Leading cultural figures from South Asia and the United Kingdom have said the idea of a single cultural capital is becoming increasingly outdated, as creativity and artistic innovation now thrive across interconnected cities, communities and networks.
Speaking at a panel discussion titled “Building the Next Art Capitals” at the Kobi Nazrul Centre in London on June 4, 2026, curators, art fair directors and cultural entrepreneurs said regional collaboration and cross-border exchange are reshaping the global cultural landscape.
The discussion featured Fahd Sattar, founder and CEO of Aloki and co-founder of Art Dhaka; Jaya Asokan, Fair Director of India Art Fair; Meneesha Kellay, Senior Curator at V&A East; and Nour Aslam, founder and Executive Director of the Art South Asia Project. The session was moderated by Nahar Khan, founder of Solis, a multi-platform cultural initiative.
Opening the discussion, speakers questioned whether fixed cultural capitals still hold relevance in a rapidly connected world, noting that cultural influence is increasingly emerging from distributed creative networks rather than a single geographic centre.
They observed that South Asian artists and cultural voices are becoming more visible in global conversations, driven by migration, diaspora linkages and cross-border collaboration, making the cultural landscape more diverse and fluid.
