Hong Kong’s skyline.
Via Wikimedia Commons.
Tim Etchells and Sandy Angus may have sold ArtHK to the Swiss fair organizers who run Art Basel in 2012, but they aren’t out of the Hong Kong art fair scene yet. As the Art Newspaper reports, the duo are launching a new fair which they are tentatively calling Art Central.
The satellite fair will compete directly with Art Basel in Hong Kong, as the two events are slated to coincide in March 2015. Art Central will take a page from Frieze New York’s book by taking place inside a large, custom-built tent across from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, near the ferry pier. Some 100 art galleries and dealers are expected to participate.
Art Basel in Hong Kong is moving from May to March next year—a rescheduling about which we have some theories—as part of a ripple effect that stems from the Venice Biennale‘s earlier-than-usual May opening. Frieze New York has also shifted its calendar to adjust to the change.
Art Central will take place March 12–16, 2015, while Art Basel in Hong Kong will be open March 15–17 2015. London’s Art15 fair, which Etchells founded, recently shifted its dates so as to take place in May of 2015, rather than its usual February time slot.