Art Fair Philippines 2026 is back this year with a new venue, taking place at Circuit Makati Corporate Center from February 6 to 8. The annual fair occupies six floors of the building, featuring a wide range of contemporary works by local and international artists.
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Art Fair Philippines 2026 brings together paintings, sculptures, installations, digital works, and video presentations from around 50 participating exhibitors. These include leading galleries from the Philippines as well as exhibitors from abroad, offering visitors a broad view of current artistic practices across different regions and generations.
Looking Back to Understand the Present
Art Fair Philippines also makes room for remembrance.
Across the floors, you’ll find works that echo the legacies of Filipino masters—names like Juan Luna, Fernando Amorsolo, and Fernando Zóbel—not always directly, but through influence, dialogue, and contrast. Their presence reminds visitors that contemporary art doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it grows out of histories, conversations, and continuities that stretch far beyond the present moment.
Alongside these echoes are works by artists no longer with us, such as Solomon Saprid and Constancio Bernardo, whose pieces offer a rare chance to encounter their work up close.
Moments That Stay With You
Some installations stop you in your tracks.
On the 6th floor, Max Balatbat’s Kapilya stands quietly but powerfully. Built from salvaged materials associated with penitensya, the installation reflects how faith is practiced at the margins of everyday Filipino life—outside formal doctrine and within lived experience. Familiar and unsettling at once, it recalls rituals many recognize but rarely stop to question.
Nearby, Ambie Abaño’s …beyond body… invites viewers into a deeply personal meditation on aging, mortality, and the human body. Working across wood, handmade paper, and space, Abaño’s installation feels intimate without being fragile. Even the sound becomes part of the experience—the background music is composed by Abaño herself, making the work something you don’t just see, but feel.
Art That Travels—and Changes Along the Way
One of the quieter yet most resonant presences at the fair comes from Ged Unson Merino, a Filipino-American artist based between New York, Manila, and Bogotá.
Merino’s practice is rooted in movement—of people, objects, and memory. He collects things that have been discarded, intentionally or accidentally, and uses textile as a way of archiving sentimentality and shared experience. His work asks difficult questions about what we carry with us, what gets left behind, and what must be remembered.
During the pandemic, Merino began using kulambo as a central object in his work. To him, it posed a question many of us were forced to confront: Is this protection, or is it isolation? As people around the world retreated into their own spaces, the kulambo became both shelter and barrier.
What’s striking about Merino’s installations is how they change depending on where they’re shown. When he brought the work to Venice, visitors unfamiliar with the kulambo asked what it was. After learning its purpose, they stepped inside—some opening champagne, others dancing, even a trumpeter joining in. It’s this unpredictability, this shared human response, that Merino looks forward to each time he brings the work to a new place.
A Fair That Asks You to Stay
Art Fair Philippines 2026 isn’t trying to rush you through anything. It’s not about ticking off names or seeing everything in one go. It’s about staying a little longer than planned—on one floor, in one room, with one piece that quietly refuses to let you leave.
Yes, the logistics can be challenging. Yes, you may have to wait for an elevator. But once you’re inside, wandering through six floors of stories, materials, and shared questions, it becomes clear why people keep coming back.
If you come curious, patient, and open, Art Fair Philippines has a way of meeting you halfway—and giving you something to carry with you long after you step back into the city.
About the Author
Portia Amparo is the Digital Editor of Subselfie. She is a public relations specialist, content writer, and freelance communications creative. Writing has always been her anchor—from academic papers to digital content, and now as a medium for telling stories that matter.
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