLEI d’ART was there, promoting our content and the new bilingual edition, bringing us closer together and displaying our new projects to some of the most influential figures of the current in- ternational art scene. The region of Hong Kong, which gained independence from Great Britain in 1997, cur- rently leads the world art auction market along with London and New York in addition to being one of the most important financial centres on the planet. Given this, it now acts as the neural centre of the insatiable contemporary art market that forever searches out new fishing grounds to spread their net. Of course, the irrefutably Swiss nature of the event has shown off their leadership of significant art events, counting as they do with the unconditional support of their prestigious sponsors, and this alone reinforces the respected reputation of the brand amongst the most important; indeed, the Chinese market idolises and devotes itself to it. As such, it comes as no surprise that it is the foremost Chinese artists that have attracted the greatest interest from both their own countryment and foreigners, such as Yakoi Kusama, Liu Wei or the painted sculptures of Zhang Xiaogang. The unsurprising presence of the Asian galleries on a preview day where some of the most high-profile characters of a select group of international collectors and on-lookers who, for the vast majority of those eternally aspirining to reach the top of this Olympus of art as a financial product, is almost considered an urban myth. We saw the art collecting couple of Max and Monique Burger, the businessmen George Wong and Yanf Bin, the Italian politian Jas Gawronski, the Saudi collector Abdullah al-Turki and even one of the co-founders of Yahoo, Jerry Yang, as well as many other who might have gone unnoticed in the count- less, generally young visitors, who wandered between the stands of some of the world’s most internation- ally-renowned galleries with interest, although many of the latter were taking great pains to make their way into the sought-after Asian market and to make the most of its upswing, even if it is –as for Western art– more a product of the media than of real life. The second edition of the art fair will take place from the 14th to the 18th of May 2014. © Art Basel 135