Art Basel’s Hong Kong edition, earlier this year, was one of the first international art fairs to take a hit due to the pandemic, which also made it one of the first to go virtual with its Online Viewing Rooms (OVR). Their latest edition of the OVR that concluded on June 26 saw 282 leading galleries from 35 countries taking part to showcase more than 4,000 works.

“The OVR is an initiative that had been in the making for several months. We then decided to bring forward the launch of the first iteration following the cancellation of our Hong Kong show to offer our exhibitors there an alternative platform and opportunity to showcase their planned booth presentations at no cost. The Online Viewing Rooms are a long-term global initiative, with future editions, we hope to see coinciding with Art Basel’s shows throughout the year; they initially were not meant to be standalone platforms,” said Adeline Ooi, director Asia of Art Basel.

The June OVR edition saw leading Indian galleries such as Experimenter, Jhaveri Contemporary and Chemould Prescott Road take part. Experimenter hosted a group exhibition called ‘Cataloging Time’, featuring Bani Abidi, CAMP and Sohrab Hura. “The exhibition marks the shifting fundamentals of politics and society, identity and violence, interpretation of truth — and the moments of slippages in our dystopic world,” said Team Experimenter.

Art Basel widened the scope of this OVR with a robust events programme featuring over 100 live-streamed talks, gallery-led tours, curator tours, as well as digital events staged by galleries from studio tours to performances. “With the two editions presented to date, we have received positive feedback from galleries across all levels of the market about sales and connecting with existing and new contacts. The platform generated serious and qualified leads and connections, as well as strong sales. Overall, it was important for us to provide an alternative platform for the art world to engage and stay connected during these times,” added Ooi.