The first edition of Taipei Dangdai, a new art fair taking place at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, will launch in January 2019. Sponsored by UBS, the event will coincide with the 2018 Taipei Biennial, which opens on November 17.  

Magnus Renfrew, the founding director of the Art HK fair—which is now Art Basel Hong Kong and is scheduled to run this year from March 29 until March 31—is the founder of Taipei Dangdai. “With Hong Kong, I was proud to be involved in organizing a fair that asserts itself as a global fair for the region and will remain so,” Renfrew told Sarah Douglas of Artnews. “There is a big gap between Art Basel Hong Kong and other fairs in the region, in terms of quality and how they are progressing. It’s necessary to have other fairs that have real quality and don’t necessarily aspire to be the global fair for the region.” 

The number of galleries participating in Taipei Dangdai will be kept to eighty, featuring a mix of international and Asian venues. Renfrew says he is keen on “providing an opportunity for collectors within Taiwan to have at their doorsteps some of the big international galleries that have made a commitment to the region.”