Dedicated to large-scale projects that transcend the traditional gallery booth, Encounters returns as a central sector of Art Basel Hong Kong, under the leadership of a new curatorial team comprising both institutional and independent curators, led by Mami Kataoka, alongside Isabella Tam, Alia Swastika, and Hirokazu Tokuyama. The 2026 edition will present 12 artworks, guided by a curatorial vision that draws on the Five Elements—a cosmological framework widely found in Asia, with each element (space/ether, water, fire, wind and earth) designated to specific areas throughout the convention halls. Highlights include:

• A multimedia textile installation landscape by Suki Seokyeong Kang, representing the element of space/ether, presented by Kukje Gallery

• Parag Tandel’s yarn-based installation exploring ancestral connections to the sea, representing the element of water, presented by Tarq

• Shapes in glazed ceramics by Masaomi Yasunaga, representing the element of fire, presented by Lisson Gallery

• Geraldine Javier’s monumental eco-printed fabric columns resembling trees, representing the element of earth, presented by Silverlens

Encounters will extend beyond HKCEC, where Christine Sun Kim’s site-specific digital animation installation, A String of Echo Traps (2022-2026) will be on view at Pacific Place’s Park Court. Reflecting on echo and translation and accompanied by a sound composition, A String of Echo Traps will be presented by White Space, and supported by Swire Properties, the Official Partner of offsite Encounters.

For the full list of participating artists and galleries, please visit artbasel.com/hongkong/encounters.

Kabinett is the sector for focused thematic presentations staged within participating galleries’ booths. The 2026 edition will feature 35 projects, 23 of which will be focused on historical and contemporary artists from the Asia Pacific. Highlights include:

• A series of luminous, hand-painted glass lightboxes by Judy Chicago, presented by Jessica Silverman 

• Dinh Q. Lê’s 1998 installation, Damaged Gene, uses children’s clothing and pacifiers to address the enduring impact of war, presented by P.P.O.W.

• A meditative architectural installation comprising of two recent bodies of work by Ma Qiusha, presented by Beijing Commune

• A curated selection of early works by Christo, presented by Annely Juda Fine Art, reflecting the gallery’s decades-long collaboration with the artist

• A suite of abstract paintings by Tang Chang, a pioneering figure in Thailand’s modern art scene, presented by gdm

• A joint presentation of sculptural works by Jeewi Lee and Francisco Tropa, reflecting on relics and material transformation as markers of time, presented by Meyer Riegger Wolff

To view the full list of participating artists and galleries, please visit artbasel.com/hongkong/kabinett.

Zero 10, Art Basel’s global initiative dedicated to art of the digital era, will make its Asia debut at Art Basel Hong Kong 2026, following its debut at Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2025. The title references 0,10, Kazimir Malevich’s seminal 1915 exhibition in Petrograd, a historic point of departure for the avant-garde that redefined creative language for a new century. In this spirit, Zero 10 aims to transform how digital art can be exhibited, contextualized, and collected within today’s art economy.

Curated by Eli Scheinman and presented by GoTone Privilege Club, Zero 10 will feature 14 exhibitors, including Art of This Millenium (AOTM), Art Blocks, Asprey Studio, bitforms gallery, BottoDAO, Fellowship x ARTXCODE, √K Contemporary, Nguyen Wahed, Office Impart, Onkaos, Plan X, Silk Art House, SOLOS, and TAEX. Highlights include:

• Digital animations by DeeKay exploring psychological states through the visual language of early video games, presented by AOTM

• A dialogue between AI, sculpture, installation, and traditional ink painting, featuring works by Seneca, Qu Leilei, Tim Yip, presented by Asprey Studio

• A silver sculptural project by Jack Butcher examining systems of value, presented by Silk Art House

• A participatory blockchain-based work by Robert Alice exploring digital provenance through the East Asian tradition of seals, presented by Onkaos

The full list of participating artists and exhibitors will be available shortly on the Art Basel website.

The Film Program will be curated for the first time by Ellen Pau, a pioneering Hong Kong media artist and curator and co-founder of Videotage, a groundbreaking non-profit platform for media art in Asia. Titled ‘In Between Magic and Reality’, the program brings together a selection of films that propose imagination as a strategy for resistance, memory, and survival, continuing the fair’s tradition of presenting moving image works that engage with questions of the day.

Supported by the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS), in collaboration with ArtReview, two films will be featured in a special screening, followed by a talk with the artists. The films are:

• Ayoung Kim’s Al-Mather Plot 1991 (2025), a film combining personal narrative and historical research to examine oil, geopolitics, and urban transformation in Riyadh

• ikkibawiKrrr’s Dances with Trash (2024), which imagines a post-human world through animations of discarded objects

Other highlights include:

• Sin Wai Kin’s short film The Fortress (2024), examining how archetypes have been used to justify systems of power and control, presented by Blindspot Gallery

• Delicate Spells of Mind (2022), a film by British-born Australian artist Lucy McRae exploring collective experience through movement and ritual, presented by Capsule Shanghai

• Andrew Thomas Huang’s sci-fi retelling of a Buddhist folklore story, titled The Deer of Nine Colors (2025) and presented in collaboration with NOWNESS ASIA

• A selection of films by Yuan Goang-Ming, Ernest Fung, Eric Siu, Yao Qingmei, Alice Wong, Winsome Wong Dumalagan, presented by Videotage

The Film program is freely accessible to the public. To view the full list of participating artists and galleries, please visit artbasel.com/hongkong/events/film.

