Hong Kong’s Fine Art Asia Latest Fair to be Postponed

On August 17, fair organizers for Hong Kong’s Fine Art Asia (FAA) announced that the 2020 edition of the event has been postponed, with new dates yet to be confirmed. The annual fair was originally scheduled for October 4 to 7 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). 

According to an email sent to all exhibitors and partners, FAA founder and director Andy Hei explained that “the continued unprecedented challenges from July, the group gathering limitation, the restrictions on international travel and the quarantine policy have led us to rethink that a physical fair is not possible and inappropriate this October,” despite continuous efforts to realize the event. 

Following two months of very few local cases of Covid-19 in May and June, Hong Kong saw a third wave of the coronavirus spread across the city in July. Government mandated social distancing measures and restrictions of public gatherings of more than two people have been extended to at least August 25, while most public facilities including art institutions and museums remain shuttered. 

FAA began in 2006 and exhibits Western and Asian modern and contemporary art as well as antiques. Over 15,000 visitors attended last year’s iteration, which hosted 65 Hong Kong and international exhibitors in addition to 15 galleries who participated in the inaugural “The Masterpiece Pavilion,” an independent showcase collaboration with Masterpiece London. For the 2020 edition, FAA also planned to integrate Ink Asia, a smaller fair focused on contemporary inks, which has shared the same exhibition hall at HKCEC as FAA since its founding in 2015, also by Andy Hei.

Earlier in March, Art Basel Hong Kong was postponed to 2021 while Art Basel’s inaugural Online Viewing Rooms program was launched in lieu of the in-person event. Art Central was also similarly canceled. Meanwhile, “Unscheduled,” a gallery showcase of 12 solo presentations organized by the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association, was held in June at Tai Kwun when the city was recovering from a previous semi-lockdown.

Pamela Wong is ArtAsiaPacific’s assistant editor. 

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