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Art Basel Hong Kong’s director on the fair’s role in the city’s cultural scene
Angelle Siyang-Le talks to us about her commitment to the show – and why her dad initially thought the company didn’t exist
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In 2012, when Angelle Siyang-Le told her father she had taken a job with a company called Art Basel, his initial reaction wasn’t one of pride, but one of concern. “My dad was like, ‘OK, never heard of it,’” she recalls. The inquisitive parent researched the company address in Wan Chai and set off to find its office, only to come up empty, not realising the different company he found at that address was a co-working space. Perturbed, he promptly texted his daughter to warn her she’d been conned and that “Art Basel” didn’t exist.
Now director of Art Basel Hong Kong, Siyang-Le laughs when she tells this story, adding that these days her father is the first person to ask her what’s new each March.
It is her way of illustrating just how much has changed since she joined Art Basel nearly 14 years ago, both for herself and for the city she now calls home.
Born in Shanghai and raised in London, with a career that has spanned Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Siyang-Le describes herself as “half a local” in Hong Kong. This cross-cultural upbringing deeply informs her world view and her eye for art.
“There are so many artists in my generation sharing the same upbringing, the same themes. I resonate with the topics that they explore, having that background.”
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