HONG KONG: As thousands of visitors streamed through a Hong Kong exhibition hall and deals were struck for works by Picasso and Yayoi Kusama, art collectors celebrated the city’s return to its bustling heyday.
The scenes at the Art Basel fair last week had not been seen since 2019, with a crackdown on pro-democracy protests and pandemic restrictions in the intervening years radically transforming the city.
More than 86,000 visitors poured through the halls of the fair, reflecting a return to pre-pandemic numbers, with reported sales of more than US$98 million, double those of…
