Speed Gallery Closing Hong Kong Space Amid Market Shifts

Speed will certainly stop to operate its Hong Kong gallery room since later on this month. A speaker for the gallery verified to The Art Paper today (3 October) that it “will not be restoring its lease at H Queen’s when it runs out after the existing Alejandro Piñeiro Bello exhibit” (up until 18 October). The gallery will continue to operate offices in both Hong Kong and Beijing.

Hong Kong’s Art Market Challenges

Hong Kong’s feasibility as the premier Asia outpost for international galleries has actually been imperilled complying with a sharp decline in costs by Mainland Chinese collectors, political stress from Beijing and a recession in the global market. Last year, the gallery Lévy Gorvy Dayan shut its Hong Kong room and has actually not re-opened in the city. The gallery’s head of procedures for Asia, Rebecca Wei, informed the Financial Times at the time of closure that “client behaviour had actually changed”.

H Queen’s Gallery Exodus

When H Queen’s released, it was advertised as Hong Kong’s glossy gallery center, with a boating of dealerships quickly taking areas in the structure, consisting of David Zwirner and Tang Contemporary Art. Today, just a couple of its gallery occupants are left. Rate’s separation from H Queen’s adheres to that of Hauser & Wirth, which moved in 2023 to two rooms close by. The galleries Pearl Lam, Ora-Ora and Whitestone have likewise closed their H Queen’s areas.

“We are so proud of Speed’s background as the very first worldwide gallery to establish a gallery in China, initially in Beijing in 2008, then Hong Kong in 2014,” they add. “We have such a deep and long commitment to the arts neighborhood in Hong Kong and Greater China, and while we lack an irreversible gallery area in Hong Kong we will certainly remain to focus on our musician and client relationships through our offices in Hong Kong and Beijing and with better connection to our regional and global teams. We will certainly look for chances to provide our musicians’ overcome our strong network of managers and gallery supervisors in the area, as well as at various other personal and public rooms.”