PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai successfully concluded its 11th edition at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, running from May 7 to 10, 2026. Championing both curatorial rigor and market vitality, the 2026 edition convened over 70 premier galleries, art institutions, and cultural partners from global hubs, including Paris, Düsseldorf, Kyoto, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Hangzhou. Spanning an exhibition footprint of over 5,000 square meters, the Fair presented more than a thousand exceptional artworks, tracing the trajectory of still photography, moving image, video installation, and mixed media.
The four-day event drew nearly 20,000 professional visitors, international collectors, and institutions. Proving its status as a vital meeting point for the global photographic ecosystem, the Fair welcomed influential experts, museum founders, and prominent patrons, including Jin Hongwei, Jiao Jingjia, Xie Zilong, Qiao Zhibing, Cao Jixiang, Che Xuanqiao, Madam Cheryl Loh, Aaron Teo, Bao Weifeng, Cang Xin, Wang Meng, Lei Lei, Zhu Junqiao, Ag, btr, Li Hanwei, Zhu Yonglei, Vivian Chen, and Yang Yuancao. Renowned actors Simon Yam and Li Meng, alongside cultural figure Hei Deng, also attended the Fair.
With its core academic focus on the 50th anniversary of the Düsseldorf School of Photography, this edition of the fair maintained an international outlook while significantly increasing the proportion of emerging galleries and local young creators, presenting an inclusive exhibitor lineup. As a key component of the second Shanghai International Contemporary Photography Festival, the fair’s boundaries extended from a single venue into a “city-wide imaging network,” mutually reinforcing the festival and linking nearly 40 art institutions and cultural landmarks, embedding photographic art deeply into the urban fabric.
