1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair is thrilled to announce its much-anticipated return to New York from 8–11 May 2025, marking the fair’s 11th edition in the city. In a dynamic new chapter, the fair will relocate to The Halo, an expansive and light-filled venue at 28 Liberty Street, in the heart of Lower Manhattan’s Financial District. Coinciding with Frieze New York, 1-54 will once again cement its place at the heart of the spring art season, with a VIP preview on Thursday, May 8.
Founded in 2013 by Touria El Glaoui, 1-54 is the first and only international art fair dedicated exclusively to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, with annual editions held in London, Marrakech, and New York. Now in its eleventh New York iteration, the 2025 edition celebrates a decade of cultural exchange in the city, marking its long-standing presence with a robust program that reflects both its legacy and evolving vision.
This year’s edition will spotlight 30 international galleries from 17 countries across five continents, presenting the work of more than 70 artists. With 15 first-time participants and 18 exhibitors debuting in New York, the fair’s lineup affirms its mission to amplify emerging voices alongside established talents in the contemporary African art scene.
The fair’s 2025 exhibitor list showcases an impressive breadth of geographic and conceptual diversity. Among the participants are:
- TERN Gallery (Bahamas) – making its New York debut
- Kub’Art Gallery (Democratic Republic of Congo) – a historic first-time inclusion
- AKKA Project (Venice, Dubai, Lugano)
- O’DA Art (Lagos)
- Fridman Gallery (New York)
- Galerie Carole Kvasnevski (Paris & New York)
- Jonathan Carver Moore (San Francisco)
- Gallery Article 15 (Washington DC)
This diverse cohort will bring forth works exploring themes such as identity, memory, island ecologies, migration, and cultural heritage, showcasing the expansive, multi-dimensional narratives shaping contemporary African art today.
Beyond gallery booths, 1-54 New York 2025 will present large-scale installations and artist-led projects that deepen the fair’s curatorial ethos:
- Yaw Owusu, represented by Gallery 1957, will unveil a monumental piece made entirely of U.S. pennies, interrogating ideas of value, liberty, and national symbolism through the lens of African diasporic experience.
- Joël Andrianomearisoa, showing with Almine Rech, will present FIGURES OF MIRACLE, a raffia-based installation that uses textile as a conduit for memory and ritual.
- Art Comes First will debut Textile Language, a project tracing African cotton traditions and their enduring significance as acts of resistance and cultural pride.
- FORGOTTEN LANDS will create the Afro-Caribbean Resource Library, a literary and archival installation encouraging deeper engagement with Caribbean histories, literatures, and philosophies.
Honouring Legacy: South African Voices and the David Krut Workshop
The 2025 edition will pay special tribute to David Krut Projects, which has played a pivotal role in introducing South African artists to global audiences. In partnership with Kalashnikovv Gallery, the fair will present a showcase of artists affiliated with the David Krut Workshop, including those who have worked alongside iconic figures like William Kentridge. The presentation will spotlight the vibrant Johannesburg art scene, bridging generational and stylistic approaches.
Spotlight on the Caribbean: Continuing the Spark of “Sparkling Islands”
A highlight of this year’s fair is the continuation of 1-54 Presents, the fair’s curatorial platform for special exhibitions. Following the acclaimed 2023 show Sparkling Islands, Another Postcard of the Caribbean—curated by the late Caryl Ivrisse Crochemar—the 2025 Caribbean Spotlight will carry forward his vision with a new exhibition curated by ATLANTIC ARTHOUSE, a collective based in the Caribbean Mid-Atlantic.
Taking place from May 11–20, 2025, at High Line Nine (507 W 27th St, New York), this pop-up exhibition will feature eight contemporary artists whose works challenge reductive portrayals of the Caribbean as a tourist fantasy. Through painting, photography, installation, sculpture, and textiles, the artists will explore island ecologies, resistance movements, spiritual lineages, and diasporic memory.
Artists to be featured include:
- April Bey
- Jean-Ulrick Désert
- Adler Guerrier
- Deborah Jack
- Leasho Johnson
- Anina Major
- Johanna Mirabel
- Zak Ové
Together, these voices will offer a complex, poetic, and critical mapping of Caribbean contemporary art, bridging historical insight with bold artistic experimentation.
This year’s fair takes place at The Halo, New York’s newest premier event space. Nestled in the iconic 28 Liberty Street skyscraper, The Halo offers 30,000 square feet of open, modern architecture and natural light—providing an ideal canvas for showcasing bold, contemporary work. The location, at the nexus of finance, culture, and history, reflects the fair’s ambition to intersect global art discourse with local resonance.
As 1-54 celebrates its tenth year in New York, the 2025 edition emphasizes the fair’s role not only as a commercial platform but as a site of artistic research, cultural dialogue, and critical engagement. With expanded curatorial programming, ambitious installations, and a renewed focus on underrepresented narratives, this year’s fair promises to be one of the most impactful to date.
Quick Facts:
- What: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York 2025
- When: May 8–11, 2025 (VIP Preview: May 8)
- Where: The Halo, 28 Liberty Street, Financial District, NYC
- Highlights:
- 30 galleries from 17 countries
- Over 70 artists
- Caribbean Spotlight: Sparkling Islands, High Line Nine (May 11–20)
- Large-scale installations and special projects
- Themes: Identity, memory, heritage, ecologies, resistance
In Summary
The 2025 edition of 1-54 New York is poised to be a transformative moment in the fair’s history—a celebration of its enduring commitment to African and diasporic art, and a bold step forward in reimagining how global African creativity is seen, supported, and understood. Whether you’re a collector, curator, writer, or passionate observer, this is a moment you won’t want to miss.
Would you like a press-ready PDF version of this article or social media captions to go along with it?
