250,000 visited Art Basel Hong Kong's digital-only edition

Online Viewing Rooms: ‘Art Basel has paved the way for what’s to come’, says exhibitor

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As society adapts to the uncertainties and challenges brought about by Covid-19, the artworld has been exploring innovative ways to keep the art community connected. For Art Basel, this meant bringing forward the launch of its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/viewing-rooms">Online Viewing Rooms</a> to support the galleries and artists that had been due to show at Art Basel Hong Kong 2020. In total, 235 exhibitors took part, showing more than 2,000 works. Ranging in price from US$750 to US$3,000,000, these pieces had an aggregate value of approximately US$270 million – ‘almost undoubtedly&nbsp;[...]&nbsp;the priciest collection of works ever offered through a single online portal,’ wrote Tim Schneider of artnet News. This inaugural edition was a leap of faith for both Art Basel and its exhibitors, but one that brought galleries, collectors, and artists together during this time of social distancing. <div>‘[The Online Viewing Rooms project] has been very helpful in bringing the works that we were to show at Art Basel Hong Kong to the attention of a worldwide audience,’ said Fred Scholle, chairman of the Hong Kong-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/2008/Galerie-du-Monde" target="_blank">Galerie du Monde</a>. Art Basel’s digital initiative was particularly appreciated, he added, ‘during this difficult time, when so many people are in self-quarantine and not able to get out to visit galleries.’</div>

Unconstrained by the limitations of a traditional fair booth, the virtual realm provided a platform for galleries to present a range of creative curatorial concepts, and in some cases, monumental artworks.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1420/Ota-Fine-Arts" target="_blank">Ota Fine Arts</a> offered an iteration of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7763/Yayoi-Kusama" target="_blank">Yayoi Kusama</a>’s famed ‘Infinity Mirrored Rooms’, Life Shines On (2019), while&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1093/Galleria-Continua" target="_blank">Galleria Continua</a> presented&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7425/Antony-Gormley" target="_blank">Antony Gormley</a>’s Breathing Room II (2010), a hologram-like drawing in space,&nbsp;that blurs the line between object and experience.Solo presentations ranged from hot-from-studio pieces – such as a suite of works by the LA-based painter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7690/Matt-Paweski" target="_blank">Matt Paweski</a> at Park View/Paul Soto, and sculptures by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/18005/C%C3%A9cile-B-Evans" target="_blank">Cécile B. Evans</a> at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1112/Galerie-Emanuel-Layr">Galerie Emanuel Layr</a> – to art-historical surveys, including an exhibition dedicated to the pioneering Japanese printmaker Toshinobu Onosato by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/7530/Watanuki-Ltd-Toki-no-Wasuremono" target="_blank">Watanuki Ltd. | Toki-no-Wasuremono</a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1167/Annely-Juda-Fine-Art" target="_blank">Annely Juda Fine Art</a> showed a seasonal selection of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7510/David-Hockney" target="_blank">David Hockney</a>’s iPad drawings that capture the transition from winter to summer in East Yorkshire, along with a message from the artist: ‘Do remember they can’t cancel spring.’

In some of the rooms, the curatorial outline explicitly referenced today’s uncertainties.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1460/White-Space-Beijing" target="_blank">White Space Beijing</a> titled its exhibition of works by contemporary Chinese artists ‘Oooooooooops!’, writing in the notes: ‘Something still went right. We are proud to present this online exhibition in this challenging time. Art never gets canceled.'A new kind of art fair required new ways of sharing and learning about the art on show. Hundreds at a time joined virtual tours led by gallerists and curators. Simon Wang, director of the Shanghai-based gallery&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/2002/Antenna-Space" target="_blank">Antenna Space</a>, cohosted a virtual tour using the Zoom video-conferencing service with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1345/Boers-Li-Gallery" target="_blank">Boers-Li Gallery</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1188/Lisson-Gallery" target="_blank">Lisson Gallery</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1284/STPI">STPI</a>,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1388/Tina-Keng-Gallery" target="_blank">Tina Keng Gallery</a>. ‘It definitely helped a young gallery a lot,’ said Wang. ‘Many of our artists were unknown, so it was an opportunity to communicate and talk about the background stories.’ Wang added that the gallery had made sales to both new and existing clients, including collectors from Hong Kong, mainland China, and Indonesia.

For Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers, co-owners of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1281/Spr%C3%BCth-Magers" target="_blank">Sprüth Magers</a> (whose presentation included a typically provocative text-based work by Barbara Kruger alongside paintings by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7502/John-Baldessari" target="_blank">John Baldessari</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/6942/Jenny-Holzer" target="_blank">Jenny Holzer</a>), the Online Viewing Rooms&nbsp;have been an 'engaging and eye-opening tool for communication and collaboration'. 'Art Basel has paved the way for what’s to come’, they added.&nbsp;Although the Online Viewing Rooms are now closed, collectors can still contact galleries about works they encountered via the contact details on the individual gallery page.Top image:&nbsp;Philippe Parreno, My Room is Another Fish Bowl (detail),&nbsp;2016. 90 screen printed mylar balloons; 30 Salmon: 95 x 188 cm (each); 30 Smelt: 99 x 220.5 cm (each); 30 Roache: 100 x 218 cm (each), edition of 3. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London.

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