Sara Quattrocchi Febles braves six parties over the one week duration of Art Basel Hong Kong. Photography by Saffron Liberty.
I was still in high school the first time I went to Hong Kong for Art Basel. I remember taking it all rather seriously: I annotated the map of the fair to make sure I didn’t miss a single booth, collected business cards from gallery reps, thinking I would reach out for advice on working in the art world (I never did), and quickly filled my phone storage with hundreds of photographs of artworks I liked and their labels (I still do). I wanted to absorb absolutely everything because I was convinced that the heart of the art world lay within the walls of the massive Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Almost ten years and a few more art fair visits later, I’ve come to realise that the events, gatherings, and parties that happen concurrently beyond the plaster walls of the fairs are just as important as what happens within them. As I delay looking at my bank account and recharge my extremely depleted social battery, here is a recap of the events that I attended during Hong Kong Art Week.
Tuesday: Perrotin Cocktail Party at Aqua, Tsim Sha Tsui
I couldn’t help but spend most of the night standing outside on the chic terrace of the 17th floor of the H Zentre where the party took place, staring at the shiny skyline of Hong Kong island across the South China Sea. The bear-like claws emerging from the top of the IFC tower, the demarcated pattern of isosceles triangles forming the Bank of China building, and the rotating advertisements of the massive LED video screens atop less familiar skyscrapers kept me in an almost trance-like state for longer than I would like to admit, like a child staring at the flame of a fire. I finally peeled myself from the landscape to find some food and socialise.
Among the guests, I wasn’t surprised to meet quite a few who had flown all the way from California;the party was in celebration of LA-based artist Emma Webster’s exhibition Vapors, which had just opened at Perrotin’s gallery across the street. Emma was also in attendance, of course.
A few bites of pumpkin tempura and two – or, let’s be real, four – refills of champagne later, I decided to call it a night and made my way to the MTR,the rolled-up Perrotin tote bag I had received as a gift tucked under my armpit.
Wednesday: Art.Set at Mr. Cameron, Lan Kwai Fong
I didn’t think I’d end up in Lan Kwai Fong – the infamous party neighbourhood of Hong Kong – at all during the week but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have a pre-set plan, especially during Art Week. Scanning through art-specific parties taking place on the same night, my friends and I honed in on an invite-only night taking place within the private room of dragon-i, another notorious venue within LKF. The only problem? We didn’t have an invite. Naturally, we spent some time in a nearby bar with sticky floors like those of a Magaluf holiday resort, strategising how we would get into the party.
Two pints of Carlsberg later and with some newly-acquired confidence, I followed my friends past the two smartly dressed girls with slicked-back hair and perfect posture who were checking tickets at the door. Without looking back, they didn’t stop us – we’d made it in. In my euphoric buzz, I spent the rest of the night dancing away to Gigiotto Von Alt’s set as he stood in front of an installation featuring a pattern of fluid waves, specifically designed for the event by Swiss artist Claudia Comte.
Thursday: The Line Between Us at Current Plans, Wong Chuk Hang
Curated and powered by a mix of projects platforming contemporary emerging artists and intertwining art with music and fashion – such as the local art/rave duo Panic Library, the artist-run residency 99 CANAL based in New York City’s Chinatown, and Shanghai-based not-for-profit art organisation CHERUBY – The Line Between Us epitomised what Art Week in Hong Kong is really about: a coming together of individuals actively involved in art across continents, connecting through their love for it.
The party was set in the former industrial building of the Remex Centre in Wong Chuk Hang, an area on the opposite end of the city centre that is slowly becoming a hub for the city’s emerging art scene. With its slightly rugged and raw state, it seemed to be a far cry from the luxurious and glossy glass skyscrapers found on the other side of the island.
While performances and sets by the likes of Kuala Lumpur-based ambii, LA-based 011668, and local talent 小本生燈 XSGACHA went on inside the building throughout the night, guests gathered outside in the smoking area. Low-hanging banners graffitied by local artist LOUSY gently swayed with the pleasant breeze from the sea. As I sat outside and observed, I recognised some familiar faces from the past few days attending the same events. Artists, collectors, gallerists, writers, and editors alike seemed to share the same desire to enjoy a moment away from the fair and the formalities of the city centre.
Friday: Artists’ Night at Taikwun Contemporary, Central
Walking up the narrow entrance to Taikwun Contemporary, one doesn’t expect such a large cultural centre to exist within the compact area of Central. Originally built in the late nineteenth century, the Central Police Station Compound has been transformed into an arts and culture hub, maintaining the building’s heritage while also creating new structures within it such as the JC Cube, with its post-apocalyptic metal facade designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Held within the Prison Yard, Artists’ Night brought together artists whose practices converged questions about AI, history, and our solidity as living beings, with performances scattered throughout the night.
At the bottom of the Laundry Steps below the JC Cube, I was quickly transfixed by NOX, the post-AI world created by London-based artist Lawrence Lek, who seemed to unthread our knowledge about the body and our agency as we know it. In the F Hall Studio, artists like Shanghai-based experimental electronic artist 33EMYBW, local DJ duo yisekai, and affect lab, a women-led creative studio based in Amsterdam, transformed the former government printing shop into different immersive and interactive spaces through their contrasting practices. While I moved from one experience to the next, I couldn’t help but notice that most of the guests had gathered outside in the Yard, connecting with each other and enjoying the gentle breeze, just like at Current Plans the night before.
Saturday: Annual Rave: 10th Anniversary Edition at Empty Gallery, Tin Wan
To end Art Week on a high, Empty Gallery transformed its space on the 18th floor of the semi-abandoned-looking industrial Grand Marine Centre into a one-night-only rave.
I arrived as LA-based noise musician Sunik Kim was finishing their set in the darkly lit room of the gallery, with partygoers experiencing a trance-like state through the overlapping of crashing noises with computer-generated sounds. In between Kim’s and Detroit-based Shawescape Renegade’s sets, I decided to check out Richard Hawkins’s The Garden of Loved Ones, exhibited in close-to-complete darkness in the gallery next door.
My eyes slowly adjusted, and I could look at each of his erotic collages in detail. As I walked carefully around his grotesque and bodily sculptures, I couldn’t help but feel pleasantly transported to a seemingly perverse yet alluring alternate world; my brain seemed to welcome it, already primed by Kim’s experimental set in the previous room.
Sunday Morning: Art Basel Closing Party at Soho House, Sheung Wan
On what I thought would be a taxi ride straight to my hotel after the Empty Gallery rave, I couldn’t help but mumble the two words to the driver that probably shouldn’t be mumbled past midnight: “Soho House.” As I stumbled out of the lift onto the 29th floor of the members’ club, where the party was set, the club’s pristinely curated interior design and its warmly lit atmosphere was a stark contrast to the rave I had just left.
Sitting down on a couch with a luxurious feel, the sudden weight of the past week and all the art-related events and parties I had attended finally caught up with me. As I tiredly and mindlessly observed my surroundings, my eyes slowly gravitated to the dancefloor where, behind the dancers and the DJ, an illuminated artwork by Italian artist Simafra served as the background. With the abstract and texturised shapes of the waves on the light panel, I felt like I was ending my Art Week in Hong Kong in a similar way to how I started it: caught in the trance of the source of light in front of me.
Words by Sara Quattrocchi Febles
