The Asia-Pacific art scene saw significant activity across multiple sectors. Art SG reported increased attendance and sales, while the SAM Art SG Fund acquired works for the Singapore Art Museum. JD.com announced plans for a major new museum in Shenzhen, and several appointments and award winners were named across the region. Auction houses Bonhams Hong Kong and Sotheby's Singapore posted strong sales results, with the latter setting new artist records.
Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 will feature 240 galleries and an expanded program, including the Asia debut of the digital-focused Zero 10 section and a reimagined Encounters section. The Encounters section, curated by a team led by Mami Kataoka, will feature 12 large-scale works based on the Five Elements theme, with pieces by artists like Suki Seokyeong Kang and Parag Tandel. The Film section is under new curation by Ellen Pau, and the fair coincides with major exhibitions at institutions like M+.
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London has opened "Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific," a major exhibition produced in partnership with the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane. Featuring over 70 works never before exhibited in the UK, the show draws from QAGOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), which began in 1993. Highlights include Michael Parekōwhai's sculpture of a Māori bouncer, Montien Boonma's terracotta bell installation, and Takahiro Iwasaki's intricate wooden model. The exhibition is the first APT survey to be held outside Australia and Chile, arriving after years of planning by V&A exhibitions director Daniel Slater.
Dib Bangkok, Thailand's first international-standard contemporary art museum, opened on December 20 with a festive and dramatic inauguration in Bangkok. Founded by the late industrialist and art collector Petch Osathanugrah and completed by his son Purat "Chang" Osathanugrah, the museum debuted with the exhibition "(In)Visible Presence," curated by Ariana Chaivaranon and Dr. Miwako Tezuka, featuring 81 works by 40 artists from the museum's collection. The opening included a visceral performance by Marco Fusinato, where Chang struck a wall with a baseball bat to complete the artwork, symbolizing a "big bang" for Thailand's cultural landscape.
Yoshiko Mori, the founding chairperson of Tokyo's Mori Art Museum, died on December 23 from pneumonia at age 85. Alongside her husband, real estate developer Minoru Mori, she opened the museum in 2003, which has since become one of Japan's premier contemporary art institutions. Mori served as chairperson from 2003 to 2024, then as chairperson emerita until her death. She also founded the Mori Contemporary Art Foundation in 2025 and held numerous international board positions, including trustee at the Royal Academy of Arts and member of the International Council at MoMA and Tate.
Para Site, a Hong Kong contemporary arts center, has launched a year-long 30th anniversary programme featuring exhibitions, performances, and residencies. The programme is structured around acts of response, pairing artists and fostering new collaborations, drawing inspiration from the organization's earliest experimental exhibitions.
Artnet News and Morgan Stanley have released an analysis of the global art market, examining auction performance by artists from different regions over the past decade. The report breaks down sales by region—North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East—and by genre categories including Old Masters, Impressionist and Modern, Postwar and Contemporary, and Ultra-Contemporary. Key findings show that North American and European artists dominate the market, while African-born artists have seen notable but uneven growth, and Asia-Pacific-born artists have experienced a marked decline.
Le marché asiatique porte Art Basel Hong Kong
Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 concluded with strong attendance and significant sales, demonstrating the fair's central role in the Asian art market. The event attracted over 91,000 visitors and featured 240 galleries, with a strong presence from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the United States. Major international galleries like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and David Zwirner reported multimillion-dollar sales of works by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Liu Ye, and Marlene Dumas, alongside notable transactions for works by Tracey Emin and Antony Gormley.
Art SG 2026, the fourth edition of Singapore's annual art fair, will take place from January 22 to 25 at Marina Bay Sands, featuring over 100 galleries from more than 30 countries. Fair director Shuyin Yang has introduced several new initiatives, including the Wan Hai Hotel project by Shanghai's Rockbund Art Museum, a South Asian art platform sponsored by TVS Motor, and the integration of S.E.A. Focus into Art SG. Notable guests include the Tate patrons group, curators from Palais de Tokyo and LUMA Arles, and LACMA director Michael Govan, who will launch the museum's Southeast Asia acquisition program.
The article highlights the most exciting art exhibitions across the Asia-Pacific region in late 2025. Key shows include a survey of women photographers in Melbourne, a Lee Bul retrospective in Seoul, a Robert Rauschenberg exhibition in Hong Kong, and a Lucie Rie ceramics show in Kanazawa, Japan. Additionally, a new museum opens in Taiwan, and the National Palace Museum in Taiwan hosts a loan exhibition of 81 works from the Robert Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, featuring artists like Cézanne, Gauguin, and Renoir. Other notable events include 'Prism of the Real' at the National Crafts Museum in Kanazawa, examining Japanese art from 1989 to 2010, and a Kim Tschang-Yeul exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in South Korea.
