'DISCOVER ART. MAKE IT YOURS.'

A global lineup of 117 galleries and over 500 artists from more than 50 countries and regions take part

New Central Stage feature spotlights six internationally acclaimed artists

Creative programme explores digital culture's indelible impact on art through Installation, Performance, Video Art and Talks

HONG KONG, March 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Art Central, together with Lead Partner UOB, previews today for the eleventh edition of the Fair. A cornerstone event of Hong Kong Art Month, Art Central 2026 will open from 25 to 29 March at its iconic Central Harbourfront location, presenting its largest edition to date with 117 galleries and more than 500 artists from Hong Kong, Asia, and around the world. Art Central 2026 is financially supported by the Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

Art Central is firmly rooted in its commitment to Hong Kong's arts ecosystem and to engaging audiences globally, with 30% of its presentations featuring Hong Kong-based artists and galleries and 85% representing the broader Asia-Pacific region. As an international platform for artistic discovery, the Fair connects collectors and enthusiasts with works by established artists and boundary‑pushing emerging voices, offering a focused view of contemporary practices from the region, brought into dialogue with those of global practitioners. With Enoch Cheng returning as curator of special gallery projects and Zoie Yung joining as curator of creative programming, this edition is anchored by a rigorous curatorial framework that examines the cultural, material, and technological conditions shaping contemporary art today.

GALLERY HIGHLIGHTS

Curated by Enoch Cheng, this year's gallery programme champions emerging galleries and artists, serving as a point of entry for those establishing roots in Asia's art ecosystem and creating a platform that infuses the region's art ecology with new perspectives.

Central Stage
Debuting in 2026, Central Stage spotlights artists with recent, current, or upcoming participation in leading international exhibitions and recurring large-scale shows, as well as those recognised through major public commissions or new acquisitions by prominent museums and public institutions. Six special presentations of acclaimed artists have been selected, including:

• Arahmaiani: Yogyakarta-based artist Arahmaiani is a seminal figure in Indonesian contemporary art. Since the 1980s, her practice has grappled with contemporary politics, gendered power inequalities, and cultural commodification through performance, installation, and community‑based collaboration.
• Marta Frėjutė: Vilnius-based artist Frėjutė develops installations, sculptural objects, and research-driven image practices that examine how fiction and memory structure everyday experience within shifting historical contexts.
• Elnaz Javani: Born in Tehran and currently based in Colorado, Javani works across textiles, sculpture, and drawing, examining the entanglements of personal and cultural memory, migration, and identity.
• Esther Mahlangu: Born and based in Mpumalanga, South Africa, Mahlangu is celebrated for her bold geometric abstractions rooted in Ndebele cultural knowledge. Her practice reanimates ancestral visual systems, bringing them into dialogue with contemporary art and design.
• Arno Rafael Minkkinen: Born in Helsinki and based in Massachusetts, Minkkinen is a pioneer of photographic experimentation, known for black‑and‑white self‑portraits that explore the relationship between the human body and the natural world.
• SIDE CORE: A Tokyo-based art collective founded in 2012 by Sakie Takasu, Tohru Matsushita and Taishi Nishihiro, with Kazunori Harimoto as video director. The group's practice situates street culture within contemporary art, drawing on the visual languages and communal dynamics of urban subcultures.

Neo
Neo reinforces Art Central as a launchpad for new talent, connecting collectors and audiences with artists in pivotal phases of their practice through galleries in their first or second year at the Fair. The 2026 Neo sector galleries are:

• Areté Space (established in Beijing, 2023)
• Astra Art (established in Shanghai, 2023)
• BOUNDED SPACE (established in Beijing, 2014)
• Kimreeaa Gallery (established in Seoul, 2008)
• Meno Parkas Gallery (established in Kaunas, 1997)
• MJK Gallery (established in Tokyo, 2022)
• NoSugar Gallery (established in Wuhan, 2021)
• The Gallery by SOIL (established in Hong Kong, 2012)
• V&E Art (established in Taipei, 2018)
• Wolf & Nomad (established in Miami, 2018)

