New edition of Art Stage Singapore!

[20/01/2015]

 

We are Asia. This is the slogan of Art Stage, contemporary art fair in Singapore launched by Lorenzo Rudolf in 2010. For its fifth edition at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center, the art fair pursues and develops its primary objective: illustrating the diversity of emerging contemporary art in Asia. At the crossroads of Southeast Asia, China, India, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, Art Stage is anchored as a major cultural event of the region. The 2014 edition of the fair (15 – 19 January 2014) attracted 158 galleries, 75% of which were Southeast Asia venues, and a record number of visitors for the region: 45,700. Currently, 153 galleries have responded this year, representing 29 countries, largely from the Asia Pacific region (two-thirds).

This fair is key to the development of an art market twenty-some years in the making. Indeed, the colossus Christie’s was already organising a first auction sale in Singapore in 1993. Sotheby’s was beginning to weave its web in the region at the same time. Today, both auction houses are well-established in Singapore, with a third vying for recognition: Borobudur. All three emphasize local artists (Indonesian, Malaysian, some signature Chinese and Japanese art pieces). Singapore is not only geographically strategic, as a catalyst for the wide artistic diversity of the South Pacific. It is also advantageous for art business, thanks to its enormous Port-Franc, able to house thousands of works of art free of customs duties and taxes. It has also benefited from recent development of its cultural institutions (Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Yellow River Arts Center and the Gillman Barracks (GB) district.

Art Stage is fully involved in this emergence of Singapore as it is a given each year as a point of convergence for the primary stakeholders in the Asian art market and worldwide market. All the more stimulating as the event is not only related to art sales, but also to implementing actual projects curated through pavilions or special ‘platforms.’ The 2015 Asian platform showcases thirty-some artists from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Agan HARAHAP (Indonesia), Mike HJ Chang (Singapore), Chris Chong (Malaysia), Chong Weixin (Singapore), Choy CHUN WEI (Malaysia), CHOY KA FAI (Singapore), Yason BANAL (the Philippines), Hilmi Johandi (Singapore), HOANG DUONG CAM (Vietnam), Wawi NAVARROZA (the Philippines), Nipan Oranniwesna (Thailand), Gary-Ross Pastrana (the Philippines), Roslisham Ismail a.k.a ISE (Malaysia), Wisnu AURI (Indonesia) and Zaki Razak (Singapore). Another important platform: that of video, which Art Stage is specializing in.

The promises of video art
Thus, New Media programming is another strong point of the art fair. Few shows grant as important a platform to video as this one. True, this medium is often more difficult to sell than others. It is also true that video art still suffers from a problem of recognition. Whatever the immediate sales impact, Art Stage is creating its identity as a pioneer by surrounding itself with specialists. Here, as it happens, with Paul Greenaway, Chi-Wen Huang and Ute Meta Bauer. The program includes more than 60 video works, to provide a global view of the field. A proposal on contemporary Russian video art is also planned, organised by Olga Sviblova, director of the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow, with works chosen from AES Groupe.

Collecting 101: essential for collectors
This year, Artprice.com has the pleasure of partnering once again with Art Stage, to create the guide “Collecting 101.” Collecting 101 has become a key reference book for art collectors and amateurs, supplying the responses to essential questions: Where to purchase art in the primary and secondary markets? How to become knowledgeable about an artist, a work, a price list? How to make a purchase? What are the pitfalls to avoid, etc.?

Download the “Collecting 101” guide for free here.
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