Each late March, Hong Kong becomes a city shaped by art. Fairs take over the harbourfront, museums roll out major exhibitions, and public projects spill into the streets. With so much happening at once, these are the key events to know and where to spend your time during this year’s art week
Art Basel Hong Kong
At the centre of the week, Art Basel Hong Kong remains its most influential event, bringing together 240 galleries from 41 countries and territories. Alongside the main gallery presentations, this year introduces Echoes, focusing on works from the past five years, and Zero10, a sector dedicated to digital art. Large-scale projects in the Encounters sector and curated presentations across the fair expand the experience beyond booths, offering a comprehensive view of the global contemporary art scene.
Art Central
Just along the same waterfront, Art Central brings a more experimental edge. The fair focuses on emerging artists and younger galleries, with sections like Central Stage highlighting artists gaining international attention and Neo spotlighting early-career practices. Beyond the booths, Yi Tai sculpture and installation projects, such as Silvester Mok’s “The Digital Fossiliser,” push the fair into more immersive territory, alongside a programme of performance, video and digital projects.
Tai Kwun Contemporary
A short walk inland, Tai Kwun presents a week-long programme from March 23 to 29 in collaboration with Art Basel Hong Kong. At its centre is “Stay Connected: Supplying the Globe,” an exhibition featuring over 70 works that examine globalisation through personal and regional narratives. The programme also extends into live performances and music, with events such as “Art After Hours: Beings in Motion” exploring themes of identity, the body and social interaction through performance.
M+
Across the harbour, M+ anchors Art Month with a major institutional programme centred around “Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now,” a large-scale survey exploring themes of utopia, the body and technology. Alongside it, Shahzia Sikander’s 3 to 12 Nautical Miles appears on the M+ Facade as an animated work from late March, while performances and live activations tied to “Shanshui: Echoes and Signals” explore the relationship between landscape, technology and contemporary life.
HKwalls Festival
Back in the city centre, HKwalls takes art beyond the gallery setting and into everyday urban space. Murals by local and international artists appear across Central and the Western District, while digital works are displayed on LED screens throughout Hong Kong. PMQ serves as the festival hub, hosting guided mural tours, workshops and live events. This year’s Art on the Move project expands the format further, transforming trucks into travelling, immersive artworks that move through the city.
Para Site
For a quieter counterpoint, Quarry Bay’s Para Site presents “Site-seeing” as part of its 30th anniversary programme. The exhibition brings together artists born between the 1970s and 1990s from across the Asia Pacific and beyond, through newly commissioned and recent works exploring themes of urban transformation, memory and belonging. Open daily with extended hours and free admission, it offers a more reflective way to engage with contemporary art beyond the commercial focus of the fairs.
Oil Street Art Space
A little outside the main circuit, Oil Street Art Space, located in North Point, offers a more local and experimental perspective. The programme includes “Space · Ecology · Poetics: Zheng Jing’s Way of Art,” where installations using water, sound, air and light transform both gallery and outdoor spaces. At the same time, Chan Wai-lap’s “Jeremy’s Bathhouse” turns the venue into an immersive, participatory environment, reimagining bathing culture as a shared social experience.