Yi Tai Sculpture And Installation Projects
Art Central reaffirms the role of the Yi Tai Sculpture and Installation Projects as a platform for artists to create works that extend beyond the limitations of the gallery booth. The 2026 edition will feature five new installations, including projects by three Hong Kong artists:

• Jeong-A Bang, presented by Gallery MAC (Busan) — Oliver Stone's Swimming (2024) and The Space Between Us (2025–26)
• Elnaz Javani, presented by RARARES Gallery (Dubai) — The Fate (2024–)
• Silvester Mok, presented by Touch Gallery (Hong Kong) — The Digital Fossiliser (2026)
• OrangeTerry, presented by Square Street Gallery (Hong Kong) — Found Faith (2026)
• Alexis Wong, presented by Yiwei Gallery (Los Angeles, Wuhan) — Sunken Echoes (2026)

CREATIVE PROGRAMME

Curated by Zoie Yung, this year's creative programme examines the frictions and intimacies that shape contemporary social and virtual life, foregrounding emergent Asian voices alongside influential practitioners shaping the region's cultural landscape.

Hong Kong Artist Commission 
Art Central has commissioned new media artist Kaitlyn Hau (b. 1999, Hong Kong) to realise a large‑scale installation for the Fair's 2026 edition. Titled Recursive Feedback Ritual 0.01 (2026), the commission extends Hau's ongoing inquiry into the emotional, perceptual, and technological dimensions of digital embodiment.

Transforming Hau's compulsive self‑regulation into a real‑time computational sculpture, the installation channels motion‑capture data through a recursive feedback loop, mapping psychiatric symptoms as cycles of repetition and dissociation. The work reclaims bodily agency by converting involuntary internal "invaders" into a generative vocabulary of movement and image.

Performance
Presented daily in the Fair's Central Theatre, the performance programme 'Endless Night and Midnight Sun' turns to the altered temporalities of the AI era, drawing on the extreme cycles of light and darkness in polar regions as a metaphor for our shifting sense of duration.
Commissioned works include:

• Jiaming Liao (b. 1992, Guangdong) presents IYKYK (ON AIR) (2026)
• Chaklam Ng (b. 1984, Hong Kong) presents Shadow Work (2026)
• Isabella Isabella (b. 1986, Hong Kong) presents I see blood in the sky. (2026)
• Susie Au (b. 1962, Hong Kong) presents Memory In Motion – Walk-In-Cinema (2026)

Video Art 
Championing the breadth of contemporary moving‑image practices from the region and beyond, the Fair's 2026 Video Art programme, 'Reading the Room', turns toward the subtleties of human interaction and the labour of meaning-making. Observing how artificial intelligence routinely processes vast datasets yet struggles to apprehend nuance, subtext, and tone, the programme reframes this technological shortfall as an analogue for the misalignments inherent in everyday communication, foregrounding the tensions, hesitations, and emotional undercurrents that contour our attempts to understand one another.

Highlights include:

• Liang‑Jung Chen (b. Taipei) presents UK Indefinite Leave to Remain Application Fee (2025)
• Yifan Jiang (b. 1994, Tianjin) presents One Sunday Morning (2021)
• Jon Rafman (b. 1981, Montreal) presents Cloudy Heart – Strawberry Moon (2025)
• Adrian Wong (b. 1980, Chicago) presents With Love from Hong Kong (Episode 1) (2025) and With Hate from Hong Kong (2025)

Talks
Art Central's Talks Programme brings together some of the most engaging voices in contemporary art today for a series of thought‑provoking conversations. Presented throughout the week, the programme offers visitors opportunities to hear directly from artists, curators, and industry leaders.

