Art dealers and collectors from around Asia, including representatives from many Hong Kong institutions and galleries, congregated in Singapore for the inaugural edition of Art SG, Southeast Asia’s largest contemporary art fair, with around 160 galleries from 35 countries and territories taking part.

Occupying two levels of the Marina Bay Sands convention centre, the fair, which runs from January 11-15, signals a reset for the city state’s ambition to become Southeast Asia’s primary art market, after Art Stage Singapore, its previous large-scale international fair, abruptly shut down in 2019.

The name itself invites comparison with Hong Kong; the co-founders are the same art fair veterans who set up Art HK 15 years ago and later sold it to Art Basel as the Asian edition of the world’s biggest art fair franchise. Art SG fair director Shuyin Yang was also previously in charge of Art Central in Hong Kong.

And then there is the torrent of hot money flowing into a country nicknamed the “Switzerland of Asia”, as it becomes a popular alternative to Hong Kong, a Chinese special administrative region whose reputation as a financial centre has been damaged by three years of harsh Covid-19 restrictions and the introduction of a sweeping security law by Beijing that is seen to have drastically reduced its autonomy.

Art SG co-founder Magnus Renfrew said new wealth coming from China was a bonus for Singapore, a well-established art haven for the Indo-Pacific region.

More families from nearby countries such as Indonesia also settled in Singapore during the pandemic because of the city’s superior health service, he said. All this has lent momentum to the market, and auction houses and galleries have strengthened their activities and staffing in Singapore over the past two years, he added.

Participants at Art SG range from multinational dealers selling high-end artworks to smaller businesses with pieces priced as low as US$10,000 or less. Most said they are in Singapore to see if the Southeast Asian market has emerged stronger after the pandemic.