HKWALLS 2026

Being Neighbourly x Jason Dembski, HKWALLS

Author/ Being Neighbourly
22 March 2026

It’s always been about having fun and working with great artists. Going into number 11, we told ourselves it’s not about quotas, there is no need to overextend ourselves, says Jason Dembski, Co-founder of HKWALLS, adding that Hong Kong’s premier street art NGO wants to be really focused on doing things that, “gets us excited and working with artists we love.”

Nonetheless, this year’s festival is, jaw-droppingly multifaceted. Not only will more than 20 local and international street artists from 14 countries be doing their ‘usual thing’, painting the elevations of buildings across Central & Western district, for us all to ogle, so too will this eleventh edition feature a partnership with GoGoX, called ‘Art on the Move’, whereby GoGoX trucks embellished with the artworks of six local and international artists will provide an innovative art in motion element (It’s a genius idea that Being Neighbourly would love to see continue beyond the festival!).

This particular aspect, will kick off on the festival’s opening night (see insert box) with a Battle of the Arts: two artists, two vans and an audience hungry to see art being created in front of their very eyes in the courtyard of the PMQ, where HKWALLS and the organising for-profit company Current Projects is headquartered. Lest a centimetre go to waste, the insides of the vans will house curated exhibitions and interactive installations, offering innovative solutions to the never-ending struggle of artists to find space to create and exhibit their work and for the very definition of art —to whom and where it belongs —to be reframed.

Indeed, Dembski and his wife Maria Wong have made it their life’s work since HKWALLS’ inception to mull over these themes and shake up the box of variables to see what lands face up, deciding how they convey their vision in each of their festival’s iterations.

Although the core activity, like every year, will be the street art festival (this, as in 2025, across Central & Western), Kowloon will feature in HKWALLS Digital 2026, with the SinoLuminArt Facade and and Kai Tak Mall’s Giant LED screens yelling a hearty ‘Over here!’ for our hearts and minds to rhapsodise over.

In a continuing and deepened partnership with Sino Group, HKWALLS will present the 2026 “Lightwaves” Exhibition, featuring seven international and local digital artists. A canvas of over 82,000 LEDs will light up the iconic Sino LuminArt Façade at Tsim Sha Tsui Centre and Empire Centre, with animated, original digital artworks.

A Night to Remember

The opening, supported by Kronenbourg 1664, on 21 March 6-9pm, promises to be a fusion of live art, street culture, music and community at the historic PMQ. Together, Kronenbourg 1664 and HKWALLS present artists going head-to-head in a live Art Battle: two teams of two artists; each team paints one side of the 1664 beer delivery truck right before your eyes. With DJ Fabsabs spinning Canto-Pop mix, bringing the evening to life, this is the unmissable kickoff to nine extraordinary days of creativity. Buy tickets here.

This dazzling display, visible across Victoria Harbour, runs for over a month from 21 March through 21 April 2026. This year’s featured artists on the Sino LuminArt Façade are Ondřej Rakušan (Czech Republic), Anomalit Kate (Russia), Seohyo (South Korea), Chaaya Prabhat (India), Eggshellsea (Hong Kong), Chow Kai (Hong Kong), and V3RBO (Italy), whose work MECHAFLUX transforms the tradition of graffiti writing into immersive 3D digital architecture.

Kai Tak Mall’s Giant LED Screens will present digital works by Anomalit Kate, Seohyo, Eggshellsea, and Chow Kai from 20 to 29 March, bringing HKWALLS’ vibrant digital programme to Hong Kong’s dynamic new sports and entertainment precinct.

For those who yearn for a guided learning experience, HKWALLS 2026 MURAL ART TOURS will take place on 28 March 2026 the final weekend of the festival, starting from 12pm and departing from PMQ Courtyard, 35 Aberdeen Street. Co-curated with Wanderlust Walks, the three daily tours in English or Cantonese of 1.5 hours each will highlight the year’s newest street art murals. Buy tickets here.

There’s also a programme of hands-on workshops throughout the nine days. On Sunday 22 March and Saturday 28 March, artist Olgierd Nitka leads immersive workshops for participants to explore his creative practice. Daily at PMQ, visitors are invited to step inside the Art on the
Move trucks and join Mooncasket’s colouring workshop, and GoGoX will also host free, family-friendly drop-in workshops where visitors can create papercraft miniature trucks and decorate them with their own designs.

HKWALLS 2026 will conclude with a grand finale on Chater Road, Central, presented in partnership with Hongkong Land for ‘Art Walk in Central.’ On 29 March, this pedestrianised stretch at the heart of Central will transform into a vibrant open-air gallery, celebrating the convergence of world-class street art, community and the city. Experience the energy of live creation as artists take over the Art on the Move trucks. Visitors can venture inside the vehicles to experience the artists’ total vision through immersive interior displays that surround the viewer in a unique, mobile art environment. Guests are also invited to help Mooncasket complete her monster mural, watch TAXA and Awie live painting, or admire the newly finished large-scale works by Yubia, Saïd Kinos, and Leho. An unforgettable evening of art, community and inspiration, and, arguably, the perfect sweet note on which to conclude nine days of creativity in the city.

HKWALLS’ annual street art festival operates under the tightly-clenched belief that art should be accessible to everyone in Hong Kong; and it’s a foregone conclusion that their art-for-everyone vision be played out in HKWALLS’ eleventh edition as it has in its first to tenth editions.

ABOUT HKWALLS

HKWALLS is a Hong Kong-based non-profit arts organisation, widely regarded as the city’s premier street art festival, dedicated to creating opportunities for local and international artists to showcase their talent through street art and street culture, celebrating creativity, originality, and freedom of expression. HKWALLS holds its flagship annual festival during Hong Kong’s art month, revitalising neighbourhoods, building lasting community connections, and touching hundreds of thousands of people, while delivering year-round programming including its Youth Mentorship Programme, which focuses on artists’ career development and raising awareness through the arts.

For more information, visit HKWALLS.org and @HKWALLS.