The upcoming Aotearoa Art Fair signals a dynamic year of transformation and ambitious presentation, underpinned by a strong trans-Tasman presence and a compelling convergence of established and emerging voices. Across the first weekend of May, the Viaduct precinct will come alive with a curated constellation of galleries, artists and arts practitioners, accompanied by a robust programme of public events and activations.

Among the notable highlights is the return of Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert, once again presenting Lisa Reihana. Reihana’s seminal work in Pursuit of Venus [infected] will be on view, accompanied by her major kinetic sculpture ANZAC, first presented at Carriageworks in 2025. Positioned at the entrance of the Viaduct Events Centre, the work will operate as a luminous preface—framing the fair as a site where spectacle and substance, contemporaneity and history, remain in active tension.

Alongside these anchor presentations, a number of key Aotearoa New Zealand galleries will bring distinct curatorial positions into focus. Fresh Gallery Ōtara continues its vital role as a community-embedded platform, foregrounding practices grounded in Māngere-Ōtara and wider Moana narratives. Its presence within the fair underscores an expanded understanding of audience and authorship—one that resists centralisation and affirms the importance of locally situated knowledge production.

Gow Langsford maintains its position as a bellwether for established contemporary practice in Aotearoa, and will present a suite of high-profile international artists and early-career talent. Under its new name, Lett Thomas carries forward a well-established legacy, maintaining its position within the gallery circuit as both a tastemaker and a consistent contributor to the evolving Aotearoa art landscape. Coastal Signs, a significant Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland-based gallery, will present a cross-section of Aotearoa practice—bringing together established figures and mid-career voices within a shared contemporary zeitgeist. Their inclusion reinforces the fair’s commitment to presenting locally grounded yet outward-facing practices that speak across contexts. In contrast, Melanie Roger Gallery leans toward material investigation and quieter, more sustained lines of inquiry. Together, these galleries articulate the breadth of Aotearoa’s commercial ecosystem, from blue-chip stability to critically attuned, process-driven practices.

Emerging practices remain central to the fair’s programme. Ashleigh Taupaki will present a solo exhibition with Plomacy, a new gallery dedicated to early-career artists. Taupaki’s research-led practice interrogates Crown-imposed frameworks of land ownership and their epistemic violence against Māori knowledge systems. Her current drawing practice offers a whakapapa-based methodology for rearticulating relationships to land and history in Aotearoa.

Elsewhere, Ruby Wilkinson will exhibit with Jhana Millers, while Artor Contemporary will present textile artist Pepi-Joy Gilgen, whose soft sculptures extend material and formal dialogues. PEG Gallery will round out this grouping with a diverse material presentation from Ed Bats, Hannah Valentine and Ben Pyne. Together, these emerging and early-career platforms generate a porous and responsive field—foregrounding experimentation, material sensitivity and new modes of storytelling.

International participation continues to expand, with a record 15 Australian galleries represented. First-time exhibitors include Alcaston Gallery, Brenda Colahan Fine Art, Curatorial+Co., Michael Reid Galleries, and CBD Gallery. Michael Reid’s presentation will feature Gadigal Sydney-based Aotearoa artist Scott Perkins, further reinforcing the ongoing dialogue between Aotearoa and Australia.

CHALK HORSE is a Gadigal Sydney-based gallery with an established programme spanning nearly two decades. Their presentation will include works by Michelle Adams and Oliver Watts, marking their first exhibition, in Aotearoa, alongside a major new installation by Kauri Hawkins, commissioned specifically for the fair and situated on the central staircase. Hawkins is known for retroreflective, sign-like forms that return light to the viewer, often drawing on Māori visual language as a point of reference.

MARS Gallery will present a solo exhibition by Atong Atem, whose practice critically engages the politics of representation and photographic history. Working with large-scale images printed on silk, Atem produces portraits that are at once intimate and monumental—rich in colour, symbolism and cultural assertion—reframing visibility, agency and authorship within contemporary image-making.

Complementing the fair, the Sculpture Trail will extend its presence along the waterfront, offering a considered selection of local and international works beyond the fair weekend. Featuring both established and emerging sculptors, the trail further affirms the vitality and complexity of Aotearoa’s contemporary art ecology.

The public programme further deepens this field of inquiry, offering a series of conversations that move between critical reflection and lived practice.