International auction house Christie’s may have hit the jackpot this year hammering down on the three most valuable art pieces sold in Asia, but 2025 has not been as kind or forgiving to the rest of the art world. Pace Gallery and Perrotin, two major players in the contemporary art space, have announced that they are closing their Hong Kong locations in a move that sees the number of world-class galleries in the city dwindling.
Pace Gallery, which has called H Queen’s in Central home for seven years, shared that its gallery will cease operations by the end of October, after the ending of its current show featuring Cuban artist Alejandro Piñeiro Bello. A spokesperson for Pace explained that the location in H Queen’s was “no longer servicing us and since our lease is expiring, like many other galleries, we are taking the opportunity to exit.” However, Pace has not completely ruled out future gallery premises in Hong Kong and will keep its reopening options open should a suitable space make itself available.
Perrotin vacated its gallery space at K11 Atelier Victoria Dockside earlier this month on October 1, bringing its six-year stint in Tsim Sha Tsui to an end. Rather than a definitive closure with no return in sight, Perrotin is seeking to relocate back to Central, where the gallery made its Asia debut in 2012. A spokesperson shared that the business district “will better serve our community, enhance accessibility, and reduce our operational costs,” though no opening date and location for the new space have been announced.
As the global art and auction market continues to slog through a slowdown, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that both Pace and Perrotin’s respective hiatuses will be short and painless, and that we’ll see the return of these two contemporary art powerhouses to more favourable gallery spaces in Hong Kong sooner rather than later.
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