Booths from more than 75 galleries and 21 countries showing emerging and established artists from Hong Kong and overseas are housed under the roof of a 10,000 square metre tent erected in the Central Harbourfront.

Among the exhibiting galleries, 65 per cent came from Asia - including 19 from Hong Kong. There's also a "Rise" section, focusing on emerging galleries and artists.

Tim Etchells, chief executive of Art Central, said it cost US$1 million to launch the fair, including site rental and construction of the tent. "It's four times more expensive than the Convention and the Exhibition Centre," said Etchells, adding the fair was prepared to lose money in its first year.

He said Art Central deliberately scheduled the openings, VIP sessions and public days ahead of Art Basel to avoid a clash.

Although Art Basel will showcase 233 galleries this year, the fair does not have the capacity to accommodate all those that applied, said Etchells. He said while top prices artworks can be found at Art Basel, there is also a market for edgier art, which gave them a platform for Art Central.

"Most collectors do two to three satellite fairs," Etchells said, adding he is expecting a lot of collectors from Asia Pacific to be among the more than 20,000 visitors expected. "Over the years people in Hong Kong have more confidence in buying art and a habit has developed."

The fair will partner with Asia Society Hong Kong Centre for talks and educational programmes open to the public.

Gallerists have high expectations for the fair. Finale Art File from the Philippines exhibited at Art Basel last year but has decided to try Art Central this year.

Jean-Marc Decrop of Yallay Gallery will show paintings and conceptual sculptures questioning the value of money, as well as an installation of yellow umbrellas inspired by the Occupy protests called , by Beijing-based artist Xu Qu.

Decrop said a set of paintings priced at more than HK$300,000 have been sold but that the installation is not for sale.

"The artist does not want to make money out of the protest and hopes to donate the work to M+," he said.

He said while Art Basel tended to play safe in their art selection, Art Central let the risk factor live.

The politically sensitive work was not objected to by the fair organisers, said Decrop. "Being provocative is the nature of contemporary art. [It] shows the life of Hong Kong."

Brooklyn-based artist Aaron Taylor Kuffner, who has large-scale sound installations showing with Sundaram Tagore Gallery also said the setting reminded him of the fairs in Miami.

Art Central runs until March 16 and Asia Contemporary Art show runs until March 15.

Hong Kong sees flurry of exhibitions ahead of Art Basel

Exhibitions held by public and private organisations are continuing to flourish ahead of the VIP opening of Art Basel on Friday evening, with some events showing works that challenge viewers' perception of art.

The M+ museum of visual culture launched the first showcase of its collection of moving images despite delays in the construction of its home, the West Kowloon Cultural District, due to legislative filibustering.

The exhibition, "Mobile M+: Moving Images", explored the idea of migration via films, videos, animation and installations, M+ associate curator Yung Ma said. While Hongkongers were no strangers to cinema, he said the show was the city's first to display works of moving images on a large scale.

"We also hope to show the audience the direction of M+," Ma said.

Participating Singaporean artist Charles Lim, who will represent his country at the Venice Biennale this year, puts on show , a video of a thin white rope drifting along the Singapore-Malaysia maritime border.

The exhibition will open today at Midtown Pop, nestled in Causeway Bay's busy dining area of Tang Lung Street, before moving to the Cattle Depot Artist Village in To Kwa Wan on Sunday.

Over in Central, Duddell's will host "Hong Kongese", a show presented by London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. Gregor Muir, the institute's executive director and curator of the exhibition that runs until June 22, said the show explored Hong Kong's changing sociopolitical environment through, for instance, symbolic images of neon signs.

Among them is Phoebe Man's . Man described the work as a "consumable sculpture", coming in the form of a real cake coated in chocolate and marshmallows and decorated with slogans inspired by the "umbrella movement" last year.

Slogans such as "police are frank and open-hearted" mocked officers' use of violence on Occupy Central protesters.

Man said eating was an action meant to internalise the idea presented in the work, and that although the cake was sweet, it carried a politically provocative message. "Audiences can choose not to eat the cake and refuse to internalise this message."

Also in Central, shopping complex Landmark is showing over HK$140 million worth of art.