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Art Basel Hong Kong to debut installation from Encounters sector at Pacific Place offsite, to celebrate 11 years of collaboration with Swire Properties
As Swire Properties Arts Month returns in March, Hong Kong residents, visitors and culture aficionados will enjoy an array of unique experiences, as the Company showcases diverse works by globally-renowned artists.
Swire Properties is once again the Host Partner of Art Basel Hong Kong, as the show returns to the city with a full-scale programme of events. A key highlight this year is Art Basel Hong Kong's debut of an art installation from the Encounters sector at Pacific Place, marking the collection's first foray into the public realm outside of the fair. The Encounters sector will introduce large-scale sculptures and installation works, including the monumental work Gravity by multidisciplinary artist Awol Erizku, which will be on display at Pacific Place from 17 March to 2 April.
Returning with Art Basel Hong Kong is Swire Properties' VIP Lounge, which will run from 21 to 25 March. Designed by international architecture practice 10 Design, the lounge, titled Chromatic Reflections, will feature colourful and luminous installations celebrating the Company's five decades of creative transformation, as well as Swire Properties' vaunted 50th Anniversary digital art collection. The Lounge will also play host to the live Dialogues Series, which is making its first appearance since 2019.
At ArtisTree in Taikoo Place, Hong Kong-based French artist Polo Bourieau will debut his collection of 12 new stone sculptures as part of the ArtisTree Selects: Urban Rocks exhibition, from 16 March to 9 April. This programme will immerse visitors in beautiful and precious stones that have been transformed into contemporary art.
"Swire Properties Arts Month is one of the most anticipated dates on the city's arts and culture calendar," said Tim Blackburn, Chief Executive of Swire Properties. "We are delighted to be continuing our long and successful partnership with Art Basel, bringing inspirational artworks and unique experiences to Hong Kong. And this year, we will be debuting extraordinary art programmes at Pacific Place and Taikoo Place. Our Arts Month is a continuation of our commitment to make arts and culture an indelible part of everyday life, and to raise the city's profile as an international cultural destination."
SWIRE PROPERTIES ARTS MONTH 2023 - HIGHLIGHTS
Pacific Place
Gravity is a 10-metre installation that is modelled after King Tutankhamun, the antepenultimate pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. The work was created by Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Awol Erizku. The piece forms part of Art Basel Hong Kong's Encounters, which will feature 14 large-scale installations under the theme "This present, moment", curated by Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of Artspace, Sydney and the curator for the Australian pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale.
Erizku's appropriation of ancient figures explores the idea of timelessness and presence, and the artwork's playfulness invites onlookers to take a detour from their usual route. Gravity is presented by Ben Brown Fine Arts and supported by Swire Properties, the official partner of the offsite Encounters sector.
ArtisTree, Taikoo Place
Curated by Hong Kong-based art consultant Alison Pickett, ArtisTree Selects: Urban Rocks is Polo Bourieau's largest solo exhibition to date. The debut collection of 12 stone sculptures - inspired by Chinese scholars' rocks formed by nature over millions of years - reflects both our modern existence, and humanity's indelible mark on the planet. The stone sculptures were designed, hand-carved and hand-polished by Bourieau in his Tuscan workshop in Pietrasanta, Italy.
Influenced by Italo Calvino's 1972 novel, Le città invisibili (Invisible Cities), Bourieau's contemporary sculptures offer a powerful glimpse into an imaginary and parallel world where stones are created and transformed at the hands of humans, rather than nature, and explores the spaces of memories, landscapes, and maps of desires.
For more details of Swire Properties' Arts Month, visit https://www.swireproperties.com/en/art-and-culture/hk-arts-month/2023-content/art-basel-hong-kong/.
Photo Captions
Los Angeles-based conceptual artist Awol Erizku, the creator of Gravity, a 10-metre installation that is modelled after King Tutankhamun, the antepenultimate pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt
Polo Bourieau behind his sculpture Now Here Map (2021, Titanium Travertine, 121 x 49 x 31 cm)
Mandorla Gates (2021, Quartzite, 131 x 44 x 17 cm)
Meteor (2021, Bardiglio Imperiale, 125 x 28 x 24 cm)
Thin City (2021, Titanium Travertine, 133 x 60 x 28 cm)
About Swire Properties
Swire Properties develops and manages commercial, retail, hotel, and residential properties, with a particular focus on mixed-use developments in prime locations at major mass transportation intersections. Swire Properties is listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and its investment portfolio in Hong Kong comprises Taikoo Place, Pacific Place, Cityplaza, Citygate Outlets. The Company's completed portfolio in Hong Kong comprises approximately 16.8 million sq ft (approximately 1.56 million sqm) of space.
In the Chinese Mainland, Swire Properties has six completed mixed-use developments in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. They include Taikoo Li Sanlitun and INDIGO in Beijing, HKRI Taikoo Hui and Taikoo Li Qiantan in Shanghai, Taikoo Hui Guangzhou and Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu. INDIGO II in Beijing, Taikoo Li Xi'an and a new retail-led project in Sanya are currently under development. The Company's completed portfolio in the Chinese Mainland comprises approximately 14 million sq ft (approximately 1.3 million sqm) of space.
In addition to Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, the Company has investments in the United States, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
To mark Swire Properties' 50th anniversary, the Company is celebrating its achievements and the core values behind its success over the past 50 years with the theme of "ORIGINAL. ALWAYS.". "ORIGINAL" highlights the forward-looking and innovative spirit of Swire Properties, while "ALWAYS" represents the Company's long-term development.
Visit Swire Properties' website at www.swireproperties.com
About Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world's premier art shows for Modern and Contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. Art Basel's engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through new digital platforms and a number of new initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report and Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.