In the autumn, Asia NOW returns to the Monnaie de Paris for an edition that celebrates Asia as a methodology, a movement. A platform of exchanges, circulations and influences, where more than two hundred artists from Asia and its diaspora converse, presented by sixty galleries, institutions and private foundations.
Asia NOW reaffirms its vision of plural and globalised Asia, the fair deploying a programme where exhibitions, installations and curatorial projects draw an Asia thought as a space for the circulation of ideas rather than just geography.
For more than ten years, Asia NOW has been highlighting the most striking voices of contemporary creation while amplifying those more discreet ones from certain artistic communities, which are now emerging as new nerve centers of contemporary art, thanks to the growth of their local scenes and the many biennials that flourish there.
Asia NOW seeks to challenge established perspectives and affirms each year its ambition to “go beyond the real or imaginary boundaries that have long defined East and West”. What was originally a contemporary art fair has become a true cultural festival, bringing together international galleries, artists, special projects developed in partnership with international exhibition curators, collectors, institutions and major players on the international cultural scene. More than an annual event, Asia NOW has become a unique space for discovering art scenes, emerging artists and new cultural ecosystems.
“The strength of Asia NOW is that it is much more a festival, a joyful celebration of art than a classic fair.” — X Zhu-Nowell, commissaire, autrice et directrice du Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai.
A public programme that continues our commitments and extends the dynamics
initiated in previous years around the confirmed and emerging artistic scenes of East Asia (Mongolia, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Korea…) and West Asia (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates…)
This year’s public program includes in particular the site-specific installations of Villa Hegra: six previously unpublished works by Saudi artists commissioned for Arts AlUla and Villa Hegra by Basmah Felemban, artist and curator, and Gaël Charbau, artistic director of the Villa Hegra, the solo exhibition of recent works by Louis Le Kim, artist and finalist of the Reiffers Art Initiatives Award, commissioned for the occasion by Art Tuner, the installations of Indian artists Reena Saini Kallat, represented by the Mor Charpentier gallery and Ishita Chakraborty presented by the Peter Kilchmann Gallery, Pleats, an exhibition proposed by SPAZIO NOBILE bringing together the works of Pao Hui Kao and Didi Ng Wing Yin; Punk Orientalism Salon, designed by Sara Raza, curator, author and artistic director and chief curator of the Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Tashkent, inspired by its New York curatorial platform Punk Orientalism Studio; the Cinema NOW program, curated by Stefano Rabolli Pansera, exhibition curator, director of Bangkok Kunsthalle and
Khao Yai Art Forest, as well as artistic director of the St. Moritz Art Film Festival; the Chow & Lin project, in dialogue with the collections and research of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
From Venice to Paris : the artists of the 61st Venice Biennale at Asia NOW
This year, Asia NOW brings together artists representing national pavilions at the 61st Venice Biennale, extending the dialogue between Venice and Paris through new exhibitions and encounters.
Representing the Philippines at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with Sea of Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig, Philippine artist Jon Cuyson will unveil a new body of work created exclusively for the 12th edition of ASIA NOW in Paris, presented by the Chicago-based Tala gallery. Unveiled for the first time at ASIA NOW, these new works continue Cuyson’s exploration of memory, identity, migration and stratified histories connecting the Philippines to the rest of the world.
This year, Asia NOW also turns to Mongolia with Mongolia’s Spirited World, organized by Thomas Eller. During a special meeting with the Mongolian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, Asia NOW presents in Paris the works of Nomin Bold and Erelkhuu Ganbold, two of the four artists participating in the pavilion. Their practices offer distinct perspectives on the relationship between cultural heritage, spirituality and contemporary expression. Rooted in contemplation, Buddhist traditions and a deep engagement with the spiritual dimensions of creation, the presentation offers a glimpse into the richness and complexity of Mongolia’s contemporary artistic landscape.
Since its inception, Asia NOW has championed craftsmanship as a common thread between
tradition and contemporary expression. Among the invited projects is also Ce que la matière garde, an exhibition proposed by 95130 Le Marais, bringing together for the first time the Japanese ceramist Kazunori Hamana and the French textile artist Marie Hazard around a reflection on the memory of materials, the slowness of the gesture and the relationship between body and matter.
The Third Space
The public programme also unfolds through The Third Space, curated by Valentina Rosas Saad, and the conversation platform bringing together artists, curators, institutions and collectors. The Third Space is a new section of Asia NOW, inaugurated in 2025, presenting installations, moving images, and works of visual art unfolding as a journey through the Monnaie de Paris, extending the show beyond the stand into the corridors, the vestibules, stairs, and courtyards of the building. Conceived as a public program, it invites galleries, institutions and independent platforms to present projects in dialogue with the architecture of the Mint.
Inspired by the theorist Homi Bhabha’s concept of the “third space”, this section explores cultural hybridity and transformation, as well as the idea that meaning is not produced within a single culture, but in the space between cultures, where they intersect, translate and transform each
other. The Third Space is thus conceived as a site where several geographies and practices meet, opening the way to experimental projects, cross-border collaboration and collective reflection. It is at the same time an experience, a conversation and a catalyst.
For the 2026 edition, The Third Space brings together galleries and platforms from South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia and the Mongolian steppes: practices put in relation with each other and with the Paris Mint, one of the capital’s most historical institutions. This connection thus generates new associations, readings and discoveries.
Participating galleries – A global network of artistic voices
Bringing together more than 70 galleries from around the world, the 2026 edition of Asia NOW continues to reflect the diversity and vitality of contemporary practices. This year’s participating galleries include internationally recognized names and influential actors shaping the current artistic landscape, including Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Drawing Room, LOY Contemporary Art Gallery, Esther Schipper, Spazio Nobile Gallery, Double Square, Whitestone Gallery, Discovery ART, Art and Charlie, Strangers House, Backroom KL and TALA Gallery Chicago, among others.
Matsutani Prize
The Matsutani Prize presents an exhibition designed specifically for Asia NOW, which celebrates the legacy of Franco-Japanese artist Takesada Matsutani and supports new generations of artists whose practices explore experimentation, the materiality and expanded possibilities of contemporary art.
Through this constellation of galleries, artists and curatorial projects, Asia NOW pursues its ambition to bring out new narratives around contemporary Asia, between heritages, experiments and international dialogues, by focusing not only on objects, but on the relationships between veings, territories, materials, memories and forms of life.
Press release from Asia Now
Image: Mamali Shafahi and Domenico Gutknecht. Apparition. 2026. Produced with the support of the Sigg Art Foundation and Baró Gallery