Highlights include:

• 'On My Way Today — Authentic Dialogues Across Southern Chinese Art', in conversation with Dr Wu Mo (Sigg Curator, M+) and Professor Fan Lin (Professor at the School of Arts and Humanities of GAFA, Curator)
• 'MV as an Art Form', in conversation with Susie Au (film/MV director) and Halftalk (MV director)
• 'Anchor Point—Art Central 2026 Hong Kong Artist Commission', in conversation with Kaitlyn Hau (artist), Inti Guerrero (curator/educator), and Ashley Lee Wong (Co-Founder and Artistic Director, MetaObjects)
• 'Art Tech—Rethinking Contemporary Art Ecology', in conversation with media artists Samuel Yip, Keith Lam, and Ng Tsz-Kwan

ARTIST PROJECTS BY PARTNERS

UOB Presents A Cross-Disciplinary Encounter With Contemporary Ink Practices
Lead Partner of Art Central, UOB, presents a newly commissioned large-scale ink installation by Hong Kong artist Ling Pui Sze, titled White Mirror – The Vista of Inner Worlds (2026). Drawing on Ling's visual study of cellular imagery and informed by recent scientific research conducted at the University of Cambridge, the work takes the form of an immersive sculptural garden. Ling's largest installation to date, it comprises a constellation of hand-made paper sculptures and moving images, reflecting her accomplished command of ink, paper, and site-making practices. Conceived as a serene, meditative environment evoking both a cosmic landscape and a Zen-garden-like setting, the work echoes the Daoist notion of "Everything as One", offering an imaginative yet contemplative site for introspection.

Visitors can also explore dedicated exhibition spaces, featuring works from the 2025 UOB Art in Ink Awards Winners' Showcase and the UOB Painting of the Year Regional Showcase at the UOB Art Space. Together, these presentations underscore UOB's commitment to nurturing artistic talent across Hong Kong, mainland China, and Southeast Asia, while fostering cross‑cultural dialogue through contemporary ink and mixed‑media practices.

Extending the experience beyond exhibitions, UOB, in collaboration with the UOB Art Academy, a registered charity in Hong Kong, will present a series of UOB Art in Ink Workshops. Led by established Hong Kong artists Eric Ho, Ling Pui Sze, Tony Ng Kwun Lun, Professor Tong Kam Tang, Professor Yau Wing Fung and Stephanie Yeung Chung Nga, the workshops bridge traditional ink techniques with contemporary artistic expressions, guiding participants to explore the evolving language of ink art. Workshops require pre-registration: www.uobartacademy.com.hk/ws2026.

At the Central Theatre, UOB will host a panel discussion titled 'Reading the Unreadable: When Words Become Images', an in-depth conversation examining how written language transforms into visual, conceptual and interdisciplinary forms within contemporary art.

Sands Gallery Presented By Sands China
Sands China makes its debut at Hong Kong Art Month as the Associate Partner of Art Central, marking the first participation of a Macao-based integrated tourism and leisure enterprise at the Fair. Sands Gallery presents works by three contemporary Macao artists, foregrounding the city's new wave of artistic talent through the practices of Lei Ieng Wai, Leong Chi Mou, and Dor Lio Hak Man.

The Sands Gallery booth also incorporates aesthetic elements of Macao's century-old firecracker industry, enabling international audiences to trace the city's cultural development from vernacular craftsmanship to contemporary art expression, while experiencing the city's rich art and culture landscape shaped by its East–West cultural fusion.

MTN Seni Budaya Presents 'Rising Currents' 
Art Central partners with Indonesia's National Talent Management for Arts and Culture (MTN Seni Budaya) to present 'Rising Currents', a curated constellation of eight leading Indonesian galleries: EDSU house, Galeri Ruang Dini, ISA Art Gallery, Puri Art Gallery, RUCI Art Space, SAL PROJECT, SEWU SATU, and V&V. Rather than advancing a single narrative, 'Rising Currents' maps the multiple registers and interconnected dialogues that define Indonesian art today.

VISION-LED INSIGHTS WITH CHANCE AI
Chance AI will join Art Central 2026 as the Fair's Innovation Partner. As the pioneer of a new technological category, the world's first "Visual Agent", Chance AI introduces an intelligence that perceives, reasons, and interprets through vision. Launching its live interactive mode at the Fair, Chance LIVE serves as an on‑site interpretive companion, offering real‑time insights into the artistic structures and cultural contexts of each work encountered.

