Art Basel in Hong Kong 2016: Encounters

Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of Artspace in Sydney returns to curate the Encounters sector of Art Basel in Hong Kong for the second time, presenting 16 artworks by artists from 12 countries and territories: Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mainland China, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The sector is a unique platform that transcends the traditional art fair stand, presenting large-scale sculptural installations and will feature work by Brook Andrew, Charles Avery, Hans Berg and Nathalie Djurberg, Roberto Chabet, Chen Zhen, Isa Genzken, Kyungah Ham, Arik Levy, Peter Liversidge, Richard Maloy, Tintin Wulia, Tromarama, Keiji Uematsu, Lawrence Weiner, Pae White and Zhang Ding.

For her second curation of the sector, Alexie Glass-Kantor explores the nature of an ‘encounter’ itself, curating an edition that aims to inspire both awe and wonder in an audience that will be required to interact with and participate in the immersive environment of many of the works on show. The number of exhibits has been reduced to 16 so artists and their galleries can be more ambitious in their presentations. This year’s edition will include five site-specific installations and six artworks that will be premiered at Encounters, including works by Brook Andrew, Isa Genzken, Arik Levy, Richard Maloy, Lawrence Weiner, Tintin Wulia and Zhang Ding.

“I’m delighted that this year, close collaborations with the participants have resulted in a number of works that will be premiering at Art Basel, as well as site-specific works that have been created as a direct response to exploring what an ‘encounter’ is or could become” says Alexie Glass-Kantor.