Business units
Art Basel
Art Basel Hong Kong
Celebrating Art Basel's ten-year anniversary in Hong Kong and its ever-flourishing arts scene – and marking the city's grand reopening after three years of pandemic-related challenges – Art Basel Hong Kong 2023 reaffirmed its position as the apex cultural moment in the region. The largest edition since 2019, the fair took place across two floors of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) for the first time since the pandemic, bringing together 177 galleries from across the world – a significant increase from 130 galleries in 2022 – and saw the return of all special sectors, including Encounters, Film, Kabinett, and Conversations.
The show attracted an international attendance of 86,000 across the five show days and reported vigorous sales across sectors and market segments, attesting to the continued reinvigoration of Hong Kong's cultural scene, its uncontested position as the leading art market hub in Asia, and its critical importance within the global trade. Collectors from Hong Kong, mainland China, across Asia, and further afield came out in force; leading private collectors from 70 countries and territories as well as museum directors, curators, and patrons from over 100 international museums and institutions attended the fair and experienced a dynamic program across the city's cultural institutions, including the recently opened M+ and Hong Kong Palace Museum.
Art Basel Hong Kong 2023. Nanzuka.
Art Basel Hong Kong 2023 took place from March 23 to March 25, with Preview Days on March 21 and 22. The 2024 edition of the show will take place from March 28 to 30, with Preview Days on March 26 and 27, shortly following the publication of this report. The upcoming edition will bring together 243 leading galleries from 40 countries and territories, marking the show's return to pre-pandemic scale.
Art Basel
Following the announcement of Maike Cruse as Director, Art Basel in Basel, the 2023 edition of Art Basel's flagship fair concluded with highly praised presentations by 284 galleries from 36 countries and territories and notable sales throughout the week. Taking place at Messe Basel from June 15 to 18, 2023, the show welcomed 82,000 visitors throughout its VIP and Public days – including leading private collectors from across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa and representatives of over 240 institutions – once again reinforcing its position as the most important convening point for the global art world.
Art Basel in Basel 2023, flying the flag over Mittlere Bruecke
The fair debuted Kabinett, a mainstay sector in the Hong Kong and Miami Beach shows which allows galleries to showcase focused presentations within their booths and dive deeper into the practices of the artists presented. Curated by Giovanni Carmine, Director of the Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Unlimited, the sector for monumental works, featured 76 large-scale installations and performances. Visitors also enjoyed a range of public programs, including an interactive installation by Latifa Echakhch on the Messeplatz; the largest edition of Parcours to date, featuring 24 site-specific installations across the city; Conversations; and Film.
Paris+ par Art Basel
Showcasing the French capital's continued ascent as a global art market hub, the second edition of Art Basel's show in Paris featured 154 premier galleries, including 61 operating spaces in France, and was emboldened by a strong showing of leading international participants from Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Galleries reported strong sales across all market segments, including works by 20th-century masters, mid-career practitioners, and emerging voices. The show attracted an overall attendance of 38,000 throughout its VIP and public days, including leading private collectors from France, Europe, the Americas, Asia, and beyond, as well as representatives of more than 170 museums and foundations from across the globe.
Further expanding its offering and footprint in the French capital, Paris+ par Art Basel 2023 staged an expanded, freely accessible public program running concurrently to the fair and realized in collaboration with the city's world-class cultural institutions and the City of Paris. The program comprised three exhibitions, two monumental outdoor installations, and a series of talks and debates, presented in six iconic locations across the city, including the Jardin des Tuileries – Domaine national du Louvre, the Chapelle des Petits-Augustins des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and the Place Vendôme, as well as three new venues: the Palais d'Iéna, the parvis de l'Institut de France, and the Centre Pompidou.
Paris+ par Art Basel 2023. Urs Fischer, “Wave”, presented by Gagosian
Paris+ par Art Basel 2023 took place at the Grand Palais Ephémère from October 20 to 22, with Preview Days on October 18 and 19. The fair's next edition will unfold in the event's permanent venue, the iconic Grand Palais, from October 18 to 20, 2024.
Art Basel Miami Beach
Following the announcement of Bridget Finn as Director, Art Basel Miami Beach, the 2023 edition of Art Basel Miami Beach again solidified its position as the premier art fair in the Americas, marked by an extraordinary diversity of artistic positions on view in and beyond the halls; a new floorplan; the presence of 277 leading international galleries, including 25 new participants; and robust sales across all market segments. The show welcomed 79,000 throughout its VIP and Public days, with leading private collectors from over 92 countries and territories and representatives of more than 200 cultural institutions and foundations in attendance.
The first edition of Access by Art Basel, a new online art sales platform powered by Arcual and designed to support philanthropic giving, launched at Art Basel Miami Beach with 15 leading international galleries exhibiting in the fair. For each sale made on the platform, collectors were required to make an additional charitable pledge, beginning at a minimum of 10 % of the price of the artwork. The artist and their exhibiting gallery received the full value of each artwork sold on the platform, with the charitable donation going to the collector's choice of The Miami Foundation or The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The initiative raised over USD 100,000 in donations to the two charities.
Art Basel Miami Beach 2023. Osgemeos, presented by Lehmann Maupin
Additionally, extending beyond the fair halls, Art Basel collaborated with a host of world-class institutions, private collections, and cultural partners for a premier program of exhibitions, events, and activations across Miami Beach throughout the fair week. Art Basel partnered with Tribeca Festival for the first-ever Tribeca Festival at Art Basel Miami Beach, hosting four days of live musical performances and exclusive conversations with trailblazing artists at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden.
Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 took place from December 8 to 10, with Preview Days on December 6 and 7, at the Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC).
Continued innovation and value creation
Throughout 2023, Art Basel continued to innovate and drive value beyond its core offering, including:
- The implementation of a new organizational framework, placing a Director in charge of each show: Maike Cruse, Art Basel in Basel (announced 2023), Clément Delépine, Paris+ par Art Basel, Angelle Siyang-Le, Art Basel Hong Kong, and Bridget Finn, Art Basel Miami Beach (announced 2023).We also announced the appointment of Hayley Romer as Chief Growth Officer and Craig Hepburn as Chief Digital Officer, spearheading new value propositions for Art Basel's global community of galleries as well as its growing audience base through business and digital innovation. Romer and Hepburn are based in New York and Basel, respectively, and join Art Basel's core leadership team.
- The expansion of Art Basel's Partnership platform, with new and returning Sponsors from across the Cultural, Luxury, Hospitality, Fashion, Media, and Financial sectors.
- The accelerated growth of Art Basel's Marketing channels, including owned editorial, content, and social media platforms, connecting Art Basel to an ever-broader global audience.
- Continued innovation in the Digital realm, exemplified by such projects as Access by Art Basel at Art Basel Miami Beach.
- The successful delivery of the second edition of Art Week Tokyo in collaboration with Japan Contemporary Art Platform, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the Art Week Tokyo Mobile Project Organizing Committee, with support from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan.
- The publication of Art Basel's industry-leading Art Market Report and Survey of Global Collecting assessing the global art market and trends in art collecting.