Conversations, Art Basel’s flagship talks program, returns to Hong Kong with an expanded four-day format. Bringing together leading voices from the art world and beyond, the program explores how visual art intersects with wider cultural, social, and technological landscapes. Highlights include:

• A keynote conversation between Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator at M+, and Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander, who will create this year’s prestigious M+ Facade commission, presented by UBS

• A conversation between Uli Sigg and Saeb Eigner, members of Art Basel’s Global Patron Council, on the role of the collector as a cultural diplomat

• A discussion marking the tenth anniversary of the industry-defining Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report, reflecting on the past decade and taking a long-term view of the art market in the region

• One day of Conversations programming will be guest curated and moderated by acclaimed curator and writer Venus Lau, Director of Museum MACAN in Jakarta. The three panels will examine digital worldmaking, the shaping of cultural and bodily flows, and the social mechanics of fear, featuring speakers including Kandis Williams, Angela Su, Steph Huang, and Joshua Serafin.

Conversations are freely accessible to the public. The full Conversations program will be available shortly on the Art Basel website.

Exchange Circle returns as an open platform for short, experimental presentations and discussions, bringing together Art Basel’s cultural and media partners to address key developments shaping arts and culture in the region. Presentations include artist talks, discussions, book presentations, and sharing. Highlights of the 2026 edition include:

• Book launch of Stay Connected: Art and China Since 2008, co-published by Tai Kwun Contemporary and Asia Art Archive, with Dr. Pi Li, Curator of Stay Connected: Art and China Since 2008, Ying Kwok, Senior Curator, Tai Kwun; Anthony Yung, Head of Research, Asia Art Archive and moderated by Daniel Szehin Ho, co-editor of the book. Presented by Tai Kwun Contemporary

• Dialogue between Tobias Berger, Executive Director of Serakai Studio, and Lars Nittve, Partner and Chair of Arte Collectum Investment Committee, on the transformative power of art beyond traditional institutional frameworks. Presented by Serakai Studio

• Collectors sharing by Matt Chung, collector and curator, Tyson Yoshi, musician and cultural figure, and Ryan Kwok, Head of BELOWGROUND, on their “first piece” and their current favorite. Presented by City Magazine

• A conversation between Felix Kwok, Chief Content Officer and Deputy Director of Shenzhen Bay Culture Square, and Dr. Florian Knothe, Director of University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, on contemporary developments in arts and culture in the Greater Bay Area. Presented by the University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong

• Artist panel discussion by Hu Yinping, Marcos Kueh, and curators Eugene Hannah Park, and Wang Huan, moderated by Wang Weiwei of CHAT. Presented by CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile)

Complementing the dance performance State of Wonder, Hong Kong Ballet Artistic Director Septime Webre will also lead a 30-minute talk exploring the evolving role of ballet in contemporary society.

In collaboration with Art Basel Hong Kong for a weeklong art week, Tai Kwun will host Artists’ Night on Friday, March 27, followed by Art After Hours: Beings in Motion on Saturday, March 28.

Now in its third year, Artists' Night featuring live performances, installations, and music, the evening will unfold across multiple venues at Tai Kwun, showcasing the work of emerging and experimental performers including Justin Talplacido Shoulder, Geumhyung Jeong, Tation, DAVID BORING, and Lydo.

Three featured artists, Justin Talplacido Shoulder, Geumhyung Jeong, and Tation will return to Art After Hours: Beings in Motion.

Alongside the performances, Tai Kwun gallery spaces hosting the contemporary art exhibition Stay Connected: Supplying the Globe will remain open late and feature a participatory work by the collective Foreign Investment.

For the fifth consecutive year, Art Basel and M+ will co-commission an artwork for the M+ Facade, presented by UBS. From March 23, 3 to 12 Nautical Miles (2026) by Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander will be presented on the museum’s facade facing Victoria Harbour. Animated from hand-painted images, this radiant cinematic tableau reimagines miniature painting to navigate the enduring currents of power and trade that have shaped the global landscape from the nineteenth century to the modern era. The co-commission will be screened nightly on the M+ Facade from Monday, March 23 to Sunday, June 21, 2026.

Art Basel continues to support a network of Hong Kong’s non-profit institutions, including 1a space, Asia Art Archive, Asian Cultural Council, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile), Design Trust, HASS Lab, Hong Chi Association, Hong Kong Art Gallery Association, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre (JCCAC), Para Site, Tomorrow Maybe, and WMA. Art Basel will extend its support to local university art programs, including the Academy of Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University, Art Museum of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and University Museum and Art Gallery at the University of Hong Kong.

