1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair London 2026

1-54 returns to Somerset House from 15 to 18 October, bringing the leading international fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora back to central London. The name marks its premise: one continent, fifty-four countries, held in a single frame. Since 2013 the fair has done more than sell work. It has been an argument – that art from Africa and its diaspora belongs at the centre of the international market, on the same footing as any other, shown by the galleries and collected by the institutions that shape what endures. Each October it gathers dealers, curators, collectors and artists across the neoclassical rooms of Somerset House for four days of viewing, talks and acquisition. For the diaspora in London, 1-54 is also a meeting point – a place where the conversation about African contemporary art is conducted by the people making, showing and buying it, rather than about them. It has since extended to Marrakech and New York, but London remains its founding room.