Top image: Ben Brown Fine Arts 2014

Hitting its 3rd year in March, Art Basel in Hong Kong is undergoing some major refurbishments. First off, Adeline Ooi, who hails from Malaysia and was previously the Swiss fair’s VIP Relations Manager for Southeast Asia, will be replacing Magnus Renfrew as Director Asia. The fair has also moved its date forward by two months, which, according to Fair Director Marc Spiegler, was largely for strategic reasons. “We want to space out the three Basel fairs to attract a larger and more diverse turn-out to the Hong Kong fair. We’d had lot of collectors and gallerists complain to us that they couldn’t come [to Art Basel in Hong Kong] because they’re in New York for auction week or for Freize.”

Art Basel 2014

Art Basel Hong Kong 2015 will feature 233 premier galleries from 37 countries and territories. Sticking to the old formula, the fair will be divided into four sectors. While Galleries will play host to 177 big-name galleries, Discoveries is the stomping ground for emerging artists from around the world, and Insights will contain 34 galleries with spaces across the Asia Pacific. Of note, the Encounters sector, which presents large-scale sculptural and installation pieces, will not be curated by Yuko Hasegawa this year. Taking her place is Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of Artspace in Sydney.

White Cube gallery 2014

Aiming to connect the best of the Western and Asian art worlds, the fair has a strong showing of Asia-based galleries. A total of 50 per cent of the galleries have brick-and-mortar exhibition spaces in the region, with the likes of 10 Chancery Lane, Alisan Fine Arts, Hanart TZ Gallery, Gallery Exit and newcomer am space hailing from Hong Kong.

Vernissage 2014

Artists whose works will be dotting the fairgrounds include Hong Kong artists Trevor Yeung and Samson Young, Indonesian artist Bagus Pandega, Chinese artists Ling Wen and Yan Cong, American artist John Patrick Walsh III and Cambodian rising star Leang Seckon.

Daniel Templon gallery 2014

Beijing and Zurish-based multi-media artist and producer Li Zhenghua heads up the Film Sector for the second year in a row. The three-day film programme will be presented in collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Details have yet to be released at the time of the interview.

Pace gallery 2014

As usual, Conversations, the morning programme of talks and panel discussions and its sister series, Salon, will provide the fair with its intellectual bent.

Art Basel Hong Kong 2015 takes place from March 13-17 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.