Every March, Hong Kong sharpens into focus. The city’s harbourside skyline glows a little brighter, gallery openings spill into late-night dinners, and conversations shift towards art. In 2026, Art Basel Hong Kong returns to make a bold statement: Asia is no longer an emerging centre of gravity. It is the centre.

Taking place from 27th to 29th March at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, with preview days beginning 25th March, Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 brings together 240 leading galleries from 41 countries and territories. More than half of them operate within the Asia-Pacific region, reaffirming the city’s position as a global cultural crossroads, where East meets West not as a slogan, but as lived reality.

Art Basel Hong Kong has always mirrored the city itself: fast-moving, multilingual, and deeply networked. This year’s edition leans further into that identity. Alongside blue-chip galleries and museum-grade works, the fair expands its reach into the streets, cinemas, and institutions of Hong Kong through a city-wide Public Program of free film screenings, talks, and collaborations.

“‘The 2026 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong is a celebration of the city’s status as Asia’s global hub for culture. Hong Kong’s unique strengths – its tax-free status, free-port heritage, logistical ease, multilingual accessibility, and unrivalled connectivity – continue to underpin its position as a gateway to the region’s rich cultural diversity and dynamic art market. We’re delighted to debut a new curatorial team to lead our Encounters, Film, and Conversations sectors, and to introduce the inaugural Echoes sector for 2026. We’re also excited to deepen our partnerships locally, regionally, and globally as we continue to expand the content and networks of our platform. Above all, our aim is to inspire, to foster learning, and to bring communities together. Art Basel Hong Kong is more than an art fair – it is a living ecosystem where creativity and culture drive a vibrant, resilient art market,” says Angelle Siyang-Le, Director of Art Basel Hong Kong. “

That ethos is visible everywhere, from large-scale installations to intimate solo booths, and from institutional partnerships to public-facing commissions that quite literally light up the city.

One of the most talked-about additions this year is Echoes, a brand-new sector spotlighting works created within the past five years. Designed for focused, curated presentations by up to three artists, Echoes offers a snapshot of where contemporary art is heading right now.

Highlights include Madrid-based gallery Max Estrella presenting Tiffany Chung’s intricately embroidered maps tracing historic spice routes, and Hong Kong’s Double Q Gallery transforming its booth into an immersive, geometric installation by Polish artist Natalia Załuska. The result is a sector that feels exploratory, urgent, and deeply attuned to global narratives of movement, memory, and exchange.

Echoes also reflects a broader shift within the fair: a commitment to nurturing younger galleries and artists alongside established names. Thirty-two galleries are participating for the first time this year, from Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Istanbul, Madrid, New York, and beyond.

Large-scale installations, often the most Instagrammed moments of the fair, take on renewed depth in Encounters, the sector dedicated to monumental works and performances. For the first time, Encounters will be curated by a collective of four Asia-based curators, led by Mami Kataoka, Director of Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum, alongside Isabella Tam (M+), Alia Swastika (Jakarta), and Hirokazu Tokuyama (Mori Art Museum).

Their collaborative approach brings cross-regional perspectives into dialogue, reflecting the complexity of contemporary Asia and its global connections. Expect works that challenge architecture, stretch across space, and invite viewers to slow down amid the fair’s buzz.

Art Basel Hong Kong’s engagement with moving image deepens in 2026 with the Film Program curated by pioneering Hong Kong media artist Ellen Pau. It marks the first time an artist has curated the film sector, a significant moment for a city that has long been at the forefront of media and technology-based art in Asia.

Meanwhile, the Conversations program will include a full day guest-curated by Venus Lau, Director of Museum MACAN in Jakarta, whose interdisciplinary approach bridges art, music, film, and popular culture. Together, these programs signal a fair increasingly attuned to ideas, dialogue, and cultural context—not just objects.

Perhaps the most visible symbol of Art Basel Hong Kong’s public-facing ambition arrives before the fair even opens. From March 23, 2026, visitors to West Kowloon will see the M+ Facade transformed by a luminous animation by Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander.

Titled 3 to 12 Nautical Miles, the monumental commission, co-presented by Art Basel, M+, and UBS, animates Sikander’s hand-painted watercolours across the museum’s exterior. Drawing on historic trade routes, colonial histories, and contemporary global flows, the work is both poetic and political, anchoring the fair within Hong Kong’s own layered past.

While Art Basel Hong Kong remains one of the world’s most important art markets, its 2026 edition makes clear that cultural leadership now extends beyond commerce. From emerging artists experimenting with materials in the Discoveries sector, to museum-quality presentations in Insights tracing Asia’s modern and postwar art histories, the fair operates as both a marketplace and a lens through which to understand the region’s creative future.

As collectors, curators, and travellers converge on Hong Kong next March, Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 promises not just a week of art, but a portrait of a city, and a region, confidently shaping the global conversation.

Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 runs from 27th to 29th March 2026 at Hong Kong
Convention & Exhibition Centre. Tickets and more information available here