Aotearoa Art Fair returns with its most ambitious edition yet

For collectors, the fair offers a rare concentration of contemporary work across three full levels of the waterfront venue — an opportunity to survey the breadth of current regional practice, encounter artists new to the market, and acquire work directly. Curated sectors including Horizons, Futures, Works on Paper and Wall Real Estate House Party provide useful orientation across the floor, while in-booth artist talks and daily guided tours offer deeper context for those looking to engage beyond the visual.

This year’s fair features a notably strong cohort of fifteen Australian galleries — the largest to date — with presentations spanning Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Among them: Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert presents Marion Borgelt‘s multidisciplinary practice; MARS Gallery brings Miranda Hine and others exploring identity and landscape, and Tim Melville presents Nephi Tupaea, whose work explores whakapapa and collective identity through a contemporary visual language.

Major installations anchor the programme: works by Yuki Kihara, Atong Atem and Lee Bae are among the standout presentations, while Lisa Reihana‘s ANZAC — a threshold installation of thousands of shimmering discs — greets visitors at the entrance to the fair.

The talks programme, Let’s Talk Art! presented by Aon, brings together thirty speakers across ten sessions over three days, with conversations spanning collecting, identity, place and culture. Highlights include Collecting Today: Building a Collection with Purpose on Saturday 2 May, featuring Graeme Douglas, Jhana Millers, Nicole England and Jessie Wong in conversation. Admission is included with a fair ticket, though sessions are first-come, first-served.

Beyond the Viaduct Events Centre, the Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Trail transforms the surrounding waterfront with 24 large-scale works by 18 artists — including Bernar Venet and Martin Creed — free and open to the public from 10 April.

Pick up a copy of Art Collector Issue 116 at the fair, where our team’s If I Could Have edit maps the standout works across the floor — a collector’s shortlist before you walk through the door.

Advance tickets, with savings of up to twenty per cent on the door price, are available until 29 April. Opening Night on Thursday 30 April is nearly sold out.  Tickets available here