Creo, the London-based organizer of the ten-year-old Photofairs contemporary art event, has canceled the event due to be held in Hong Kong in March 2025 due to logistical issues. The event was first announced in July and is expected to add another commercial element to the city’s art market, despite a recent lull in activity.
Focusing on photo and video art, Photofairs was launched in Shanghai in 2014 to tap into an emerging niche market accessible to Asian collectors. In a statement about canceling the Hong Kong premiere, Creo said the decision came after the British company attracted strong interest from galleries, but noted that “recent logistical constraints” made staging the 2025 show unfeasible. (Creo is partly owned by a separate company.) Representatives for Creo, the British art fair organizer, did not elaborate further on the nature of the business restrictions. )
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“We remain committed to Hong Kong and believe it deserves a dedicated photography platform,” Creo added, saying they plan to revisit the plan. This follows Creo’s decision to cancel the Photofairs show in New York earlier this year, citing difficult market conditions for gallerists.
Hong Kong’s art market has shrunk amid China’s economic slowdown, with auction reports showing higher unsold rates and lower sales figures than in recent years. At the same time, other art fairs, such as Art021 in Shanghai, also receive huge subsidies from the local government. Art021, which debuts in 2024, has received HK$15 million (US$1.9 million) from the Hong Kong Major Arts and Cultural Events Fund.
Despite two setbacks, Creo is still holding its flagship Shanghai edition, which enters its tenth year this May, while the Hong Kong government reconsiders its strategy of continuing to build to compete with European art centers. When Creo announced the show in Hong Kong in July, the company said it had not received additional funding from the Hong Kong government agency responsible for cultural regulation.
The fair’s cancellation is just one sign of recent troubles with the city’s arts investment. The government’s Major Arts and Cultural Events Fund, established in April 2023, recently underwent a formal review of its operations and budget. Following the review, the government introduced a new requirement for the committee overseeing the fund to prioritize activities that bring tourism and generate some measurable economic benefit.
