The façade of the Monnaie de Paris in France is set to transform once more as Asia NOW gears up for its 2025 edition, expanding its programming with the theme Grow. The international art fair was founded in 2014 to amplify the perspectives of Asian artists and galleries on the global stage. In its 11th edition from October 22 - 26, 2025, the fair aims to reexamine what ‘Asia’ connotes and what Asian art can look like. Here, Asia becomes a grounding philosophy rather than a geographical delimitation, challenging the rigid borders that separate nations, identities and communities. Echoing Natasha Ginwala’s exhibition My East is Your West at the 2015 Venice Biennale, Asia NOW 2025 challenges perceptions of the Middle East (or West Asia, as it is less commonly known) by placing contemporary art from Saudi Arabia, Istanbul and Sharjah at the heart of its programming.

The fair will host over 70 international galleries, including returning participants like Esther Schipper (Berlin, Paris, New York City, Seoul) and Galerie BAO (Paris) and first-time exhibitors like Capsule Shanghai and KLEMM’S (Berlin). There will also be a section dedicated to young galleries, such as Gallery2 (Seoul), Galerie PJ (Metz) and Wilhelmina's (Hydra), underscoring the fair’s commitment to spotlighting emerging art scenes. A diverse ensemble of curators, including Arnaud Morand, Head of Arts AFALULA, John Tain, curator of the Lahore Biennale 2024 and Ginwala, a co-curator of the 16th Sharjah Biennial, mesh their perspectives to create programmes that run the gamut of geographies, mediums, identities and subjects.

A new section of the fair, The Third Space, will be inaugurated this year to celebrate experimental works that exemplify generative collaborations across regions, galleries and artistic voices. It is inspired by the theorist Homi Bhabha’s eponymous concept, referring to hybrid, interstitial spaces created where cultures meet and interact. Another new launch is Cinema NOW, which brings film and video art to the fair. This year, NOWNESS and curators from the Jaipur Centre for Artists' Cinema and M+ Museum present three film programmes grappling with resistance, displacement and ecological awareness.

At the centre of the fair are two main public programmes featuring live performances, talks, screenings and exhibitions highlighting West Asia and South Asia respectively. Emerging Saudi artist Ahaad Alamoudi will present Ghosts of Today and Tomorrow, a performance that navigates frictions in heritage through sensory disruption. Meanwhile, Chinese artist Han Mengyun will present Under the Aegis of the Moon, a performative installation that weaves poetry and video to celebrate the moon and the vulnerability and intuition it symbolises. Lebanese contemporary artist Pascal Hachem’s performance, The Cut Line, reveals the multifaceted nature of reality and how it shapes memory. Setting the tone for the fair, Saudi multidisciplinary artist Mohammed AlFaraj’s prints envelop the columns of the venue, echoing the palm trees in his hometown, Al Hasa.

Works and a video programme from Lahore Biennale’s third edition, Of Mountains and Seas, make their way to Paris for the fair’s Focus on South Asia programme. A selection of works curated by John Tain and featuring works from artists like Feroza Hakeem, Imran Qureshi and Fazal Rizvi brings regional and indigenous perspectives to the global ecological and climate crisis. In Reenactments of Lost Rhythms, a series of activations by COLOMBOSCOPE, co-curators Natasha Ginwala and Hajra Haider put themes and works from past and future editions in conversation with each other. Kochi-Muziris Biennale founding member Shwetal Patel and curator Nikhil Chopra join for a panel discussion on the event’s upcoming edition, For the Time Being and a dialogue on temporality and its nuances.

The fair’s conversation platform features acclaimed designers, artists and curators discussing methods to push contemporary creative ecosystems further using digital technologies, new modes of dissemination and strengthening ties between global institutions and emerging local art scenes. Asia NOW bolsters this effort with an assortment of prizes that highlight and support emerging artists. The fair provides a platform for the finalists of the LOEWE Craft Prize, Matsutani Prize and the inaugural RAK ART FOUNDATION Prize.

The breadth of curators, artists, performers and speakers at Asia NOW crumbles notions of a singular Asian identity, leaving in its place a richer, more agile ecosystem of overlaps, conversations and collaborations.

STIR is a Media Partner with Asia NOW 2025, which opens from October 22 - 26, 2025, at the Monnaie de Paris.