Which city will become the next Asian art hub? That’s been a popular parlor game in the industry recently, with players pointing to auction results and ambitious new art fairs to make their cases. After Art Basel Hong Kong late last month, I headed to two contenders, Bangkok and Hanoi, a trip that offered a fresh lens for understanding the playing field.
I spent one evening at Dib Bangkok, one of the region’s most talked-about private museums, which just opened this past December. Sitting inside a James Turrell installation, I watched the light shift, from sunset into a field of stars, surrounded by a mix of local art-world regulars and curious visitors. On another evening, in Hanoi, I attended the opening of a new exhibition, “Murmur,” at the Vietnam Art Collection (VAC), which drew a similarly mixed crowd—predominantly locals, who were joined by a small but noticeable number of international travelers, most straight from Hong Kong.
In both places, there was a sense of energy building that was not yet fully visible. The experiences made me realize that, while sales totals and fair brands can serve as benchmarks of centrality, slower, structural transformations are taking place throughout Asia that merit closer attention. To put it another way: It’s time to look beyond the Hong Kong and Seoul models.
Both Bangkok and Hanoi are in a critical yet still undefined phase. They are no longer isolated scenes, but they do not yet have fully formed art ecosystems. They are not quite hubs, but they are no longer peripheral. Interestingly, private initiatives are leading the charge in both places.
Sho Shibuya, Memory (2025) at Dib Bangkok. Courtesy of Dib Bangkok. Photographer Wikran Poungput.
In Bangkok, change has been a gradual, cumulative process, marked by experimentation, which may help make it sustainable for the long haul. The scene has multiple overlapping layers, including the Bangkok Art Biennale, led by a foundation and embedded in commercial and public spaces; private ventures such as Dib Bangkok and Bangkok Kunsthalle; and several galleries and artist-run spaces. Together, they form a loose but growing network.
Dib Bangkok offers a useful case study. It’s opened as various accumulated efforts are coming to fruition. As its director, Miwako Tezuka, told me, the number of galleries in Bangkok has increased since she first visited the city in 2018, and more hybrid and long-term models have emerged, with some commercial galleries, like Bangkok CityCity Gallery and SAC Gallery, developing nonprofit-oriented programs alongside their commercial programs.
Artist-led projects are another potent force, responding to Bangkok’s still-developing infrastructure. One example is Ghost, a moving-image and performance biennial founded in 2018 by artist Korakrit Arunanondchai and dealer Akapol Op Sudasna, whose three editions ran across multiple sites and temporal formats. (It’s often been described as an “anti-biennial.”)
Compared to Bangkok, Hanoi is in a more nascent (but still intriguing) stage. One shortcut to understanding Vietnam’s art landscape is through the dynamic between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s capital and economic center.
The panel discussion program “Nurturing and Connecting: From Local to Global,” presented as part of “Murmur,” at the Vietnam Art Collection (VAC), Hanoi, April 6–May 24, 2026. Photo: Quỳnh Chi & VAC.
In Hanoi, experimental art practices can be traced back to the late 1990s, and that legacy continues to shape the city today. “Hanoi has the potential to become a cultural capital,” Muchun Niu, VAC’s founder, said. “There is intellectual depth and experimental energy, but what is missing is infrastructure and sustained global exchange.” Over the past three decades, a fluid but resilient ecosystem has taken shape, supported by groups such as Nha San Collective, APD Center, A Space, and the corporate-backed VCCA, as well as platforms like Hanoi Grapevine, a non-profit online platform that promotes arts and culture in Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh City, by contrast, is more outward-facing and commercially oriented. Galerie Quynh has played a key role in both exhibition-making and fostering artist communities, while the Nguyen Art Foundation combines collecting with education, and Vin Gallery has expanded internationally, including to Shanghai.
Niu told me that the past three years have been marked by “a growing awareness of institutional frameworks alongside a rapid rise in international visibility.” This shift is also reflected in structural developments: a new government-recognized art fair is currently recruiting galleries from around the world, and Vietnam will debut a pavilion at the upcoming Venice Biennale, curated by Do Tuong Linh, the first curatorial fellow of VAC.