ZONA MACO 2026: ART WEEK’S ANCHOR RETURNS TO MEXICO CITY FEBRUARY 4–8
Every February, Mexico City turns into a full-body art experience—museum openings, gallery marathons, pop-up performances, late-night conversations, and the kind of collector-and-curator cross-pollination you only really get when a whole city agrees to be in the same cultural group chat. At the center of it all is ZⓈONAMACO, the long-running platform that helped shape what’s now widely known as Mexico City Art Week.
ZⓈONAMACO’s next edition runs February 4–8, 2026, returning to Centro Banamex / Centro Citibanamex in Mexico City.
One venue, four fairs
ZⓈONAMACO functions less like a single fair and more like a compact ecosystem: four fairs running simultaneously under one roof—Arte Contemporáneo, Diseño, Salón del Anticuario, and Foto—so you can move from blue-chip contemporary, to collectible design, to historical objects, to photography without changing coordinates (or your shoes).
That multi-fair structure is also why the event pulls such a broad mix of visitors: collectors on different wavelengths, first-time fairgoers, fashion and design people in town for the week, and local audiences who treat it like a cultural ritual.
How it started—and why it still matters
The fair’s origin story is tightly linked to its identity now: Zélika García launched what became Zona Maco in the early 2000s, building a platform meant to connect Mexico’s art scene with an international market and audience. Different sources summarize the early timeline slightly differently (with 2002 often cited as the starting point, and 2004 tied to its evolution into “México Arte Contemporáneo”), but the through-line is consistent: it begins as a homegrown fair that scales into a Latin American anchor event.
Over two decades on, ZⓈONAMACO’s role is bigger than booths: it’s a “week-maker.” The fair helped formalize the rhythm of Mexico City Art Week—creating momentum that galleries, museums, and independent spaces build around. The 2025 Art Week programming materials emphasized this citywide model, pointing to exhibition openings across museums and galleries, public interventions, talks, workshops, guided routes, and nightlife that extends beyond the convention center.
While full exhibitor lists and curatorial themes for 2026 will be announced closer to opening, recent editions offer a clear snapshot of how the fair has been positioning itself. Coverage over the past year has emphasized ZⓈONAMACO’s scale and international reach, with hundreds of exhibitors from around the world participating alongside a strong core of Mexico City’s leading galleries. At the same time, the fair has continued to refine its curatorial framing within a market-driven format, using clearly defined sectors, thematic sections, and curated spotlights to give structure and context to the commercial landscape.
Audience engagement has also taken on greater weight through initiatives like the Erarta Foundation prize, which introduced a public-vote model awarding a $100,000 USD “Highlight of the Show” prize split between the artist and their gallery, underscoring the fair’s interest in making visitor participation feel meaningful. Guiding this recent chapter is artistic director Direlia Lazo, whose leadership has brought a more pronounced curatorial perspective and international context to the platform.
If you’re planning your week (or plotting how to do the fair and the city without losing your mind), 2026 is likely to follow the same core logic: ZⓈONAMACO as the hub, with the wider week radiating outward into openings, museum programming, and satellite fairs.
Culturally expect the fair to keep balancing its two realities—Mexico City’s gallery powerhouses on one side, and an increasingly global lineup on the other—because that “split personality” is part of what makes it feel specific to CDMX rather than interchangeable fair-world content.
Schedule:
Wed, Feb 4: 17:00–20:00
Thu, Feb 5 & Fri, Feb 6: 13:00–20:00
Sat, Feb 7: 12:00–20:00
Sun, Feb 8: 11:00–18:00
