Countless rich fruits are borne in September. Contemporary art has once again borne rich fruits in Shenzhen, a young city located at the center of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. At 5:00 pm on September 12th, “2021 Art Shenzhen” Contemporary Art Expo was rounded off in No.6 Hall of Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. According to Ye Jianqiang, Vice Chairman and General Manager of the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Fair Co., Ltd. and Secretary General of Art Shenzhen Organizing Committee, owing to the active involvement and concerted efforts of the exhibitors, professional visitors and people from all walks of life, as well as their great passion and enthusiasm for the Expo, substantial results were achieved this year, with the turnover rate far exceeding expectations, delighting all sides involved. This fully embodies the advantages of Art Shenzhen in openness, cooperation and innovation as a brand rooted in art and connected to the market; gives full expression to further improvement in the e professional value, attraction, competitiveness and influence of Art Shenzhen. In the context of normalized epidemic prevention and control, this year’s Art Shenzhen submitted a satisfactory answer for China’s art market.
In the exhibition hall, all the galleries and the exhibition area were crowed with visitors, with many booths tightly packed. The professionals in the gallery area were either enthusiastically introducing artworks to visitors or whispering to them. Many deals were concluded on the spot, and lots of buyers left with paintings. According to statistics, 99% of the 72 galleries succeeded in selling their artworks. To be specific, good news came in succession from the KennaXu Gallery, Galleria Continua, ShanghART Gallery, White Stone Gallery, and Tang Contemporary Art Center. With happy laughter and cheerful voices heard everywhere, both galleries and buyers reaped a bumper harvest.
At the same time, six live events held during the exhibition were attended and thought highly of by a great many visitors. In-depth talks and discussions were held in response to different professional fields and directions, exerting a guiding effect on the specialization of Art Shenzhen in professional and academic fields in the future.
This year’s exhibition was extensively covered by newspapers, websites and terminal media from all over China, especially those from Shenzhen. They reported the exhibition in the form of texts, pictures and video. During the four days, the exhibition became an important art event that received wide acclaim and attention from all over the country.
High Sales
On the whole, 99% exhibitors achieved high sales at this year’s exhibition. First, the organizer had made full preparations before the exhibition. Even one month ago, the organizer actively explored the market and strove to cultivate new collectors. Through effective brand cooperation and promotion, a big group of old, mid-aged and young collectors from around the country were attracted to the exhibition. Second, the organizer established close cooperation with brand owners. It advertised to all key enterprises headquartered in Shenzhen, the Capital of Finance and the Capital of Design. For example, invitations were sent to well-known local enterprises, such as Tencent, China Merchants Bank, Ping An and DJI, as well as various associations, in a bid to increase the turnover rate. Third, the organizer amassed collector resources by encouraging regular collectors to develop new ones. After nine years of accumulation, the organizer of this year’s Art Shenzhen integrated the resources from various industrial chains related to the Contemporary Art Fair. With more and more young collectors entering the market, the collector system tended to be diversified. Fourth, the organizer offered professional guidance on the spot to efficiently promote art consumption. The staff held an in-depth exchange of views with representatives of the galleries, artists and collectors to learn about the contents and concepts so that deals could be closed more smoothly.
Close to Life
For this year’s Art Shenzhen, on the one hand, an exhibitor selection mechanism had been established before the exhibition in order to achieve strict control over the quality exhibitors and their contents. On the other hand, various supporting activities and professional services rendered to collectors were ameliorated and upgraded, connecting “opportune time”, “ favorable geographic position” and “popular support” together, expanding the “circle of friends” and drawing “concentric circles” well, with galleries from more and more countries and regions attracted to the exhibition, which therefore took on a rich and diverse international look. This year, the exhibition was held once again under the general background of normalized epidemic prevention and control. All stakeholders treasured the opportunity and empowered one another to make the art industry bigger and stronger. The Greater Bay Area, where Shenzhen is located, a large number of social enterprises, art institutions, collectors and the public will form ties with, while a great many elites will join the collectors, so that the art market and cultural industry will achieve better development. Art Shenzhen is connected to the art ecosphere in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and about thirty different types of art activities were held throughout Shenzhen during the exhibition, exerting a significant effect on the benign development of the regional art ecosystem. Meanwhile, the organizer designed better services to the exhibitors, collectors and enterprises, and got resources shared, laying a solid foundation for establishing a professional service system based in Shenzhen, radiating the Greater Bay Area and facing the whole country.
A Brighter Future
“2021 Art Shenzhen” came to a successful close, with all parties benefited. On the last day of the exhibition, more than 80% galleries and art institutions present expressed their desire to continue to participate in the exhibition next year. We thus felt the public’s great passion for contemporary art and their pursuit of cultural life. The organizer of “Art Shenzhen” was thankful. We will continue to uphold the idea of “Global Vision, Quality Future” to promote positive energy to keep enhancing our position as a professional leader and gather excellent resource to improve our service level, so as to build a continuous and normalized contemporary art promotion platform that helps to drive the steady upgrading of the regional art market to comprehensively set up a contemporary art landmark in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and even the whole country.
See you next year. We’d like to meet you at the highly-anticipated 10th Art Shenzhen in 2022!