HONG KONG.- Art Basel announced today the details of its fourth edition in Hong Kong, taking place for the second time in March. The Hong Kong show of Art Basel, whose Lead Partner is UBS, will feature 239 premier galleries from 35 countries and territories, presenting works of the highest quality that range from the Modern period of the early 20th century to the most contemporary artists of today. Once again, Art Basel will be a showcase for art from the region of Asia and Asia-Pacific, where half of its galleries have exhibition spaces. Art Basel in Hong Kong will open to the public from Thursday, March 24 to Saturday, March 26, 2016, and will take place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).

Alongside a strong presence of returning galleries from across the globe, this year’s edition features 28 galleries that will participate in the Hong Kong show of Art Basel for the first time. Nine new galleries join from Asia including Antenna Space (Shanghai), galerie nichido (Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Karuizawa, Kasama, Paris), Gallery 100 (Taipei), Ink Studio (Beijing), Lawrie Shabibi (Dubai), Longmen Art Projects (Shanghai), MEM (Tokyo), Vanguard Gallery (Shanghai) and Yeo Workshop (Singapore). Art Basel in Hong Kong will also see the addition of 18 leading Western galleries showing for the first time including Cardi Gallery (Milan, London), Carlos/Ishikawa (London), David Kordansky Gallery (Los Angeles), Galerie 1900 – 2000 (Paris), Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi (Berlin), Galerie Jocelyn Wolff (Paris), Galerie Nagel Draxler (Berlin, Cologne), gb agency (Paris), Greene Naftali (New York), In Situ – fabienne leclerc (Paris), Kewenig (Berlin, Palma), Metro Pictures (New York), P.P.O.W (New York), Sabrina Amrani (Madrid), Société (Berlin), team (gallery, inc.) (New York, Los Angeles), Xavier Hufkens (Brussels) and Zeno X Gallery (Antwerp). Selma Feriani Gallery (Sidi Bou Said, London) joins Art Basel as the first African gallery outside of South Africa to ever participate in an Art Basel show.

The upcoming edition features a particularly strong representation of galleries with exhibition spaces in Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, in addition to those with spaces in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The participating galleries have exhibition spaces in: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mainland China, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Galleries, the main sector of the show, will feature 187 Modern and contemporary art galleries, presenting the highest quality of painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography, video and editioned works. Exhibitors returning after a brief hiatus include Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York) and Applicat-Prazan (Paris), while many Asian galleries have moved from other sectors of the show into Galleries, where they will present a wider range of their gallery programs. These galleries are: Athr (Jeddah), Blindspot Gallery (Hong Kong), Chambers Fine Art (Beijing, New York), Galerie Ora-Ora (Hong Kong), Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde (Dubai, Brussels), Nanzuka (Tokyo), Nature Morte (New Delhi), Project Fulfill Art Space (Taipei), Taro Nasu (Tokyo), TKG+ (Taipei, Beijing), Yavuz Gallery (Singapore) and Yumiko Chiba Associates (Tokyo). Francesca Minini (Milan) and Galeria Plan B (Cluj, Berlin) are also showing for the first time in the Galleries sector.

The Insights sector will be dedicated to curatorial projects by 28 galleries with spaces in Asia and the Asia-Pacific region and will feature solo shows, exceptional historical material, and strong thematic group exhibitions. This year’s edition features a particularly strong presentation of Modern work, with around half of the galleries presenting material from this period. This year’s Insights will provide a particularly diverse and in-depth overview of art from across the region with featured artists from Australia, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Japan, Mainland China, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Turkey. Highlights include eight large photographic works by Michael Cook (b. 1968, Australia), forming a panoramic narrative reflecting on colonial histories and drawing on the artist’s Bidjara heritage, presented by This Is No Fantasy + dianne tanzer gallery (Melbourne); Antenna Space (Shanghai) presents sculpture by artists Guan Xiao (b. 1983, Mainland China) and Yu Honglei (b. 1984, Mainland China) each responding to themes of ‘postproduction’ and ‘reproduction’; a new body of work by Stella Zhang (b. 1965, Mainland China), a continuation of her existing series ‘0-Viewpoint’ and comprising sculptural paintings and an installation, brought to Art Basel by Galerie du Monde (Hong Kong); experimental ink work by Li Huasheng (b. 1944, Mainland China), presented by Ink Studio (Beijing); ceramic sculptures by Kimiyo Mishimo (b. 1932, Japan), many of which will not have previously been seen outside of Japan, brought by MEM (Tokyo); performative video work by Tadasu Takamine (b. 1968, Japan), an artist whose work draws attention to the societal effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, presented by Arataniurano (Tokyo); and, brought by Pi Artworks (Istanbul, London), new sculptures by Tayeba Begum Lipi (b. 1969, Bangladesh) reflecting on her childhood, accompanied by video and audio work.

