Good morning from Hong Kong. Art Basel Hong Kong officially opens to the public this weekend but the days leading up to Asia’s premier art fair are when the real business takes place. Monocle was in town for a whirlwind of events, openings, dinners and a bubbly launch party of our own. Here’s what’s coming up in today’s special edition.

a letter from hong kong: A buoyant week signals new maturity for Asia’s contemporary art market
Q&A: Chan Wai Lap on the art fair’s strangest showcase
EXHIBITIONS OF NOTE: Five things to see this week
SHOP HERe: Hong Kong’s best boutiques and brands
OVERHEARD AT... Art Basel Hong Kong

When I checked into The Hari Hong Kong on Monday afternoon, proprietor Arun Harilela was in the busy lobby wearing a big smile. “Hong Kong is packed,” he told me. “It’s going to be a crazy week.” And boy, was he right. Bags down, Octopus Card out and off we went. 

First up was an exhibition in Quarry Bay and an immersive installation in North Point. Then to Central for the unveiling of Ayako Rokkaku’s giant sculpture at the Landmark Atrium. Security was tight, wristbands were required and the DJ set was drowned out by a crowd of fans screaming for Bright, a Thai actor famed for his role in a Boys’ Love TV series. By nightfall the art crowd made its way en masse across Victoria Harbour to Kowloon for the annual M+ party. Huge lines formed outside with QR codes at the ready and inside an incredible performance by a South Korean pop group unfolded – a curatorial nod to the institution’s new Lee Bul retrospective. By this point, my right arm was decorated with a rainbow of fabric wristbands.

The next morning began with a huddle of Southeast Asians and the preview of a new museum under construction in Manila, proving that Hong Kong truly is where Asia’s art community comes to meet the world (sorry, Singapore and Seoul). The economy is picking up but rising rents in once affordable districts could force smaller independent galleries to move elsewhere – an all too familiar story. But Hong Kong’s hyper efficiency is one of the trade-offs for those soaring overheads. The crowded city runs like clockwork, ahead of schedule even, so there’s time to squeeze in a few more stops before heading back to West Kowloon for a hard-hat tour of the performing arts centre – the only time I’d happily stand on a stage in front of 1,400 seats.

For dinner? Focaccia sunflowers, tapioca caviar and wax-covered bananas. The Central Yards Edible Art Fair was the most prominent of the several new fringe events that launched this year. Some were boothless, while others dotted around a neighbourhood. My favourite was Side Space. Nine small galleries from around the world showing only what they could bring with them in one check-in suitcase.

But where is Art Basel in all of this? It opens to the public today but much of the real business is already done. The Qatari princesses and other serious collectors landed their private jets on Monday and Tuesday, received the royal treatment on Wednesday morning, and were gone before the show opened to the public. 

Walking the halls of the Convention & Exhibition Centre, visitors from Europe and the US were noticeably back in a big way and clearly enjoying a bit of distance from the dark clouds at home. I spotted a number of blue-chip gallery owners manning their booths and the wonderful fair director, Angelle Siyang-Le, was in high spirits when I bumped into her on the periphery of Zero 10. This new zone was carved out for the influx of crypto bros who have entered the digital-art sector in recent years. This whole tribe looks, sounds and dresses very differently from the rest of the fair crowd but let’s give them a few years before passing judgement. 

Things change rapidly in Hong Kong and the Art Basel of today is vastly different to 2019. Local artists have become the centrepiece (see Chan Wai Lap below), each day brings news of another major project and the fringe events have spread out citywide.

Too much? Perhaps. What did I miss? A lot. I wish that I had time to visit The Mills in Tsuen Wan. Hart Haus in Kennedy Town too. Mr Harilela would likely say that two nights is no longer enough and I would have to agree. 

Hong Kong is full of vim and there’s something happening around every corner. Before catching the last Cathay Pacific flight back to Bangkok, it was my turn to pour champagne at The Monocle Shop in Wan Chai as we launched The Hong Kong Correspondent newspaper with a party for subscribers, friends and contributors.

No art was exhibited, created or consumed that night but if you ask me the paper is a work of art and most of our VIPs walked away with a few copies in their bags and a big smile on their face.

