All the Art Central 2026 highlights to know

Central Stage: A new core

At the heart of this year’s edition is Central Stage, a new curatorial section led by Zoie Yung and Enoch Cheng, bringing together six artists gaining international attention through museum shows, biennales and major institutional recognition. From Tokyo-based collective Side Core and multidisciplinary artist Elnaz Javani to Lithuanian installation artist Marta Frėjutė – alongside figures such as Arahmaiani, Esther Mahlangu and Arno Rafael Minkkinen – the section spans installation, textile, performance and photography, reflecting practices shaped by migration, identity and shifting cultural contexts.

Neo: A platform for emerging talent

*KIMVI, AFTER PARTY II, 2019 (left) and PARTY TRICK II, 2019 (right). Photo: BFM Art Center, Suzhou*

*Jarupatcha Achavasmit, Colony, 2023. Photo: Warin Lab Contemporary, Bangkok*

Alongside Central Stage, the Neo section continues to spotlight emerging talent. Featuring galleries in their first or second year at the fair, it focuses on artists at formative stages of their careers who are pushing contemporary visual language in new directions. From KIMVI’s performance-led explorations of memory and material to Jarupatcha Achavasmit’s textile works rooted in sustainability and Surin Kim’s hybrid of digital forms and traditional references, Neo offers a clear sense of where a new generation is heading.

Large-scale installations across the fair

*Jeong-A Bang, The Space Between Us. Photo: Gallery Mac*

*Silvester Mok, The Digital Fossiliser, 2026. Photo: Touch Gallery*

Meanwhile, this year’s fair moves beyond the traditional booth format with a series of large-scale installations that reshape the viewing experience. Highlights include Jeong-A Bang’s suspended textile works, which explore environmental and ethical tensions, and Elnaz Javani’s altered garments, which trace migration and memory. Hong Kong artist Silvester Mok’s “The Digital Fossiliser” stands out in particular, imagining a fictional laboratory where everyday objects are preserved through digital processes, raising questions about permanence in a fast-changing technological landscape.

Performance, video and new media programme

Kaitlyn Hau, ‘Polishing the Bloom’ scene visual demo still from Recursive Feedback Ritual 0.01 (2026). Photo: Kaitlyn Hau

In addition, the fair’s creative programme also extends into performance, video and new media. The performance series “Endless Night and Midnight Sun” looks at how our sense of time shifts in an AI-driven era, while the video programme “Reading the Room” explores the tension between human emotion and algorithmic logic. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn Hau’s commissioned installation “Recursive Feedback Ritual 0.01” uses motion capture and real-time computation to turn bodily movement into evolving digital imagery, blurring the line between physical and virtual presence.