Art Basel’s Conversations and Salon program attracted around 2,800 visitors over four days and once again brought together many of the artworld’s most prominent figures. Highlights included: a panel talk about ‘Cities on the Move’, an iconic exhibition that opened twenty years ago and was the first major show to explore the impact of urbanization and globalization in Asia; a discussion between leading museum directors from the Americas and the Asia Pacific region about the roles and responsibilities of public art institutions in the 21st century; and a conversation between Michael Craig- Martin (b. 1941), Su Mei-Tse (b. 1973) and Abigail Reynolds (b. 1975) about the ways in which art communicates with people. Videos of all Conversations and Salon panels will be available to watch online at artbasel.com/hongkong/talks.

To coincide with this year’s show, Art Basel presented ‘Twenty-Five Minutes Older’ with the support of MGM Resorts Arts & Culture, a project by Hong Kong artist Kingsley Ng (b. 1980) that has turned two of the city’s iconic public trams into moving camera obscuras. Many visitors enjoyed the way ‘Twenty-Five Minutes Older’ provided them with a whole new perspective on the city. The trams will run until March 28 and are free to the public.

This year, Art Basel collaborated with Google Arts & Culture to present ‘Virtual Frontiers: Artists experimenting with Tilt Brush’, featuring works by renowned international artists boychild, Cao Fei (b. 1978), Robin Rhode (b. 1976), Sun Xun (b. 1980) and Yang Yongliang (b. 1980), created with Tilt Brush by Google – a 3D drawing tool. The works were on display in Art Basel's Collectors Lounge during show hours.

Art Basel continued to work closely with key cultural organizations across the city, including Asia Art Archive (AAA); the Asia Society; Para Site; and M+, Hong Kong’s future museum for visual culture. These institutions presented exceptional exhibitions and events during the week of Art Basel, both on- and off-site. Among these were: ‘Ambiguously Yours: Gender in Hong Kong Popular Culture’ at M+ Pavilion, an exhibition that explores representations of gender in Hong Kong film, popular music, fashion, photography and print media from the 1980s to today; Para Site’s ‘Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs’, a major traveling exhibition featuring the work of more than 30 artists from around the world; ‘Breathing Space: Contemporary Art from Hong Kong’ at Asia Society, an exhibition that features work by 11 artists from the city; and a series of projects by Asia Art Archive, including a new virtual reality work by Nonny de la Peña that reinterpreted a performance piece by Lin Yilin, which was presented at Asia Art Archive’s booth at Art Basel’s show in Hong K

During the fair, Art Basel and UBS released the first Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, which analyses today’s international art market. Written by cultural economist Dr Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics, it covers macro-economic trends within the industry, spanning the dealer and auction markets, as well as online sales. The full report is free to download at artbasel.com/theartmarket.

Art Basel’s official annual publication Art Basel Year 47 was released at the show. The book, published by JRP|Ringier, reflects on the year 2016 in the artworld and includes interviews with leading artists, gallerists, curators and museum directors.