Art Basel Hong Kong will welcome Hong Kong Ballet and First Initiative Foundation (FIF) as new cultural partners. In collaboration with Hong Kong Ballet, Art Basel Hong Kong will stage
performing arts collaboration State of Wonder — a multi-site performance that brings a series of short, evocative dance excerpts into the HKCEC on Saturday, March 28. Activating the fair’s environments, the work invites audiences to rediscover a sense of wonder in the everyday.

Founded as a registered charity in 2010, FIF supports and proactively creates local and global initiatives that bring meaningful connection, empowerment, and joy to communities through the arts. FIF will pair a musician from its international network with an artist featured in Art Basel Hong Kong’s 2026 Film Program, co-creating an original soundtrack for the artist’s moving‑image work.

Art Basel will also launch Friends of Art Basel Hong Kong, a new initiative developed in collaboration with regional museums to strengthen institutional relationships across Asia, including with institutions in Mainland China, He Art Museum in Greater Bay Area and Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai.

The MGM Discoveries Art Prize, an award established in 2025 to support emerging artists, will once again unveil its prize winners during the fair. The jury is comprised of international experts, including Aaron Cezar, Founding Director of Delfina Foundation; Antonia Carver, Director of Art Jameel; Christopher K. Ho, board member of Asia Art Archive and Powerhouse Arts and a member of the Design & Architecture Acquisitions Committee at M+; Park Seungho, Chairman of Park Seo-Bo Foundation; and X Zhu-Nowell, Executive Director and Chief Curator at the Rockbund Art Museum (RAM). For further information, visit https://www.mgm.mo/en/art/art-basel.

BMW, a global partner of Art Basel for over two decades, will return to Hong Kong as Associate Partner, providing a dedicated premium VIP car service for First Choice guests. As part of the BMW Art Car World Tour, BMW will present Robert Rauschenberg’s BMW Art Car (1986) at Art Basel Hong Kong 2026. The iconic work transforms a BMW 635 CSi into a layered collage of art history, photography and everyday culture, embodying Rauschenberg’s enduring ambition to dissolve the boundaries between art and life. Presented in dialogue with the concurrent Robert Rauschenberg exhibition at M+, the presentation highlights a dynamic dialogue between contemporary art, Hong Kong’s cultural landscape and five decades of BMW Art Car history.

Qatar Airways, the Premium Partner for Art Basel and named the World’s Best Airline a record ninth time at the 2025 Skytrax World Airline Awards, leverages its network of over 170 destinations to connect people, places, and cultures. As Art Basel’s Premium Partner, the national airline of the State of Qatar showcases its ability to be a catalyst for discovery and cultural dialogue. This long-term partnership sees the airline supporting Art Basel’s annual fairs in Basel, Paris, Hong Kong, Miami Beach, and its newly launched edition in Qatar.

Following the launch of its Official Partnership with Art Basel in Miami Beach in 2025, Salone del Mobile.Milano continues its collaboration by curating the Collectors Lounge at the upcoming Hong Kong edition, in partnership with Lissoni & Partners. The lounge will be furnished by a curated selection of leading Italian design brands, embodying a refined dialogue between material innovation, artisanal mastery, and the evolving language of contemporary design.

JNBY, Official Uniform Partner of Art Basel, produces the exclusive uniforms worn across global fair editions—including Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong and Paris. Designed by JNBY with artworks by renowned Chinese artist Shi Zhiying and drawing from her signature Stone series, the uniforms and accompanying tote bags will be available for purchase at the Art Basel Shop, underscoring the label’s commitment to bridging fashion and contemporary art.

During the 2026 edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, visitors will be able to experience expansive and engaging programming and exhibitions presented by the city’s leading museums and cultural institutions. They include:

• 1a space
  'down to earth (exhale)'

• Asia Society Hong Kong Centre
  'Hung Hsien: Between Worlds'

• CHAT
  'CHAT Spring Program 2026: Threading Inwards'
  'Artefacts of 'Blue''
  'Snuggle and Stitch: Childhood Textiles of Hong Kong'

• Hong Kong Museum of Art
  'Wu Guanzhong Art Sponsorship Thematic Exhibition Series: Wu Guanzhong: Encountering Landscapes'

• M+
  'Robert Rauschenberg and Asia'
  'Zao Wou-Ki: Master Printmaker (co-curated with Zao Wou-Ki Foundation)'
  'Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time'
  'Philip Guston: The Irony of the History'
  'Raymond Pettibon'

• Para Site
  'Site-seeing'

• Tai Kwun
  'Stay Connected: Supplying the Globe'

• WMA
  'Doris Wong Wai Yin: Pollyanna and the Glad Town'

Highlighting leading voices in contemporary Asian art, the Art Basel Hong Kong creative campaign will feature works by Bi Rongrong, Chan Wai Lap, and Tala Madani, on advertising and other promotional materials throughout the city. In addition to his inclusion in the campaign, Chan Wai Lap will be presented in two further contexts during the fair: UBS, Art Basel’s Global Lead Partner, will present his pool-inspired works in the UBS Art Studio, while CHAT – Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile, a cultural partner of Art Basel Hong Kong, will showcase a distinct body of his work in its booth at the fair.