Art Basel has announced the gallery lineup and first highlights for its 2026 Hong Kong edition, which will feature 240 leading galleries from 41 countries and territories. Over half of the participating galleries operate in the Asia-Pacific region, including 29 with spaces in Hong Kong. A new sector called Echoes debuts, spotlighting recent works by up to three artists per presentation. The Encounters sector will be curated for the first time by a collective of four Asia-based curators led by Mami Kataoka. The fair also introduces a Film Program curated by media artist Ellen Pau and a Conversations Program directed by Venus Lau. For the fifth year, Art Basel and M+ will co-commission a monumental public artwork for the M+ Facade, this time by Shahzia Sikander. The fair runs March 27–29, 2026, with preview days on March 25 and 26 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Alexander Morrison, a prominent figure in the art world, has passed away. The article, published by The Art Newspaper, reports on his death and likely includes tributes to his contributions, though the provided text is limited to subscription prompts and footer information, lacking full details on his life and career.
Tobias Berger, a veteran curator who held senior roles at Hong Kong’s M+ and Tai Kwun, has transitioned from the public sector to lead two new private initiatives: Serakai Studio and the Tanoto Art Foundation. Ahead of Art Basel Hong Kong, Berger is launching "Gold," an experimental salon space in Wong Chuk Hang that merges contemporary art with design and fashion. These roles mark a shift toward agile, privately funded cultural models that prioritize regional focus and experimental programming over the bureaucratic structures of large public museums.
Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 returned to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 25–27, featuring 240 galleries from 42 countries and territories. The 13th edition introduced new sectors including Echoes, dedicated to works made within the past five years, and Zero 10, a digital art initiative making its Asia debut. The fair also transformed its Encounters sector with a collective curatorial framework based on the Five Elements, led by Mami Kataoka and three other Asia-based curators. Robb Report India covered the event through the perspectives of Indian artists Siddharth Kerkar and Jayesh Sachdev.
Europe is set to host a series of major exhibitions in 2026 that bridge the cultural divide between the East and West. Key highlights include a massive Yayoi Kusama retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, a showcase of Thai royal haute couture and Pierre Balmain’s designs at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and an exploration of ancient Korean gold at the Musée Guimet. Additionally, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London will partner with Australia’s QAGOMA for a large-scale survey of contemporary art from Asia and the Pacific.
Art Basel Hong Kong opened with robust sales and high energy, signaling a strong recovery for the Asia-Pacific art market. Blue-chip galleries reported several seven-figure transactions early on, including a $4 million Picasso at Bastian and a $3.8 million Liu Ye painting at David Zwirner. The fair's debut of the digital-focused 'Zero 10' initiative and a significant presence of regional collectors underscored a diverse appetite for both postwar masters and contemporary digital works.
Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 opened with a renewed sense of optimism, featuring 240 galleries and a significant emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. The VIP preview saw a surge in attendance primarily from regional collectors across mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, signaling a robust recovery for the local market. While international travel remains a factor, the fair's success is increasingly driven by a localized ecosystem of younger collectors and long-term public investments in cultural infrastructure like the M+ museum.
The Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) has exported a major exhibition, "Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific," to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The show, which runs until January 10, 2027, features works collected over 30 years through QAGOMA's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, including pieces by Australian artists Michael Cook, Naomi Hobson, Shirley Macnamara, Ken Thaiday Sr, and Judy Watson, as well as artists from China, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, and beyond.
The Sovereign Asian Art Prize, now in its 22nd year, has announced its 2026 shortlist of 30 artists from 12 Asia-Pacific countries and territories. Among the finalists are three Filipino artists: Joey Cobcobo, Josephine Turalba, and Alvin Zafra. Cobcobo's nominated work, "Ika-8 Utos: Wag Kang Kukurap (Thou Shall Not Steal)," addresses corruption in the Philippines using a recycled canvas walked on by the public. Turalba, a transdisciplinary artist, has exhibited at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025 and serves as director of the Artistic Research Center at Philippine Women's University. The prize is run by the Sovereign Art Foundation, with proceeds from shortlisted works supporting its Make It Better charity program for children in Hong Kong.
