Art Basel Hong Kong's 'Encounters'
Art Basel Hong Kong’s ‘Encounters’ section is built around the classical elements—water, fire, earth and ether—pairing cutting‑edge digital work with large sculptural pieces ahead of the fair March 27–29. Curators say the program is designed to blur physical and virtual boundaries and inject theatrical energy into the fair experience. (nytimes.com)
The Encounters team is led by Mami Kataoka, director of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, and includes Isabella Tam (curator, M+), Jakarta-based curator Alia Swastika, and Hirokazu Tokuyama (Mori Art Museum). (artbasel.com ) Art Basel says this is the first time the Encounters sector is being curated collectively by four Asia‑based curators, replacing the fair’s previous single‑curator approach. (artbasel.com ) The curators told Art Basel that the programme involves installing “more than 10 big projects” within a very compressed timetable of just a couple of days, underscoring the logistical scale of the sector. (artbasel.com ) ArtAsiaPacific reports the reimagined Encounters will present 11 commissioned and site‑specific works framed around cosmological elements, singling out Masaomi Yasunaga, the late Suki Seokyeong Kang, and a site‑specific digital animation by Christine Sun Kim as highlights. (artasiapacific.com ) Pacific Place will host the fair’s sole off‑site Encounters project with long‑time sponsor Swire Properties; Swire’s Arts Month programming has previously staged Monster Chetwynd’s Lanternfly Ballet and this year’s off‑site plan includes new site‑specific installations and digital pieces. (swireproperties.com artasiapacific.com ) Art Basel is enlarging its adjacent programming to complement Encounters: the Zero 10 digital strand makes its Asia debut with artists such as DeeKay and Jack Butcher, and the fair’s Film Program will be curated by media artist Ellen Pau. (artasiapacific.com artbasel.com )
