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When ALT ART 2026 returns this February, it does so with a literal and symbolic expansion. Set to occupy the SMX Convention Center at Mall of Asia, the fourth edition unfolds across a significantly larger floor area, with soaring walls and room enough for art to hold its ground rather than compete for attention. In a local scene often shaped by speed—quick openings, quicker judgments—ALT ART opts for space, time, and scale.
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Organized by the ALT Collective, the fair brings together nine galleries whose practices span generations, media, and critical positions. This year’s expanded format allows each gallery to present work with greater clarity, placing emphasis on curatorial intent rather than visual overload. The result is not a parade of objects, but a series of conversations—some quiet, others confrontational—coexisting under one roof.
Those conversations take form through the fair’s SPECIAL PROJECTS and a carefully assembled roster of artists. Featured exhibitions include works by Christina Quisumbing Ramilo, Buen Calubayan, Julie Lluch, Kiri Dalena, Ben Brixx, Raffy Napay, MM Yu, Kolown, Christina Lopez, Mauro “Malang” Santos, Lesley-Ann Cao, and Iwan Effendi. Together, they map out long-standing questions in Philippine contemporary art: labor and memory, politics and presence, the body as archive, the image as witness.
A key development this year is the introduction of the Discoveries Section, a focused platform for artists whose practices deserve closer, sustained attention. The inaugural lineup—JC Mariategue, Jomari T’leon, Joar Songcuya, Allyza Tresvalles, Eric Bico, Gelo Cinco, Joanolasco, Rhaz Oriente, and Marco Ortiga—signals a curatorial interest in continuity rather than novelty. Some of these artists are familiar names; others are still gathering momentum. What links them is not newness, but necessity.
In the Philippine context, where visibility often arrives before discourse can catch up, ALT ART 2026 feels deliberately paced. Its expansion is not a flex, but an invitation—to look longer, to think harder, and to allow emerging voices to sit beside established ones without hierarchy. This year, ALT ART makes room for those conversations to unfold properly.
Tickets for public days from February 13 to 15, 2026, are available onsite. For more information, visit www.altphilippines.com and follow @altphilippines on Instagram and Facebook.
Photos courtesy of ALT COLLECTIVE
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