A PLACE TO GATHER, EAT, DRINK, AND CONNECT

Eat Central By Black Sheep
Black Sheep returns to Art Central for the third consecutive year as the Fair's hospitality partner, unveiling an expanded and much‑anticipated edition of Eat Central. This edition features a new, exciting lineup gathering five of Black Sheep's most beloved restaurants under one roof, including Cantonese signatures from Ho Lee Fook, a heart‑warming Greek taverna menu from Artemis & Apollo, French favourites from Jean‑Pierre, Neo‑Neapolitan fare and speciality drinks from FALCONE, and sweet scoops from Messina, Hong Kong's favourite gelato, with exclusive new dishes and treats to discover across all restaurants.

Exceptional Beverages 
Soho House Hong Kong returns to Art Central with its pop‑up bar, set against a mural by Hong Kong‑based French artists Faustine Badrichani and Elsa Jeannedieu. The bar will serve a focused cocktail menu featuring classics such as the Picante and the newly launched Highball Fifty, created to celebrate the opening of Soho House Tokyo, the private member club's 50th House globally, alongside a selection of House favourites perfect for easy afternoons and post‑fair unwinding.

Kronenbourg 1664 joins Art Central 2026 with The Blue Perspective — an immersive lounge that elevates the experience of enjoying a premium French beer into a curated sensory journey. Inspired by 1664 Blanc and the liminal glow of the blue hour — the luminous threshold between day and night — the space invites visitors to slow their pace, engage in conversation, and savour the crisp, citrus‑bright notes of 1664.

The global coffee brand illycaffè returns for its third year at Art Central, introducing the latest illy Art Collection by John Armleder. Armleder is renowned for his explorations of perception, reception, and the relationships between artworks and their surroundings, and brings this creative sensibility to 'Tastes', imagining a series of cups and saucers that mirror the reflective, shimmering effects of his celebrated light fixtures. Motifs from Armleder's collection also adorn the illycaffè spaces at the Fair, where an atmosphere of art converges with the excellence of illy's signature blend, offering visitors a moment of pause and pleasure.

Seamless Transit With Uber Taxi
To further enhance the Fair experience, Art Central partners with Uber Taxi this year to offer guests a smooth and comfortable way to travel. With every ride just a tap away—whether crossing the harbour or moving between the city's cultural districts—visitors can enjoy seamless, point‑to‑point journeys and a stress‑free arrival at the Fair, setting the tone for an unhurried, fully attentive encounter with contemporary art.

Corey Andrew Barr, Fair Director, said, "Art Central has long served as a meeting ground where galleries and audiences from Asia and around the world forge meaningful bonds, reinforcing Hong Kong's position within the global conversation on contemporary art. Today, we are pleased to open the eleventh edition of Art Central, with the invaluable support of our Lead Partner UOB and the HKSAR Government's Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund. This year, we further advance the Fair's role as a discursive platform—one that amplifies voices from Hong Kong and across Asia, while also spotlighting established artists and leading galleries from farther afield who are shaping the global art landscape."

Adaline Zheng, CEO of UOB Hong Kong, said, "As Art Central's long-standing Lead Partner, we are pleased to mark a decade of collaboration with the fair, which continues to advance contemporary artistic voices and cultural dialogue. This enduring partnership reflects our shared commitment to nurturing artistic talents and supporting creative exchange within the city's vibrant arts ecosystem. We look forward to welcoming visitors to experience this year's dynamic programme and the diversity, experimentation and vitality of contemporary art at Art Central."

Tickets to Art Central are now available. Visitors are encouraged to book online in advance at artcentralhongkong.com/tickets/.

