From November 14–16, 2025 (Beijing), Horizon International Art Fair—presented by Art Horizon Co., Ltd. at MGM Shanghai West Bund—introduced its inaugural hotel-based edition under the theme “Art for Everyone, Everywhere.” Rooted in the belief that art should extend beyond gallery walls and into the rhythms of daily life, HIAF 2025 positioned itself not merely as an art fair but as an innovative, shared artistic experience. The fair brought together 37 galleries and institutions from China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and beyond, along with more than 300 artists ranging from emerging creatives and cross-disciplinary performers to internationally recognized figures. Lived-in hotel spaces were transformed into intimate, immersive environments for artistic dialogue.
The everyday setting of the hotel offered a flexible platform for visual conversations around identity, emotion, and creative freedom—dialogues that transcended generations and national borders. Guest rooms, lounges, and corridors became exhibition sites where visitors did not simply view art but stayed with it, conversed with it, experienced it, and ultimately coexisted with it in a symbiotic way.
Asian Art Contemporary was honored to participate in HIAF as an exhibitor at Booth 51F B05, presenting a curated selection of works by three artists: Jingyi Wang, Apollo Wang, and ZiPu.
Jingyi Wang explores the delicate coexistence between fragility and sharpness. She channels the cactus—its resilience and solitude—as a vessel for expressing emotion and personal perspective. In Greenana, a cactus quietly hides beneath soft, expansive banana leaves. Although seemingly out of place in the humid tropics, it stubbornly continues to grow, much like how people conceal their anxieties beneath the gentleness of daily routines.
In Kaleidoscopic Light, the cactus stands amid the fleeting brilliance of a concert—intersecting beams of light, floating ribbons and confetti, and an atmosphere where music and emotion pulse together. Wang maintains a realist mode of thinking while integrating surrealist techniques, exploring the tension between the subconscious and the real world and seeking spiritual solace amid the pressures of contemporary life.
Apollo Wang’s works are grounded in contemplations and metaphors drawn from an Eastern visual lexicon. Mystery, symbolism, prophecy, and divination permeate his compositions, hinting at an unseen “cosmic order.” Engaging with traditional philosophical inquiry, Wang seeks to uncover an indigenous conception of life and destiny—tracing the subtle cultural codes embedded within it.
His series Rules points to the invisible principles underlying the proliferation of life. Across four works, Wang presents slices of life-forms at different moments in time and space: from their earliest sprouting, to increasing structural complexity, to the expansion of spatial presence, and finally to the emergence of a complete living system. The series attempts to capture the elusive moment of becoming—when energy turns into matter, when simplicity evolves into complexity, and when the one unfolds into the many. Between deconstruction and reconfiguration, between order and chaos, Rules reveals the essence of life’s continuous propagation: an unceasing cycle that follows its own inherent laws across boundless time and space.
ZiPu’s Raw Image Era series reflects the artist’s deep inquiry into traditional painting mediums within the context of the digital age. In today’s visual environment saturated with digital imagery, “raw image” carries a dual meaning: it refers both to the unprocessed image file in digital photography and to the “primal” visual form created through the intersection of digital and traditional media. By reorganizing natural objects, digital tools, and traditional painting methods, ZiPu constructs a unique visual archaeology that reveals how technology shapes our perception of the world.
This series investigates how natural objects are represented in digital media, and how technological frameworks reshape—and often redefine—our understanding of nature.
Horizon International Art Fair was not only an exhibition but also a practice that advanced the deep integration of art and everyday life. By using the hotel as an exhibition site, the fair created an intimate and authentic environment for artistic dialogue. The works presented were not merely displayed—they were heard. Visitors encountered art face-to-face in the most lived-in of settings, experiencing the flow of creative energy in a space that felt personal and real.
(Text by Zhenglin Zhang, Courtesy of Asian Art Contemporary)
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