Art Central is back in Hong Kong’s iconic Central Harbourfront for its 11th edition, featuring an extensive line-up from across Hong Kong, Asia and the wider world, showcasing a diverse array of emerging work.
As this year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival draws to a close, Art Central steps in to cap the season on a high note. Now in its 11th edition, the fair returns to the iconic Central Harbourfront with the theme “Discover Art. Make It Yours.”, featuring more than 100 galleries and 500 artists from Hong Kong, across Asia and the wider world, making it its biggest link-up so far. This year’s edition spans large-scale installations, performances, videos, discursive events and digitally inflected practices, reflecting the breadth of contemporary art-making today.
Fair Dates & Times
VIP Preview
Tuesday, 24 March | 2 pm – 8 pm (Invitation Only)
Night Central
Wednesday, 25 March | 5 pm – 9 pm
General Admission
Wednesday, 25 March | 12 pm – 5 pm
Thursday, 26 March | 12 pm – 7 pm
Friday, 27 March | 12 pm – 7 pm
Saturday, 28 March | 11 am – 7 pm
Sunday, 29 March | 11 am – 5 pm
(Admission closes 45 minutes before the end time of each session.)
Venue
Central Harbourfront Event Space, 9 Lung Wo Road, Central, Hong Kong
Supported by Lead Partner United Overseas Bank (UOB), this year’s Art Central greets visitors from the outset with‘White Mirror – The Vista of Inner Worlds’, a striking large-scale inkjet installation by Hong Kong artist LING Pui Sze. The installation draws on Li’s years-long studies into cellular imagery and recent visual research on the microscopic world at the University of Cambridge, presented as a whimsical, interactive garden.
Art Central’s commitment to supporting local art remains a driving force behind the fair. That ethos is vividly embodied in ‘Recursive Feedback Ritual 0.01,’ a real-time generative installation by local artist Kaitlyn Hau hat gives tangible form to the experience of living with bipolar and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Through a synchronised system of motion capture and kinetic percussion, Hau externalises the relentless psychological cycle of folding, flattening and reconstructing the self.
As the artist intended, the computer-generated sculpture is a way for participants to force themselves to be mindful, an attempt to establish order within chaos, while negotiating the tension between the real and the virtual, the monumental and the miniature, as movement becomes data and emotion is channelled into percussive sound.
In another first for the fair, Art Central debuts the ‘Central Stage’ as one of the standout offerings of Art March in Hong Kong. Art Central shines a spotlight on artists SIDE CORE, Elnaz Javani, Marta Fréjūté, Arahmaiani, Esther Mahlangu and Arno Rafael Minkkinen, whose practices have garnered recent institutional recognition, including participation in major international exhibitions and recurring large-scale shows. Collectively, they form a dynamic cross-section of global contemporary practice, each engaging with the theme through a richly varied array of artistic forms.
“For this year’s edition, about 85 per cent of participating galleries are from the Asia Pacific, reflecting Hong Kong’s significance as a global hub for artistic exchange,” said Corey Andrew Barr, Fair Director of Art Central.
Two dedicated sections underscore that regional focus: Neo offers galleries in their first or second year of participation a platform to spotlight cutting-edge and undiscovered artists, while Yi Tai Projects provides a space for galleries to present site-specific installations and sculptures. Together, the two sections bring together galleries from Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and more.
Beyond the exhibition halls, Art Central presents a programme of live performance and talks at Central Theatre. Among them is ‘The Endless Night and Midnight Sun,’ curated by Zoie Yung, which reflects on shifting temporalities through the polar extremes of light and darkness. The programme brings together ‘Memory in Motion – Walk-In-Cinema’ by Susie Au, ‘IYKYK (ON AIR)’ by Jiaming Liao, ‘I see blood in the sky’ by Isabella Isabella, and ‘Shadow Work’ by Chaklam Ng featuring Karen Yu — each inviting audiences to slow down and reclaim a rhythm attuned to the human pulse.
The programme also welcomes a notable newcomer in the Sands Gallery, showcasing works by Lei Leng Wai, Leong Chi Mou and Dor Lio Hak Man, all of whom are emerging artists from Macao. The artwork created by these three artists combines to depict a vibrant and dynamic representation of the current Macao Contemporary Art Scene. While it’s still very young, it is gaining ground at a tremendous pace. By participating in Art Central, Sands Gallery supports Art Central’s goal to expand the Asian Contemporary Art Map beyond traditional hubs.
With so much to see across such an expansive venue, Art Central ensures that visitors have plenty of opportunities to pause, refuel and take it all in. A varied selection of food and drink is offered to the visitors for them to relax between galleries and enjoy art with an alcoholic beverage.
Black Sheep Restaurants offered samples from five of their most well-known establishments: Ho Lee Fook — Cantonese-inspired food; Artemis & Apollo — Greek-inspired; Jean-Pierre — French; FALCONE — neo-Neapolitan and beverage options; and Messina — gelato and other desserts. While Soho House presents its brand of living room-style lounge and cocktails for visitors who want more of an intimate experience.
For those who want to keep moving as they view the exhibits, grab & go options will be available from illycaffè and Kronenbourg 1664 — no need for a fixed seating assignment, simply take a beverage into the space where you will enjoy viewing art.
It is this blend of art, food and social atmosphere that sets Art Central apart from the traditional gallery or museum visit, lending the fair a sense of freshness and ease that encourages audiences to engage with the work on their own terms.
