When most Westerners think about contemporary Asian art, they think about China and a few add-ons to that. But in reality Asia are over 50 countries, from the Middle East to the Pacific Islands. There are vast differences and a richness and variety that are harbored within the borders of each country.

Asia holds three quarters of the world\'s population, several races, a myriad of languages, all four of the world\'s major religions, and countless local faiths. Although the countries in Asia have different cultures, political climates and religions, they all have strongly expanding economies and struggle with environmental and social problems. Huge populations and mass migration to large cities pose challenges to environments and economies alike. Many of them have been colonies, all of them have had an influx of Western culture, and most of them have to deal with the rapid change and a new urban culture. Although they are very different from each other, these common experiences tie the countries and their artists together.

Many of the contemporary artists in Asia are working with the fundamental theme of identity in a rapidly changing world. They deal less with the age-old specter of imperialism than with more immediate issues like the parallelism of the spiritual and the material, the encounter between cultures, the economic and sexual oppression of women in patriarchal societies, the loss of traditional culture to nationalistic ideologies or capitalist consumption, etc. It is less the politics of identity vis-à-vis the West that generate the most significant works, than the attempt to respond directly to and address critically the tumultuous complexities and socio-economic disparities of contemporary Asia.

New biennials, contemporary art museums and art centers emerge everywhere in Asia, and over the past few years, a strong market for contemporary art has grown up. The combination of explosive growth among the wealthy Asian upper and middle class and the recent trends towards Asian contemporary art (Japan, China, India, etc.) has created a market searching for development and enlargement of offer within the Asian geographical area.

ShContemporary aims to create a key opportunity for networking the best galleries, dealers, artists, collectors, professionals and art enthusiasts in the Asian Pacific and the top international areas as well as developing and stimulating existing and emerging markets, enabling new interaction and exchange between the Asian and the Western art scene. This new fair deliberately focuses on high quality and exclusivity. The high quality of the artists and the art works presented, selected on the basis of excellent creative quality that goes beyond fashion and market trends. The exclusivity of a fair with participation based upon invitation only, as well as with a limited number of participating galleries.