Christie's closed 2025 with $6.2 billion in projected global sales, a nearly seven percent increase from $5.8 billion in 2024 and in line with its 2023 total. Auction sales reached $4.7 billion, up eight percent year-over-year, while private sales held steady at $1.5 billion. The year's top lot was Mark Rothko's *No. 31 (Yellow Stripe)*, which sold for $62.1 million in New York. Other highlights include a record Picasso sale in Hong Kong ($25.4 million) and the Fabergé Winter Egg in London (£22.9 million). The house also saw strong performance from its automobiles business, Gooding Christie's, which delivered $234 million in sales. Geographically, the Americas grew 15 percent to $2.58 billion, while Asia-Pacific slipped 5 percent.
The exhibition 'Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989-2010' at the National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT), explores Japanese contemporary art from the late Shōwa era through the Heisei era, a period of economic turmoil and social change. Curated by Doryun Chong, Isabella Tam, Kamiya Yukie, and Jihye Yun, the show originated from a friendship between Osaka Eriko and Suhanya Raffel, who collaborated on the 1999 Asia-Pacific Triennial. It features works by artists like Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik, Lee Bul, Tsuyoshi Ozawa, Gimhongsok, Chen Xiaoxiong, and Navin Rawanchaikul, tracing Japan's artistic exchanges with Asia and the world, and addressing themes of gender, immigration, and national identity.
The article announces Olafur Eliasson's traveling exhibition 'Your curious journey,' running from June 21 to September 21, 2025, at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Featuring 17 works spanning installation, painting, sculpture, and photography, the show reflects on the Icelandic-Danish artist's three-decade career and marks his first major presentation in the Asia-Pacific region. The exhibition will later travel to the Singapore Art Museum, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Museum MACAN in Jakarta, and MCAD Manila - Museum of Contemporary Art and Design.
The Ayala Foundation has announced the development of the Kontempo Center for Contemporary Art in Manila, appointing Reuben Keehan as its inaugural artistic director. Designed by architect Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY Architecture in collaboration with Lor Calma & Partners, the center will be located on the site of a former racetrack in Circuit Makati. The facility will prioritize exhibitions, commissions, and public programming over a permanent collection, featuring three large galleries and extensive green space for public art installations.
Auction houses Sotheby's, Christie's, and Bonhams are seeing a surge in participation from wealthy Southeast Asian collectors, particularly Millennials and Gen Z. Elaine Holt of Sotheby's Asia reports significant growth in collector activity from the region, with strong bidding at recent Hong Kong sales. Christie's Asia-Pacific president Francis Belin notes Southeast Asia is now the firm's third-largest buying market in Asia-Pacific, led by Singapore and Indonesia, with notable increases from Vietnam. Bonhams' managing director for Asia, Julia Hu, reports a 67% year-on-year rise in Southeast Asian auction spending. Younger buyers are driving demand, with Millennials and Gen Z accounting for 37% of Bonhams' Hong Kong buyers and 40% of Sotheby's Hong Kong marquee sales. A Renoir painting sold for $23.56 million to a collector in their 30s, highlighting youthful buying power.
UBS's eleventh Billionaire Ambitions Report reveals that global billionaire wealth hit a record $15.8 trillion in 2025, with the number of billionaires rising 8.8% to nearly 3,000. The report, based on a survey of 87 ultra-wealthy clients, found that 27% plan to increase their investment in art and antiques, while 65% intend to maintain current levels—totaling 92% of respondents. Enthusiasm is strongest in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (35% planning increases), followed by Asia-Pacific (25%), and weakest in the Americas (15%).
The article highlights two must-see exhibitions and two must-read books on Korean art. The exhibition "Scent of Korea in Silla" (June 27–November 30) at Solgeo Art Museum in Gyeongju features four contemporary artists—Park Dae-sung, Songcheon, Park Sun-min, and Kim Min—coinciding with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in October. The books include "Modern and Contemporary Korean Art in Context (1950–Now)" by Jung-Sil Lee and Dong-Yeon Koh (Bloomsbury Academic), which surveys postwar Korean art from ink painting to digital art, and "Art, War, and Exile in Modern Korea: Rethinking the Life and Work of Lee Qoede" by Jinyoung Anna Jin (Amsterdam University Press), which reexamines the life of a Korean painter long misunderstood due to political circumstances.
Art SG 2026, a major art fair in Singapore, has been announced, bringing together leading international galleries, artists, and collectors in the region. The event showcases contemporary art from Asia and beyond, featuring a curated selection of galleries and special exhibitions.