Over the past decade the Melbourne Art Fair has seen the arrival of an array of new fairs in the region, such as ART HK, Shanghai Contemporary, Art Los Angeles Contemporary and Art Stage Singapore. "They are growing, they are dynamic and, whether we like it or not, they are taking our ground," the chairman of the Melbourne art Foundation Ken Fehily says.
In a bid to give the Melbourne Art Fair the international profile it has struggled to achieve, the Foundation has teamed up with ART HK founder Tim Etchells who brings a wealth of experience to the task of repositioning the fair, along with a global VIP data base and Asian collector base. Etchells is also behind the new art fair being launched in Sydney next year and the agreement with The Melbourne Art Foundation ensures the two fairs will work alongside each other, rather than in a winner-takes-all battle.
Image: Tim Etchells at ART HK earlier this year
