Bogotá Expands ARTBO and Lets Artificial Intelligence Play Matchmaker for Art Buyers

ARTBO returns to Bogotá with 50 galleries, a growing regional footprint and an artificial intelligence tool for prospective collectors. Beyond the sales pitch, its 2026 edition asks how a larger fair can serve artists, newcomers and the city around it.

A Bigger Fair, Still Local

Finding a work you love is one thing. Asking whether you can afford it is another. ARTBO’s 22nd edition, running September 24 to 27 at Ágora Bogotá, is trying to make that conversation easier while offering reasons to visit without buying.

According to ARTBO, the fair will bring together 50 galleries and 228 artists. Gallery participation has risen from 44 last year, nearly 14% growth, and from 34 in 2023, an increase of about 47%. More booths indicate greater participation; however, not necessarily higher sales.

The published roster shows 28 galleries listing Bogotá among their locations, including businesses with branches abroad. That is 56% of exhibitors. Meanwhile, 65% of participating artists are Colombian. Internationalization here does not mean replacing local work with imported prestige; it means building outward from a substantial domestic base.

Carmen Araujo Arte’s presence connects Caracas to that network, while Extra Galería brings Guatemala City into the conversation. Such participation gives the regional expansion a geography more specific than the familiar promise of going global.

An Algorithm Meets the Buyer

ARTBO Conecta, this edition’s principal novelty, will use artificial intelligence to match visitors’ preferences, budgets and expectations with galleries’ available works. For a newcomer, the proposed benefit is practical: knowing where to begin rather than approaching every booth cold.

ARTBO director Jaime Martínez says the tool is intended especially for people beginning to collect. Its success will depend on whether recommendations lead to useful conversations, not simply more suggestions. Finding a work within a stated budget can simplify the search; it cannot make an unaffordable work affordable.

The tool’s horizon is necessarily the participating galleries’ inventory, not everything being made across Latin America. Its recommendations can introduce a buyer to this particular marketplace without becoming an independent judgment of what matters most artistically.

Contemporary art represents nearly 80% of the offering, ARTBO says. With installation and performance alongside painting, the fair also asks visitors to engage with work that may not fit the familiar picture-above-the-sofa starting point.

Room Beyond the Sales Floor

The fair’s seven sections also make room for people whose relationship with art is not primarily financial. Arte Cámara, curated by Melissa Aguilar, presents emerging artists without commercial representation. Their visibility matters differently from a gallery sale: the immediate opportunity is to be encountered.

At another career stage, the Trajectory section honors Colombian artist Fanny Sanín, curated by José Roca. Placing emerging practices alongside sustained artistic work offers visitors more than a parade of new names.

More than 30 institutions and around 40 publishers broaden that encounter. The program marks the fiftieth anniversaries of ArtNexus and Taller Arte Dos Gráfico, acknowledging the publications and workshops through which artistic memory circulates beyond a booth.

The Editorial Meeting, curated by Relámpago, treats publishing as part of artistic exchange rather than background decoration. Benedicta Badía’s Conversations program adds discussion, giving the fair a second rhythm: visitors can stop to consider an idea instead of moving directly toward the next stand.

The Design Route reaches La Macarena for the first time, extending the program into the city. General admission costs 25,000 Colombian pesos, with free entry for students, minors, visitors over 60, and people with disabilities, among others.

Those visitors may leave without a purchase. They need not leave without a connection.