Asia’s biggest exhibition of modern and contemporary art brought together 239 galleries from 35 countries and territories in Hong Kong, which has emerged as the region’s top art trading hub. Organizers of Art Basel Hong Kong, which closed Saturday, shrugged off concerns about whether China’s slowdown and a shaky world economy are dampening global art demand.
“Maybe I think collectors will ask a lot more questions before they agree to a sale, but I think … it just feels like everyone is very excited about the art world,” said Adeline Ooi, Art Basel’s Asia director. The show is an offshoot of the annual contemporary art fair in Basel, Switzerland.
The show began in 2008 as ART HK and was bought three years ago by the same group that runs the Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach fairs. It’s the biggest of a week of art-related events in Hong Kong that has attracted celebrities and billionaires from around the world.
In this March 25, 2016 photo, a man looks at the artworks by Chinese artist Cai Lei at Art Basel in Hong Kong. Asia’s biggest exhibition of modern and contemporary art brought together 239 galleries from 35 countries and territories in Hong Kong, which has emerged as the region’s top art trading hub. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 25, 2016 photo, a man walks beside an artwork at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 24, 2016 photo, a woman walks beside an artwork by Argentina artist Tomas Saraceno at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 26, 2016 photo, a man stands near the artworks created by the Philippines artist Kiri Dalena at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 26, 2016 photo, a woman walks beside “Warlord’s Family,” an artwork created by Chinese artist Xu Zhen at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 25, 2016 photo, a man walks beside the artwork “Transfuser” created by British sculptor Antony Gormley at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 26, 2016 photo, a man walks beside the artworks “American Bag” created by British artist Gavin Turk, bottom, and “Megumi Kagurazaka” by Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki ,at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 25, 2016 photo, a woman walks behind the artwork “Cloison a lames reflechissantes” created by Argentina artist Julio Le Parc at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 26, 2016 photo, a woman looks at the artwork “Monica Cross Legged with Beads” created by Tom Wesselmann, at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 24, 2016 photo, a man walks beside the artwork “Trans-Aimilios”, bottom left, created by Japanese artist Kohei Nawa at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 25, 2016 photo, two men walk by an artwork “Laura” created by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 25, 2016 photo, a woman looks at an installation artwork created by Chinese artist Stella Zhang at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
In this March 26, 2016 photo, the artwork “Cloison a lames reflechissantes” created by Argentina artist Julio Le Parc is dismantled after the exhibition closing at Art Basel in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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