ASIA NOW 2025
Returning for its 11th edition from 22 to 26 October 2025, ASIA NOW transforms Paris’s Monnaie de Paris into an exciting presentation of contemporary art from Asia and its diaspora.
More than a fair, ASIA NOW operates as a festival of ideas—a living platform that celebrates collaboration, hybridity, and transformation across geographies and generations. Under the theme “GROW,” the 11th edition of Asia Now cultivates art as fertile ground for empathy and renewal. Drawing from philosopher Leela Gandhi’s concept of “affective communities,” curator Anissa Touati positions the fair as a space where shared emotion and ethical resonance replace old binaries of East and West. “Grow” becomes a metaphor for cultural interconnectedness—where art plants seeds of understanding that transcend geography and heritage.
ASIA NOW’s curatorial vision continues to challenge traditional cartographies. Long focused on rebalancing global narratives, the fair expands its reach to include West Asia—often relegated to the margins of “Asian” programming. From Riyadh to Lahore, Kathmandu to AlUla, the 2025 edition celebrates a plural and dynamic vision of “Asias,” foregrounding the Global Majority as both presence and horizon.
This year’s fair welcomes around 70 international galleries, including returning names such as Esther Schipper, Tang Contemporary Art, and Sabrina Amrani, alongside newcomers like Arario Gallery, Regeneration Art Gallery, and Baik Art. The program introduces The Third Space, a new section inspired by theorist Homi Bhabha, devoted to experimental works that embrace hybridity and collaboration. Highlights include projects by HATCH Gallery, Third Born, and Sorry We’re Closed, each exploring transformation through material, sound, and memory.
The public program unfolds throughout the Monnaie de Paris, with curatorial contributions from John Tain (Lahore Biennale), Natasha Ginwala (COLOMBOSCOPE), and Arnaud Morand (AFALULA). West Asia takes centre stage under the evocative motto My East is Your West, showcasing artists and institutions from across the Middle East. Notable presentations include Ahaad Alamoudi’s sound and light activation Ghosts of Today and Tomorrow, and Han Mengyun’s poetic installation Under the Aegis of the Moon.
South Asia is equally represented, with programs from the Lahore Biennale Foundation, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, and COLOMBOSCOPE, bringing works that address ecology, resilience, and cultural memory. Performances, installations, and conversations expand the fair’s reach beyond visual art into sound, cinema, and craft. The launch of Cinema NOW introduces curated film programs by NOWNESS, Zohreh Deldadeh, and Shwetal Patel, exploring displacement, belonging, and the poetic potential of moving images.
ASIA NOW continues its commitment to craft and material heritage, spotlighting finalists of the LOEWE Craft Prize, including Sumakshi Singh and Racso Jugarap. Two prestigious awards—the RAK Art Foundation Prize and the Matsutani Prize—will honour artists who exemplify creative excellence and cross-cultural dialogue.
As Director and Chief Curator of Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, X Zhu-Nowell notes, “It’s a fair that feels like a festival—it’s what art should be: a celebration.” In 2025, ASIA NOW invites the world to grow together—to imagine new solidarities and reframe Asia not as a place on the map, but as a shared method of seeing, feeling, and creating.
Asia Now takes place at the Monnaie de Paris between October 22-26, 2025.
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