Could it be that the East is offering a glimmer of hope in a cooling art market that the U.S. just can’t match?
The news about the recent cancellation of PHOTOFAIRS New York circulated quietly and not particularly widely. The announcement that the fair will hold its inaugural Hong Kong edition on March 27-30, with a VIP preview on March 26, to coincide with the city’s March art fairs, Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central, and the city’s Art Week, is getting a lot more traction. Here’s what we know:
PHOTOFAIRS Hong Kong will be headed this year by Fan Ni, director of the brand’s April art fair in Shanghai. In a statement, Ni said that the fair is “so pleased to bring PHOTOFAIRS to Hong Kong and to continue our mission to create spaces for the discovery and cultivation of photography in the Asia Pacific region. Hong Kong Art Week is a cornerstone of the annual art calendar, and we look forward to joining the celebrations and to welcoming galleries, collectors, patrons and visitors to the Central Harbourfront.”
Ni isn’t a bad choice. She boasts extensive experience in the Asia Pacific region. Before joining PHOTOFAIRS in 2019, she served as Associate Publisher of ArtReview Asia, and before that, she worked at leading art institutions such as UCCA. These roles were instrumental in building her network with galleries, curators and other regional players, and thus far, it seems unlikely that the fair will install a local director for the Hong Kong fair in the near future, which could make it more difficult for photography fair to engage more deeply with the active local scene.
Hong Kong galleries like Blindspot and Flowers Gallery are focusing more on photography and new media, as the market for this medium is supposedly more dynamic and has evolved more rapidly here in the last year than elsewhere. Furthermore, ‘photography’ now extends to its digital evolutions and extensions, which are well explored in the region, where contemporary artists tend to move more toward the multimedia dimension and quickly engage with new technologies.
For this reason, PHOTOFAIRS Hong Kong’s debut edition will have three sectors: Main, featuring galleries showcasing modern and contemporary photography and photo-based art; Focus, dedicated to solo and dual artist presentations; and Digital, which is open to galleries presenting artists at the intersection of photography and new technologies.
Like PHOTOFAIRS’ other editions, this fair will be organized by Creo Arts, here in partnership with Angus Montgomery Arts (AMA) and in collaboration with Meta Media and GEG. The man behind Creo Arts, which launched PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai in 2014, is a longtime member of the photography industry, Scott Gray. Gray began his entrepreneurial journey by establishing the World Photography Organization in 2007, aiming to advance photographic culture. This led to the creation of the Sony World Photography Awards, Sony Future Filmmaker Awards and Photo London.
Gray said in a statement that Creo Arts’ goal is to “put together a dynamic first edition” and “collaborate with the city’s many prestigious institutions” in what is a “global art center uniquely positioned to welcome both the regional and international art communities.”
One wonders whether Gray felt similarly about New York City, which was scheduled to host the next edition of the fair in early fall. The second iteration of PHOTOFAIRS New York was abruptly canceled after selected exhibitors had already received the confirmation. The fair originally made its debut in New York in September of 2023, with an inaugural edition that coincided with the Armory Show.
The organizers justified the cancellation last June with concerns about “market conditions,” and their decision may have been made after consulting with exhibitors, as many have openly expressed concerns following a difficult May season in New York. For some photographers and galleries, sales were not as good as in the previous year, despite an always-busy fair schedule.
As of today, the New York edition has disappeared from the website, while PHOTOFAIRS Hong Kong is prominent on the fair’s homepage. Meanwhile, the Shanghai edition has been moved from its usual slot in April to May of 2025—date TBA. Could it be that the East is offering a glimmer of hope in a cooling art market that the U.S. just can’t match?
