Jet Lag, Local Flavor, and the Art World’s Shifting Compass
Art Basel Hong Kong’s recent return to full scale revealed a curious twist: while the world’s biggest art fairs once promised global mingling, today’s crowds are increasingly regional. Collectors now prefer to browse and buy from afar, leaving galleries to rack up the air miles—and the bills. As travel habits shift, galleries face the paradox of attending more fairs just to keep pace, even as the costs bite harder. Meanwhile, Southeast Asia’s collectors are stepping into the spotlight, snapping up works by major Chinese artists and fueling the rise of local fairs like Art SG and Art Jakarta. On the secondary market, blue-chip names like Hockney and Warhol are back in demand, with limited editions flying off digital shelves. And as the Venice Biennale prepares to spotlight outsider and diasporic voices, the art world’s compass keeps spinning—pointing toward fresh faces and new horizons. In a landscape shaped by both distance and discovery, the only constant is change.
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