The Discoveries sector will present its strongest showcase of emerging artists so far with solo- and two-person exhibitions presented by 24 galleries. For this year’s edition, five of the galleries will be completely new to the show, while another six return after a brief hiatus. Highlights of the sector include intricate ink drawings by Pakistani artist Waqas Khan (b. 1982, Pakistan), presented by Sabrina Amrani (Madrid); Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi (Berlin) showing parts of Wu Tsang’s (b. 1982, United States) new body of work ‘Duilan’, exploring the close female relationship between revolutionary poet Qin Jin and calligrapher Wu Zhiying; an installation by Jess Johnson (b. 1979, New Zealand) presented by Darren Knight Gallery (Sydney) which will comprise 13 works on paper and one video work overlaid on a wall covered with wallpaper designed by the artist; Gallery Side 2’s (Tokyo) installation of work by Yusuke Saito (b. 1981, Japan), an artist usually known for his sculptures of food, who will be presenting boxed collages and resin sculptures surrounding ideas of digestion; Experimenter (Kolkata) offers a joint installation of work by Ayesha Sultana (b. 1985, Bangladesh) and Rathin Barman (b. 1984, India) who will share the theme ‘Sculpting in Time’; a focus on the abstraction located at the heart of today’s industry and society, featuring work by Sean Raspet (b. 1981, United States) and Ned Vena (b. 1983, United States), presented by Société (Berlin); and Joel Kyack’s (b. 1972, United States) sculptural installation presented by Workplace Gallery (Gateshead, London), which will explore the conflicts and parallels between intense consumerism, cultural conditions and the historical conditions of Hong Kong.

Last year saw the inaugural BMW Art Journey, a collaboration between BMW and Art Basel to support emerging artists, awarded to Hong Kong-based artist Samson Young (b. 1979). At the 2016 show in Hong Kong, first works from Samson Young’s project, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls: A Journey Into the Sonic History of Conflict' will be on view and the next shortlist for the BMW Art Journey will be announced.

The Encounters sector will show artworks on an institutional scale, presenting largescale sculptural installation pieces and performances, sited in prominent locations throughout the two exhibition halls. Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of the contemporary art institution Artspace in Sydney, will return for this edition to curate the sector for the second time. Further information on the works in the Encounters sector will be released in the coming months.

The popular Film sector will return this year, and will once again be curated by Beijing- and Zurich-based curator, multi-media artist and producer Li Zhenhua. The program will be presented in collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Centre adjacent to the HKCEC. The program will also be expanded to include feature-length and documentary films, with screenings taking place at the HKCEC for the first time.

Conversations, the long-established morning program of talks and panel discussions offers audiences first-hand access to renowned cultural speakers and opinion-formers from across the international art world. Complementing the Conversations program, the afternoon Salon series serves as a platform for shorter, more freestyle presentations, including artist talks, panel discussions, lectures and book launches. Full details on the talks program will be released in the coming months.

In addition, Art Basel is working closely with key cultural organizations across the city, including Asia Art Archive (AAA); the Asia Society; Para/Site Art Space; Spring Workshop; and M+, Hong Kong’s future museum for visual culture, offering an associated program of events onsite and throughout the city that takes place during the week of the show. Once again, Art Basel will be collaborating with Hong Kong’s International Commerce Centre (ICC), which will see a new light installation by an internationally renowned artist to be projected on to the side of the 108-storey skyscraper.

This November, Art Basel will support the annual Hong Kong Art Gallery Week organized by the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association, and will once again collaborate with the association to organize the gallery night prior to the opening of the show in March.