Every February, Mexico City transforms into one of Latin America’s most vibrant art destinations as galleries, museums, and cultural spaces across the city open their doors for Art Week. The 2026 edition is scheduled for Feb. 4-8, anchored by Zona Maco, the region’s largest contemporary art fair at Centro Citibanamex. What began as a modest gathering has blossomed into a week-long celebration that draws collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts from around the world.
Art Week stretches well beyond Zona Maco’s official dates, with events before and after the fair. Satellite fairs like Feria Material and Salón ACME have grown alongside the main event. At the same time, exhibitions, talks, and parties animate the neighborhoods of Condesa, Roma, Polanco, and Juárez.
From Monterrey to Mexico City
Founder Zélika García took three years to gather 25 galleries and hold the first edition — originally called “Muestra” — in 2002 in Monterrey. After its success, she brought the fair to Mexico City in 2003, where it was renamed “Maco” (México Arte Contemporáneo) and later became “Zona Maco.” The 2024 edition marked the fair’s 20th anniversary, drawing a record-breaking 81,000 visitors, with similar attendance in 2025 when 200 galleries from 29 countries participated. The fair has a direct economic impact on the city during the event, with hotels, restaurants, and local businesses all benefiting from the influx of international visitors.
A distinctive Latin American voice
The two largest fairs in Latin America, Zona Maco in Mexico City and SP-Arte in São Paulo, are both still independent and, notably, both founded by women. This independence has allowed Zona Maco to maintain its distinctive regional character.
The fair is tightly curated with just 125 galleries compared to the much larger Art Basel Miami Beach’s 286 galleries. Yet while Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 attracted more than 75,000 visitors, Zona Maco’s 81,000+ attendance in the last two years demonstrates its growing appeal for art lovers.
Unlike Basel, over half of the galleries at Zona Maco are from Mexico and Latin America, and offer a cultivated roster of museum-caliber artists and an engagement with traditional materials, modern politics, and Latinx-centric themes. “People come to this fair to see different art from Latin America,” says Luis Maluf of the São Paulo gallery. “There are new collectors from around the world, and we have more space than at other fairs to show our Latin American artists.”
Zona Maco 2026 Schedule:
Wednesday, February 4:
- Exclusive collector and museum preview; 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
- VIP Guests; 12 pm-5 pm
- General Public; 5 p.m.-8 p.m.
Thursday-Friday, February 5-6:
- VIP Guests; 12 p.m.-1 p.m.
- General Public; 1 p.m.-8 p.m.
Saturday, February 7:
- General Public; 12 p.m.-8 p.m.
Sunday, February 8:
- General Public; 11 p.m.-6 p.m.
