In a press release dated May 6, Art HK – Hong Kong International Art Fair has announced its acquisition by the Basel-based MCH Swiss Exhibition Group, parent company of the fairs Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach. MCH Group will take a majority ownership stake in Asian Art Fairs Ltd, the owners of Art HK. The move confirms ART HK as the leading commercial art event in the Asia-Pacific region.
The deal goes into effect Jul 1, 2011. MCH Group has acquired 60 percent of the shares in Asian Art Fairs Ltd with an option to acquire the remaining 40 percent in 2014. The name of the fair will remain Art HK but its dates will be shifted from late May to early February, with the next edition scheduled for Feb 2-5, 2012.
A spokesperson for Art HK told ART iT that the financial details of the agreement will not be disclosed, and that the rescheduling takes into account the week-long Chinese New Year holiday, which begins Jan 23 in 2012. The spokesperson characterized the revised scheduling as being convenient “for everyone in the international art world” while positioning Art HK as the first major fair of the year. Art Basel traditionally takes place in June and Art Basel Miami Beach in December. The announcement follows months of speculation that MCH Group would acquire the Hong Kong fair, with reports of negotiations first surfacing in February of this year.
The current director of Art HK, Magnus Renfrew, who has guided the fair from its inception, will retain his position in 2012. In an email correspondence with ART iT, Renfrew described the acquisition as excellent news for Art HK. “[It is] a great endorsement of the solid foundations we have laid to date,” he wrote. “Asia is now clearly center stage.”
Renfrew sees the arrangement with MCH Group as providing a boost in expertise and reputation to the Hong Kong fair, as well as access to new collectors and a broader international community. When asked how the acquisition would affect the format of the fair, which this year is adding a new section, Asia One, showcasing solo exhibitions by artists of Asian origin, Renfrew replied, “The continuation of feature sections within the fair […] is something that we review every year and will be evaluating.”
In a statement included in the press release announcing the acquisition, René Kamm, CEO of MCH Group, commented, “As the organizer of Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach – the two most important art shows worldwide – we have every interest in a strong presence in Asia. With our acquisition of Asian Art Fairs Ltd and Art HK – Hong Kong International Art Fair, we will be able to build on the know-how while, at the same time, channelling our own extensive expertise in the art world.”
Scheduled for May 26-29, this year’s edition of Art HK features 260 galleries from 38 countries, a significant number of them first-time participants including regular Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach exhibitors Sadie Coles and Victoria Miro from London; Barbara Gladstone, Marian Goodman and David Zwirner from New York; and Sprüth Magers of Berlin and London. The fair has also attracted new heft from the Asia-Pacific region, in the form of Nature Morte from New Delhi, Ann Schwartz from Melbourne and Vitamin Creative Space from Guangzhou. It remains to be seen whether the introduction of the Art Basel brand will result in further contraction or expansion of the fair’s current local, regional and international participants.
Notably, the MCH Group acquisition of Art HK follows the recent establishment of a Hong Kong branch by multinational gallery Gagosian and the selection of the architects Foster + Partners to design the masterplan of the long-gestating West Kowloon Cultural District, which will house an ambitious multi-disciplinary museum, M+, directed by Lars Nittve, founding director of the Tate Modern in London.