Since its conception in 1992, Art Taipei is the longest standing art fair in Asia, and has also become one of the most important art fairs in the international art market. Run by the Taiwan Art Gallery Association, the fair was conceived as a platform to preserve Asian heritage while embracing foreign art, as well as to establish themselves in the global art market as a key player from the Asian region.

Returning this year, from 12 – 15 November 2016, at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, Art Taipei 2016 aims to bring together works from both the Asian and European art scene, propagating East-West collaborations. The art fair will host a total of 150 domestic and foreign galleries: 67 from Taiwan, 11 from Europe, 42 for Japan and Korea, 19 from China and 11 from Southeast Asia.

Tim Eitel, Repetition

Taiwan Art Gallery Association’s Executive Director Rick Wang comments: “In the past few years, Western art associations have indeed grown more active in Asia’s art market. This means that they have also filled the many voids in our local galleries with their presence and their art. Therefore, we hope now to further consolidate Asia’s artistic perspectives, adapt to the new market state, and lastly assemble talents across Asia Pacific to voice a unifying cause alongside our foreign partners.”

Art Taipei 2016 will greatly surpass its 2015 numbers with an addition of 55 new galleries to its already impressive 150 international and local gallery line-up that the fair has built relationships with over the years. Furthermore, 62 returning galleries that were absent last year are also expected to participate once again this year.

In continuation of Art Taipei 2015’s feature sections, this year’s fair will be reintroducing the following areas: ‘Galleries’, ‘Future’, ‘Frontier’, and ‘Public Art’. On top of these recurring aspects, they will also be launching a new section called ‘Voice of Image’, hosting the likes of Gallery Momo (Japan) and Star Gallery (Taiwan).

Chen Chieh Jen, Realm of Reverberations

The main exhibition area ‘Galleries’ consists of 135 galleries in total. Of the extensive range of galleries, over 70 are considered by major art critics as important game players in the Taiwanese contemporary art scene. These include galleries such as Soka Gallery, Asia Art Center, Lin & Lin Gallery, Da Xiang Art Space, Gallery 100, LIANG Gallery, J.P. Art Center, Capital Art Center, Caves Art Center, Nou Gallery and AKI Gallery to name a few.

Some works to look out for include Soka Gallery’s Hong Ling’s revolutionary artworks, Gallery 100’s Inoue Yuichi most recent calligraphy masterpieces, as well as Chu Weibor’s collection from Asia Art Center. Lin & Lin Gallery’s Chieh-Jen Chen will also feature his photography series titled ‘Realm of Reverberations: The Ritual of Film Screening’. His video and photography series documents his personal study of a social movement supporting the preservation of sanatoriums. Finally, internationally acclaimed artists Xu Bing and sculptor Lee Kuang-Yu from the Chini gallery will return this year to display their latest works at the fair.

Words like snow painted camphor

Another exciting gallery to look forward to at Art Taipei is the celebrated German gallery EIGEN + ART. This will be their first experience at Art Taipei, joining the likes of other foreign galleries from US, UK and Europe. Founded in Leipzig during the 80s, Galerie EIGEN + ART emerged as an underground enterprise that fought against the establishment at that time. Their works reflect the multidimensional views within a system of change that is still highly relevant in today’s context. Other highly anticipated international works to be showcased at the fair include expressionist painter Tim Eitel’s ‘Répétition’, and multimedia artist Carsten Nicolai’s ‘Tired Light n Diagonale’.

Lee Ufan Correspondence

More galleries from Japan and Korea also hope to make their mark at this year’s art fair. Galleries like galerie nichido / nca | nichido contemporary art strive to establish a foothold in Taipei’s art scene, and will be bringing works by Japanese artists Ryo Yoshikawa and Ryuzaburo Umehara. Wako Works of Art has notably prepared a special visual collection of Turner Prize Winner Wolfgang Tilman including ‘Untitled (Carton)’ and ‘Flanke’. Korea’s PYO Gallery will be unveiling the beautiful paper creations of Chun Kwang Young, as well displaying monochrome painting master Li Yu Hwan’s large-scale composition titled ‘Correspondence’.

Art Taipei also welcomes back galleries that are no strangers to the fair, including the likes of Whitestone Gallery, Opera Gallery and GALLERIA CONTINUA; the latter from Beijing bringing the works of British sculptor Antony Gormley, German-American artist Kiki Smith, as well as contemporary Chinese artist Qiu Zhi Jie.

Wolfgang Tillmans, Flanke

As of 2015, the Taiwan Art Gallery Association has officially confirmed an alliance with the Asia Pacific Art Gallery Association (APAGA) – an association formed by galleries in Singapore, Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, and China. The partnership is meant to support the expansion of the Asia Pacific art market and furthering art research. Art Taipei 2016 will serve as their main programme to strengthen the bonds within the Asian art industry, and to achieve a balance between promoting and trading art.

For more information, visit Art Taipei 2016

This article was first published in Art Republik.