The 10 Best Booths at Art Basel in Hong Kong
From the cutting edge of virtual reality to historical works that command historically high sums, here are the 10 booths not to miss.
Project Native Informant
Discoveries Section, Booth 1C43, with works by Sophia Al-Maria
“Our 2018 edition features 248 premier galleries from 32 countries and territories. Underlining Art Basel’s commitment to the region, half of the participating galleries once again have exhibition spaces in Asia and Asia-Pacific. The show provides an in-depth overview of the region’s diversity through both historical material and cutting-edge works by established and emerging artists.”
Art | Basel Hong Kong
Bai, who has played roles in Entourage and Wild Wild West, among other movies, suffered a series of hits to her public image in the late 2000s. Al-Maria’s film—in which Bai is dressed in a white gown, directly addressing the camera, with the image sometimes going out of focus or glitching—serves as a form of redemption for that downfall. In it, she mixes phrases of inspiration (“Do not doubt yourself”; “When you have love in your heart, nothing can go wrong”) with esoteric lines (“I am an infinity. I am you. You are I.”) and hashtags (“#power”; “#magic”; “trust”). Many of these lines, which the actress calls “cookies,” were pulled directly from Bai’s blog, which Al-Maria then asked her to deliver as if engaging in the self-help ritual called mirror work…
Photo: Installation view of Project Native Informant’s booth at Art Basel in Hong Kong, 2018.
© Art Basel. Courtesy of Art Basel.
