May Art Fair to Launch in Auckland in 2025

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Auckland‘s first gallery-led art fair will open next May, conceived as a complement to New Zealand’s primary art event, Aotearoa Art Fair, which was acquired by The Art Assembly—the group behind ART SG in Singapore, Taipei Dangdai in Taiwan, and Tokyo Gendai—last year.

Local gallerists Andrew Thomas (Director at Michael Lett) and Sarah Hopkinson (Director at Coastal Signs) said they founded the boutique fair to ’[bring] more galleries, artists, and collectors to the city’.

‘The Aotearoa art world has lost some of its internationality in recent years, and May is, at least in part, an effort to stimulate a more vibrant exchange between here and elsewhere,’ Hopkinson told Ocula.

‘We wanted to create opportunity and value for galleries in a way that is more streamlined and is underpinned by a collegial spirit,’ Thomas said. ‘But I don’t think we are reinventing the wheel completely.’

Including the cofounders’ galleries, around 12 exhibitors are slated to partake in the fair’s first edition, which will take place inside a historic building at 3 East Street from 2 to 4 May 2025.

Participants include Fine Arts, Sydney and Neon Parc in Australia, Phillida Reid from London, Robert Heald in Wellington, in addition to local galleries. By comparison, Aotearoa Art Fair, which will open on 1 May, welcomed 32 exhibitors this year and around 35 galleries in 2023.

The full lineup will be announced later in December. —[O]

Main image: Building at 3 East Street. Courtesy May Art Fair.