What to Do in and Around Art Basel
WWD's picks include a room with an unparalleled view of the skyline, an AI-powered app that guides you to your next favorite artist and a virtual try-on kiosk with digital garments by emerging talents.
With ComplexCon and Art Basel kicking off Hong Kong‘s busy spring social calendar, drawing high flyers from around the world to the global financial hub, the city's creative, culture and hospitality sectors are ready to offer visitors experiences that could make them want to come back for more.
Here, WWD rounds up the latest things to see, as well as exciting places to shop, stay and rewind.
Hotel With an Unparalleled View
Situated on the edge of Victoria Harbor in Tsim Sha Tsui, the renovated Regent Hong Kong — formerly operated under the Intercontinental brand — comes with some of the best views of the city's iconic skyline. Its seafront-facing lobby lounge, which has been a high-tea hot spot for decades, has been given an understated and tasteful overhaul with high ceilings and curved glass walls. The hotel also comes with a slew of fine-dining options, including a cigar bar, a steak house, a new branch of Nobu and the Cantonese cuisine specialist Lai Ching Heen.
A Quarter of a Century of Original Oakley Design at K11 Musea
Peter Yee, Oakley's former vice president of design, will host an exhibition spotlighting 25 years of his designs for the brand at
Adrian Cheng‘s high-end retail complex K11 Musea. Powered by the 3D-based phygital platform Spin.Fashion, the exhibition, which will run from March 28 to April 28, will leverage Web3 technologies, showing never-before-seen sketches, prototypes, and limited-edition eyewear and watches from the golden age of Oakley.
Also at K11 Musea, 300 Years Of Jewels and Craftsmanship At Van Cleef & Arpels
Another exhibit to explore at K11 Musea is “An Eye for Beauty, the Illuminata Jewelry Collection” by Van Cleef & Arpels' L'École school of jewelry arts, open until March 31. Shown for the first time are some 50 pieces of European and Chinese jewelry from a local connoisseur's private collection, which spans three centuries and ranges from a portable chest in huanghuali wood from the late Ming dynasty and Qing court jewels to a silver-and-gold bracelet of curling cabochon garnets outlined with minute diamonds from the 1840s to aluminum ear clips by JAR.
Front Row Experience at Rosewood Hong Kong
To celebrate its fifth anniversary, Rosewood Hong Kong is offering a 12-day program called “Rosewood Front Row,” showcasing its excellence in food, art and design, culture and wellness. It includes an art-focused conversation with the visual art museum M+ featuring speakers like architects Piet Boon, and Roco Yim, and artist Frederik Molenschot; a private yacht transfer from the hotel to the Art Basel venue; culinary collaborations between the Michelin-starred Brat and the hotel's steak house Henry, as well as the Mumbai finedining restaurant Masque with Rosewood's
own buzzy Indian restaurant Chaat, and the launch of celebrity stylist Rossano Ferretti's namesake hair spa at the hotel's wellness center Asaya.
Kasing Lung at Landmark
Upscale shopping mall Landmark will present a solo art exhibition and retail concept by the Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung on March 26. Taking over the mall's atrium, the showcase will include cutout motifs of Lung's characters, and 25 new paintings — some almost 6 feet tall. On the basement level, called Belowground, there will be an extensive retrospective display of the artist's works, including more than 120 sketches, drawings, and sculptures, as well as
Lung's collaborations with brands such as Globe-Trotter, Vans, RetaW Fragrance and Hidden NY.
Pearl Lam Does Maggi Hambling
Two never-before-seen series of paintings by British artist Maggi Hambling, which showcase the lasting influence of Chinese ink drawings on Hambling's career, will be unveiled in an upcoming exhibition called “The Night” at Pearl Lam Galleries' location in Hong Kong. Known for her rebellious spirit and outspokenness, Hambling will also present a selection of new sculptures and a new Wall of Water painting for the occasion.
Art for the Oceans
Parley for the Oceans, the nonprofit environmental organization that focuses on the protection of the oceans, will promote its global fundraising initiative titled “Art for the Oceans” at Art Basel Hong Kong.
Dedicated to protecting the oceans for life without plastic pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss, the program will see Parley's Global Cleanup Network collect one pound of plastic for every $1 donated. During the fair, Parley will curate a space that showcases data underscoring the beauty and fragility of the oceans, as well as Parley's collaborations with artists such as Keiichi Tanaami, Ed Ruscha, Jenny Holzer, Katharina Grosse, Pipilotti Rist and Doug Aitken.
Street and Fashion Collide at ComplexCon Hong Kong
Pop culture fair ComplexCon will bring its first event in Asia to AsiaWorld-Expo from Friday to Sunday. Curated by Japanese graphic artist Verdy, the mastermind behind Blackpink's “Born Pink World” tour, the fair will feature a FabriX AR digital kiosk for visitors to try on virtual fashion creations by Abra, Celine Kwan, Chen Peng, Christian Stone, Eden Tan, Feng Chen Wang, Germanier, Mark Gong, Ryunosuke Okazaki, Susan Fang and Windowsen. It will also include a new work from Daniel Arsham, a one-day crash course on “collaboration theory” by Hiroshi Fujiwara's Fragment University, and concerts headlined by 21 Savage, Simon Dominic, Edison Chen and many more.
Gary Card Presents “People Mountain, People Sea” at Oi!
Gary Card, one of the most in-demand set designers working in the realm of fashion with clients including Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Vivienne Westwood, Dover
Street Market and LN-CC, has unveiled his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong at the Oi! art space in North Point. Running until July 27, the exhibition, titled “People Mountain, People Sea” — a Chinese idiom describing how crowded a place can get — will feature sculptures, paintings and digital installations created through Card's mischievous lens with Eastern and Western iconographies morphing into something outlandish yet familiar.
Have an Art Adviser in Your Pocket
Feeling lost among the nearly endless selection of galleries and booths available in town? That's what AI-powered app Docent seeks to solve, with a platform cofounders Hélène Nguyen-Ban and Mathieu Rosenbaum aim to make as easy and straightforward to use as, say, Spotify.
For Art Basel Hong Kong, Docent is giving exclusive access to preview artworks from its partner galleries showing at the fair, including Balice Hertling, Carlos/Ishikawa, Fitzpatrick Gallery and Nova Contemporary. It is also supporting the five-artist exhibition “And the Safe Spots Become Impassable,” curated by Ethan Yip and Yisi Li.
The platform will be the exclusive online partner of the debut edition of Supper
Club Hong Kong, a five-day event held at the Grade 1 heritage site Fringe Club. With 20 galleries from the region and abroad, the program will include live performances and panel talks as well as experiential presentations curated by Hong Kong-based cultural specialist Anqi Li.
Docent is available on iOS.