Opening Dates and Hours
Tuesday 24 March
VIP Preview (by invitation)
Wednesday 25 March
Fair Hours                        12 pm – 5 pm
Night Central                    5 pm – 9 pm
Thursday 26 March
Fair Hours                        12 pm – 7 pm
Friday 27 March
Fair Hours                        12 pm – 7 pm
Saturday 28 March
Fair Hours                        11 am – 7 pm
Sunday 29 March
Fair Hours                        11 am – 5 pm

Venue
Central Harbourfront Hong Kong, 9 Lung Wo Roa

www.artcentralhongkong.com
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For media enquiries, please contact:
Chance Communications
[Mandy Chan | mandy@chancecomm.com | 2509 3123]
[Tommy Yuen | tommy@chancecomm.com | 2509 3389]

About Art Central
Art Central, a cornerstone event of Hong Kong Art Month, presents the next generation of talent from Asia's most forward-thinking galleries alongside celebrated artists from across the globe. Since its inaugural edition in 2015, Art Central has established itself as a leading platform for innovation in contemporary art, advancing the profiles of artists and galleries and reinforcing their presence within the international art landscape. Today, the Fair is recognised for the strength of its curatorial programming and as a vital meeting point for discovery and exchange among collectors and curators representing private, corporate, and institutional collections worldwide.

Fair Director
Corey Andrew Barr joined Art Central in 2019 with over two decades of experience in the contemporary art world. He previously served as Director at a prominent Hong Kong- and London-based gallery focusing on contemporary Asian art, and as Specialist and Head of Sales at Phillips in New York, where he organised exhibitions featuring leading international artists. Barr has played a key role in expanding Art Central's platform and reinforcing Hong Kong's status as Asia's leading commercial hub for contemporary art. Based in Hong Kong since 2013, Barr is recognised for his commitment to fostering regional and global art connections.

Curator

Enoch Cheng is an artist-curator whose work spans curation, moving image, installation, performance, dance, and fashion. His cross-disciplinary multimedia practice reinterprets norms, stories, and myths through contemporary lenses, drawing on a range of creative practices and engaging audiences through diverse cultural traditions. Cheng was awarded the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship (2020) and held artist residencies at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York (2022), and the American Museum of Natural History, New York (2020). He was most recently named Artist of the Year (Visual Arts) at the 2025 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards, in recognition of his contributions to the arts, including his role at Art Central since 2024.

Zoie Yung, currently based in Hong Kong, is an independent exhibition consultant and curator, and former exhibition manager of chi K11 art museum in Shanghai. She provides a unique approach to exhibition production by combining practice in exhibition spatial arrangement and her knowledge of Chinese Xuanxue as well as Western astrology. Selected recent exhibitions include Wonder-verse (chi K11 art space, Hong Kong, 2022) and Curve of Buoyancy (Duddell's, Hong Kong, 2021). She also actively organises public education campaigns; she has collaborated with local organisations, including Tai Kwun Contemporary, Para Site, 1a Space, and Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre.

About UOB 
UOB is a leading bank in Asia with a global network in Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. Operating through our head office in Singapore and banking subsidiaries in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, we have a global network of about 430 branches and offices in 19 markets.

Since its incorporation in 1935, UOB has grown organically and through a series of strategic acquisitions. Today, UOB is rated among the world's top banks: Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service and AA- by both S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

For more than nine decades, UOB has adopted a customer-centric approach to create long-term value by staying relevant through its enterprising spirit and doing right by its customers. UOB is focused on building the future of ASEAN – for the people and businesses within, and connecting with, ASEAN.

The Bank connects businesses to opportunities in the region with its unparalleled regional footprint and leverages data and insights to innovate and create personalised banking experiences and solutions catering to each customer's unique needs and evolving preferences. UOB is also committed to help businesses forge a sustainable future, by fostering social inclusiveness, creating positive environmental impact and pursuing economic progress. UOB believes in being a responsible financial services provider and is steadfast in its support of education, children and art, doing right by its communities and stakeholders.

About Mega Arts and Cultural Events (ACE) Fund
The Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government sets up the Mega ACE Fund to attract and support international or large-scale arts and cultural events which bring significant arts, cultural or economic values and can be recurrent and anchored in Hong Kong, or events which can bring exceptionally significant arts or cultural merit, as well as publicity and image building values to Hong Kong as an arts and cultural hub with a view to contributing to Hong Kong's development into an arts and cultural metropolis as well as a tourist destination, providing development opportunities for the arts, cultural and creative sectors, and facilitating arts and cultural exchange.