Can you imagine Alicia Keys and Jay-Z performing Empire State of Mind using Hong Kong instead of New York as their poetic subject? It would sound more or less like this (and it would make perfect sense anyway): In Hong Kong / Concrete jungle where dreams are made of / There’s nothing you can’t do / Now you’re in Hong Kong / These streets will make you feel brand new / Big lights will inspire you / Let’s hear it for Hong Kong, Hong Kong / Hong Kong... A city-bridge between the world’s east and west, Hong Kong is a never-sleeping dragon buzzing with business. A global financial powerhouse, it is open to the world’s latest developments, yet retains a powerful local identity, instantly recognisable as soon as you step a few metres away from its major boulevards.

Crisis? What crisis? No mention of that here; mainland China’s upheavals, like the collapse of property colossus Evergrande, seem not to have struck the city, which is still sheltered by its status as a special administrative region. The Swiss group MCH, which is also involved in Art Basel, the world’s largest art fair, bringing it to Hong Kong in 2013, has fully grasped the international and feverish atmosphere that prevails in the area – very much alive even after the end of the British protectorate in 1997. Indeed, this year’s edition fully met the pre-pandemic numbers: multi-million sales, 75.000 visitors over four days and more than 200 participating galleries – a record achieved not least thanks to the city’s appeal, as stated by Vincenzo de Bellis, general director of the four fairs taking place in Miami, Basel, Paris and, naturally, Hong Kong.

But how can a city boost the fair’s success? By providing landmarks in the art world. For instance, West Kowloon is Asia’s largest cultural park, having opened in 2021, mid-pandemic, while the Chinese city was shut to the rest of the world, as if to send a message to the outside: “Wait, we are getting ready for the future”. WestK institutions include the Xiqu Center, dedicated to traditional music and theatre; the Palace Museum, where the first Pablo Picasso exhibition in China is to be held in 2025; and the wonderful M+ Museum, whose project was born in 2012 to accommodate the incredible collection of contemporary Chinese art by Uli Sigg, Switzerland’s ambassador to Mongolia, North Korea and the People’s Republic of China in the 1990s. Containing more than 1.500 pieces by 350 artists, it is regarded as the most complete and interesting collection of its kind, with works by Yue Minjun, Ai Weiwei and Liu Wei among the most recognised artists collected by Sigg.

Tai Kwun Contemporary is yet another cultural centre that sprang up, using the premises of an old military barracks in the Central area. It houses the MASSIMODECARLO gallery and the JC Contemporary centre, which is currently hosting Sarah Morris’s exhibition Who is Who, whose leading protagonist is the feature film ETC, produced by Tai Kwun himself, together with M+. Shot during the spring of 2023, just weeks after Hong Kong reopened, ETC is a remarkable portrait film of the city: hypnotic, lyrical, captivating, it encapsulates the magic of the Chinese metropolis in its images, backed by a musical score from the artist Liam Gillick.

Besides the institutional venues, Hong Kong is offering two environmental art festivals – free of charge – to all audiences this season: ArtHarbour and HKWalls. With the major installation continuous by the teamLab group, Tamara Park, right on the bay, has been turned into a field where giant luminous eggs can be propelled by adults and children, providing an interactive experience against the backdrop of an iridescent landscape;

HKWalls uses the facades of the Tsim Sha Tsui Centre, where five projections by international artists Pavel Mrkus, Kristopher Ho & Andy Lau, Bond Truluv, Frédéric Bussière and Lousy are repeated every night, morphing the buildings with a mix of architectural perspectives and fireworks effects.

The only thing that probably feels absent here is more attention to the opportunities for a slightly less polluted or even more sustainable planet, but growth is an unforgiving phenomenon: Hong Kong remains an extremely global city whose striving is, in fact, manifested in its willingness to enhance its commercial and cultural power and attractiveness, both inclusive and open.

Not for nothing have many North American galleries set up shop here in recent years, promoting “safe bets”: David Zwirner is presenting a solo exhibition by Wolfgang Tillmans which, although it in no way calls into question the importance of the German photographer, certainly represents nothing new; Hauser & Wirth is displaying the new production – entirely in black and white – of the painter Glenn Ligon, following on from his style; while PACE is centred on the painter Kylie Manning, whose Nordic tones lead us to the idea of a windstorm.

But rest assured: following the storm of recent times, the great ship called Hong Kong has now left the harbour to sail back into the sea of modernity, strong and unafraid of adversity. This is the year of the dragon.