When is it?
Public days are from March 27 (Fri) to March 29 (Sun), while the Vernissage begins from 4pm to 8pm on March 26 (Thu).
Where is it?
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on 1 Expo Dr in Wanchai.
How much are tickets?
For day passes, concession tickets range from HKD 310 to HKD 540 while standard tickets range from HKD 410 to HKD 740, depending on the date. Premium tickets are HKD 4,800, Vernissage is HKD 990, and Two-Day Pass is HKD 1,240.
What is it?
The fair is divided into 6 sectors: Galleries for the world’s leading Modern and contemporary art galleries. Insights is for curated projects dedicated to artists from Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, while Echoes features curated booths that each showcase projects by up to three artists or artist collectives, with works from the last five years. Art publications from around the world contribute to Magazines. Meanwhile, Kabinett features 35 thematically-focused projects. Notably, Jessica Silverman will be presenting hand-painted glass lightboxes by Judy Chicago.
(L-R): Isabella Tam, Mami Kataoka, Alia Swastika, and Hirokazu Tokuyama
Photo credit: “Ben Marans” or “Ben Marans Photography Ltd.”
Last but not least, Encounters features 12 large-scale projects. This sector was curated by a new curatorial team led by Mami Kataoka, alongside Isabella Tam, Alia Swastika, and Hirokazu Tokuyama. The vision draws on the Five Elements of space/ether, water, fire, wind and earth – a cosmological framework common in Asia. There will also be a site-specific digital animation installation, A String of Echo Traps (2022-2026), at Pacific Place’s Park Court, extending the vibrance of Art Basel into the city.
Who will be there?
The fair will host 240 galleries from 41 countries and territories.
Besides galleries, leading voices in the art, cultural, social, and technological fields are coming together for Art Basel’s Conversations program. Notably, Artistic Director and Chief Curator at M+, Doryun Chong, and Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander, who will create this year’s prestigious M+ Facade commission, will partake in a keynote conversation.
Meanwhile, the Exchange Circle is a more casual and experimental platform for presentations like artist talks, discussions, book presentations, and sharings. One of the highlights is a collector’s conversation about “first pieces” starring musician Tyson Yoshi, curator Matt Chung, and the Head of BELOWGROUND Ryan Kwok.
What else can you expect?
Art Basel Hong Kong 2025 ABHK25, Public Interactions, Galleries, Galleria Continua, PR, MC .
A new global initiative that spotlights digital art by exhibiting and collecting digital practices will make its Asia debut. Zero 10 will feature 14 exhibitors. Expect a participatory blockchain-based work, digital animations reminiscent of early video games, and a silver sculptural project examining the systems of values, among others.
In contrast, the public program, Film, responds to contemporary anxieties and imaginations around technology through generative works, traditional video, and experimental cinema—prompting audiences to reflect on digital ethics and the nature of memory itself.
Film takes a new direction this year, with artists themselves taking on the role of curators. This edition is led by Ellen Pau, a pioneering media artist since the 1980s and co-founder of Videotage, Hong Kong’s first media art platform. With decades of experience in curating and distributing moving-image art, Pau explains: “As a curator working in media art, I believe moving images should not be confined by cinematic grammar.”
She envisions Film as an open, multi-channel screening platform that fosters dialogue between the gallery and the cinema, allowing audiences to discover their own ways of connecting with media art. To broaden perspectives, Pau has invited independent art collectives and institutions to curate their own programs. One highlight is a collaboration with the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS), featuring new work by Korean cross-media artist Ayoung Kim, accompanied by a post-screening discussion to bring audiences closer to the creative process.
Highlights you won’t want to miss
Bernar Venet with De Sarthe in the Kabinett sector
With sculptures permanently installed in public sites around the world, Bernar Venet is one of the most globally acclaimed French conceptual artists of our time. He is known for his curved, precise metal sculptures and for his exploration of coal, asphalt, and tar. At De Sarthe, Venet’s iconic steel sculptures and his autonomous charcoal drawings create a focused dialogue on geometric forms and his principle of “univocity”, whereby precision is integral to eliminating subjective interpretations.
Sang Woo Kim with Herald Street Kabinett (3D05)
Sang Woo Kim makes his debut presentation in Asia with Herald Street in the Kabinett sector. The South Korean, who moved to the United Kingdom in his youth, is concerned with the tension between image and perception under the lens of cultural duality. His tightly cropped oil paintings zero in on his face, and especially his eyes—the target of racist stereotypes and discrimination by the Western gaze. By painting himself, the professional model reasserts ownership of his body and image, which have been commercialised as objects. His dye transfers follow the same theme of image circulation and consumption, bringing to the fore the idea of representation and reproduction through its particular creation process.
Chan Wai Lap at Gallery Exit (1D43)
Hong Kong artist Chan Wai Lap dives into the nuances of public pools. “‘You arrive in a big changing room, strip naked, and change. You shed your outside self and become part of something else,” Chan once said to Art Basel. For the past six years, the artist has translated this specific feeling into installations and drawings mirroring public pools. During art month, his works will simultaneously be on view at UBS Art Studio, CHAT’s booth, Oi! Gallery, and Gallery Exit. The UBS commissioned work, Mimimomo Pool (2026), takes its name from the Cantonese expression of a sluggish state. The installation is a large circular waterless pool with massage devices along the walls and in-pool umbrellas, offering a small communal space of rest to shield from the intensity of the art fair.
Steph Huang with Perrotin at Encounters
For London-based Taiwan-born artist Steph Huang, everything goes back to ‘translation’. A fictional recollection of Susan’s memories and emotions of growing up in Taiwan informs Huang’s immersive installation, Grafting, installed in the Encounters sector. Susan embodies everyone who grew up in that particular Taiwan cultural landscape—one where Taiwanese washitsu replaces the tatami, and shoji screens extend to blur indoor and outdoor space—where cultural practices were dynamic as they were adapted out of need.
Editor
Karrie Lam