If you are in Hong Kong this weekend, please swing by the shop to pick up a copy or give it a read at the fair. You can find us inside the UBS Collectors’ Lounge. Enjoy.
 
James Chambers is Monocle’s Asia editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

More from Art Basel:
- ‘People don’t expect it’: Art Basel Hong Kong director lauds the fair’s public programme

Chan Wai Lap is making a big splash at Art Basel Hong Kong this week. The 37-year-old visual artist features in multiple exhibitions across the city. Best known for his whimsical swimming pool sculptures, UBS commissioned him to create a site-specific work, “Mimimomo Pool”, for the fair. 

The highlight is an immersive installation called “Jeremy’s Bathhouse” at Oil art space in North Point. Visitors are invited to don a pair of plastic, cabbage-design slippers and sit in a heart-shaped plunge pool that’s dedicated to a lonely gastropod. Monocle went along for a dip, full of questions for the fun-loving Hong Konger.

So, who is Jeremy?
He’s a snail from the UK. I heard about him on the news. He has a rare left-rotating coil on his shell and that means he needs to find another snail with a left-rotating coil to make a baby. The public searched everywhere to find a mate and they succeeded. It’s a romantic love story. Jeremy must have felt so lonely and there are many Jeremys on the streets of Hong Kong. Finding your soul mate is very hard nowadays, so this bathhouse is a place to meet.

To hear more from Wai Lap, including why the bathhouse was the perfect place for a romantic union, click here.

Further reading:
– How photographer Greg Girard captured the hidden sides of Hong Kong and Tokyo

Done the rounds and ticked off the highlights at M+ and Tai Kwun? There’s plenty more to explore while you’re in the city. Start here: five art shows to immerse in the region’s creative scene.  

1.
‘Threading Inwards’
CHAT, The Mills
Hong Kong was once home to a thriving rag trade and the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT) explores this history from a repurposed cotton mill in Tsuen Wan. In this flagship show, 14 artists and four curators from across Asia examine spirituality and the role that rugs, carpets and other textiles play in rituals and ceremonies. Don’t miss Marcos Kueh’s monumental new work, The Spirit of Labour: Zhinü, the latest in his ongoing textile series that draws on Industrial Revolution-era union banners.
‘Threading Inwards’ is on at CHAT until 28 June.

2.
‘Certainly’
Gold by Serakai Studio 
The industrial-turned-artsy neighbourhood of Wong Chuk Hang has a new resident: a salon and exhibition space called Gold. Its inaugural show, Certainly, is inspired by artist-composer La Monte Young’s 1960 event score “Draw a straight line and follow it” and invites artists to meditate on the condition of uncertainty. For Serakai Studio co-founder and curatorial director Tobias Berger, the theme is particularly pertinent to those working in the contemporary art field. “You have to be flexible and you have to like uncertainty,” he says. Berger whisked our culture editor around Wong Chuk Hang for our newspaper, The Hong Kong Correspondent – see it here.
‘Certainly’ is on at Serakai Studio’s Gold until 3 May.

For the complete list of Hong Kong exhibitions to visit, read here.

Beyond Hong Kong’s usual luxury shopping destinations, there is a network of independent labels operating at a smaller scale but prioritising experimentation and unorthodox designs. Together they offer a different perspective on the city’s fashion scene. We have highlighted two below, with the full 12 available to read here. 

1.
Matt Hui
Less than a year since his debut, Matt Hui’s first collection has already attracted the attention of shoppers through textured knits, bold patterns and confident play with proportions. Designed with layering in mind, Hui’s pieces favour relaxed silhouettes. The blue pullover, featuring an oversized spread collar, stripe sleeves and check-patterned front, showcases the founder’s ability to craft designs that move easily between casual and more refined settings. 
For more from Hui, click here.

2.
Meilan 
Michael Cheung, founder of Meilan, pays homage to his mother’s impeccable style with a collection that draws on East Asian craftsmanship. Beaded jadeite bracelets, gold pendants and lacquered rings make up a tightly edited collection that favours quality over excess, while pieces such as the printed pure-silk Crown of Thorns shirt show off material and workmanship.
meilanjewels.com

For more top shops and boutiques to browse in Hong Kong, check out our 12 favourites here.

Further reading:
- See how Hong Kong’s ‘boothless’ Pavilion art fair invites visitors to contemplate and connect