Tempo will stop to function its Hong Kong gallery area as of later this month. A spokesperson for the gallery confirms to The Artwork Newspaper at this time (3 October) that it “won’t be renewing its lease at H Queen’s when it expires after the present Alejandro Piñeiro Bello exhibition” (till 18 October). The gallery will proceed to function workplaces in each Hong Kong and Beijing.
“Our gallery area at H Queen’s is not serving us and since our lease is expiring, like many different galleries, we’re taking the chance to exit,” the spokesperson provides.
Tempo has maintained a gallery in Hong Kong for greater than a decade, first launching within the metropolis in 2014 within the pre-war Pedder Constructing, earlier than transferring in 2018 to the brand new 26-storey tower H Queen’s.
When H Queen’s launched, it was heralded as Hong Kong’s shiny new gallery hub, with a raft of sellers shortly taking areas within the constructing, together with David Zwirner and Tang Up to date Artwork. Immediately, only some of its gallery tenants are left. Tempo’s departure from H Queen’s follows that of Hauser & Wirth, which relocated to 2 areas close by. The galleries Pearl Lam and Whitestone have additionally closed their H Queen’s areas.
Hong Kong’s viability because the premier Asia outpost for worldwide galleries has been imperilled following a pointy decline in spending by Mainland Chinese language collectors, political stress from Beijing and a downturn within the world market. Final 12 months, the gallery Lévy Gorvy Dayan closed its Hong Kong area and has not re-opened within the metropolis. The gallery’s head of operations for Asia, Rebecca Wei, instructed the Monetary Occasions on the time of closure that “shopper behaviour had modified”.
Tempo “will probably be exploring various gallery areas throughout the town and can take a brand new lease if we discover an applicable alternative,” the spokesperson says.
“We’re so pleased with Tempo’s historical past as the primary worldwide gallery to determine a gallery in China, first in Beijing in 2008, then Hong Kong in 2014,” they add. “We now have such an extended and deep dedication to the humanities group in Hong Kong and Higher China, and whereas we’re with no everlasting gallery area in Hong Kong we are going to proceed to concentrate on our artist and shopper relationships via our workplaces in Hong Kong and Beijing and with better connectivity to our regional and world groups. We are going to search alternatives to current our artists’ work via our sturdy community of curators and museum administrators within the area, in addition to at different non-public and public areas.”
