ART HK: last day

Thousands of visitors poured into ART HK over the weekend. Foot-traffic along the aisles slowed to a crawl and booths were jam-packed with viewers armed with cameras. Collectors making their final rounds had to battle crowds to get to works they wanted to see again and dealers prayed they'd get through to the end of each day with their works unscathed.

Starkwhite at ART HK 2010

ART HK: Day 2

ART HK Vernissage

The third edition of ART HK opened last night with a preview followed by a lively vernissage. Over 10,000 people poured into the event over a few hours fueling predictions that the fair will easily beat last years record attendance of just over 30,000 visitors. With many galleries reporting good sales on the first night, Art HK appears to be off to a good start.

The Real Art Roadshow

Founded by Fiona Campbell, The Real Art Roadshow moves contemporary art to schools around New Zealand in two customised trucks set up to display art and run education classes. You can read our earlier posting on the Real Art Roadshow here.

Last year the Real Art Roadshow visited 6 public places, 132 schools and had over 70,000 visitors through their doors. It's a great project, all funded by private patronage and contributions from supporters. But like all independently funded projects, it needs ongoing financial support. If you'd like to help, this link takes you to the Real Art Roadshow website where you can find out more about their programme and how to make a contribution.

Images: The Real Art Roadshow at Warbirds over Wanaka and the interior of one of the art trucks

Current shows and gallery hours

We are in Hong Kong this week for ART HK 2010. While we are away at the fair our gallery hours are Monday to Friday 11.00am to 5.00pm and Saturday 11.00am to 4.00pm. Downstairs we are showing Gavin Hipkins Bible Studies (New Testament) 2008-2009 and upstairs we have works from stock.

Image: Matt Henry, TPS-L2 (Naptholl Red), 2010, acrylic on linen, 90 x 135 x 30mm

ART HK

Next week we'll be at ART HK. The fair kicks off with a preview and vernissage on Wednesday 26 May and then runs from 27 - 30 May 2010. As usual, we'll be posting images and reports on the event from Hong Kong. 

Singapore's Fort Knox for art

Singapore has opened a maximum-security vault for art, gold and valuables signaling the city-state's ambitions to match Hong Kong and and Beijing as an Asian centre for art. Singapore FreePort has 30,000sqm of strongrooms, which are inside Changi airport allowing non-resident collectors to store valuables without paying tax or filing customs forms. FreePort also has exhibition space launched with a by-appointment exhibition presented by a Geneva-based art dealer.

Tommy Koh, Chairman of the National Heritage Board, which runs Singapore's museums decribes the FreePort as "a golden link in the value chain to promote Singapore as a centre for art, culture and antiquities and for the storage and sale of such high value items."

Lorenzo Rudolf says "It's like Fort Knox." Rudolf also appears to be a prime mover in the plan to position Singapore as a regional art hub linked to the international art market. The former director of Art Basel, ShContemporary and creator of ArtParis+Guests has launched ART STAGE SINGAPORE, a new art fair scheduled for 12 - 16 January 2011.

Image: Singapore FreePort designed by Swiss architects Benedicte Montant and Carmelo Stendardo

Toxic memorabilia

A porcelain sign that marked the intersection of Wall and Broad Street, near the New York Stock Exchange, is to be sold by Christies in Manhattan next month and is estimated to fetch between USD80,000 - 90,000. Who would have thought a piece of contaminated memorabilia would be worth so much? For most of us, 'Wall Street' conjurs up the creators of the toxic financial instruments that triggered a worldwide recession sending the international art market into freefall.

Bible Studies installation views

Gavin Hipkins' exhibition Bible Studies (New Testament) 2008- 2009 runs to 12 June 2010. You can read our exhibition release here.

Starkwhite et al. at Momentum

the story of

POPULAR PRODUCTIONS_et al. 1973 (NZ)

16mm silent film

Audio by DJ HOUSO 'praising god' 1990 (NZ)

Transfer to digital 2010

Presented by Starkwhite et al. at Momentum/Sydney (May 2010), an art forum focusing on video/film, new media, performance and sound

Bible Studies Opening

The opening for Gavin Hipkins exhibition Bible Studies (New Testament) 2008 - 2009 will take place on Monday 17 May 2010 from 5.30pm.

Image: Gavin Hipkins, Loaded Haze, from the Bible Studies (New Testament) series, 2008-2009, C-type photograph, 1200 x 1400mm

Phil Dadson's new kinetic wind sculpture

Phil Dadson has just completed Akau Tanga, a kinetic wind sculpture installed in the Meridian Wind Sculpture series along Highway 1, Evan's Bay close to Wellington airport. Akau Tanga is the Maori name for Evan's Bay conjuring up the lamenting sounds of the wind in the bay, which is reputed to be one of New Zealand's windiest locations. This link takes you to the artist's website where you will find more images and information on the new wind sculpture.

Images: Akau Tanga, 2010, courtesy the artist and Meridian

Momentum / Sydney

Momentum got underway yesterday in a beautiful old building near Sydney's Carriageworks. The upstairs space is set up up for the two-day Momentum Forum, with a large open space for performance. Downstairs the organisers abandoned initial plans to create booths, opting for open space with wall-mounted screens for projections and 47" LCDs clamped to columns. Not surprisingly the floor looks more like an adjunct to the Biennale of Sydney than an art fair, but this in line with the orgainsers aim "to re-imagine the art fair into a more sustainable and innovative model", one that embraces work such as video and performance, that rarely find its way into conventional art fairs.

On day one we presented video works by Stella Brennan (South Pacific), Hye Rim Lee (Crystal City Spun), Jae Hoon Lee (A leaf) and Grant Stevens (Crushing and In the Beyond).
Images from the top: Hye Rim Lee's Crystal City Spun and Jae Hoon Lee's A Leaf, Stella Brennan's South Pacific, Grant Stevens' In the Beyond, and the panel for the forum session on re-imaging the art fair