Last month during the spate of Los Angeles art fairs, there were several reminders of ArtBasel’s long-standing interest in starting an LA fair. Today, Georgina Adam reports the world’s premiere art fair has been in talks with Hong Kong’s art fair about getting into the Asian market.

Without taking away from Adam’s considerable skills as a reporter, these comments suggest a negotiation that are not entirely smooth and some signaling from one of the parties:

Tim Etchells, managing director of Single Market Events, confirmed that discussions “have been going on for some time”. Buying the Hong Kong fair would certainly be in the interests of Art Basel, as it would give the Swiss organisation access to the Asian market. But Etchells says, “We have had approaches from other people as well and it’s definitely not a done deal.” Art Basel declined to comment.

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