On its third year, the alternative “art fair” continues its experience-centered vision

Words Pao Vergara
Photos Coleen Wong

Every February – National Arts Month – galleries scramble to take advantage of the festivities. Initiatives like these are never a bad thing, as it keeps the larger, overall art ecosystem thriving in a Southeast Asian city deemed “least friendly to artists.”

Nonetheless, there are those who crave a different art experience. Away from the maddening crowds, away from the haggling between hawkers and prospectors, and into a grassy meadow or hill overlooking the city, where slowing down allows one to appreciate how clouds move—and the city itself.

Enter ALT Philippines, wryly named to echo a busier, annually-occurring project.

Founded by nine galleries (Galleria Duemila, Blanc, West Gallery, Finale Art File, Underground, Mo_Space, Artinformal, The Drawing Room, and Vinyl on Vinyl) who envisioned an art fair where each piece was allowed to unfold its own myth, ALT Philippines highlights a viewer’s encounter with a work.

On its third iteration in the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, its strategic location near tourist hotels and the metro’s international airport ensures that the works also go beyond a local audience. And just so, at least during my visit, many tourists of varying ethnicities made time to visit.

ALT Philippines’ second edition was noticeably too compact according to some visitors, where the same nine galleries put their works in one gallery, creating a kind of maximalist pastiche, but then again, a pandemic was raging and safety precautions had to be taken.

The fair’s first edition resembles more of the current third version, also held at an SMX Convention Center, but in a different city.

One can liken the experience of other art markets to precisely that—a market, where an assortment of wares is displayed at bazaar stalls. The sheer plethora of different goods and moods and the speed at which the items switch stall to stall might jar some visitors while enlivening others.

In either case, the energy in such a space remains one of bustle and hustle.

Space really does shape how viewers relate with works of art, and ALT Philippines’ layout in 2024 highlights this. While the mood of one group of works might be vastly different from another, the transition between the two is more gradual, and sandwiched between them are other curations that somehow ease that transition, no matter where you start.

The way the space flows allows visitors time to pause and immerse in each work. It’s a compact and at once spacious event, given the small number of participating galleries, and the large venue thus allows for meandering, wander, and hopefully, wonder.

Each visitor, be they an art student, ardent patron, or curious layman, may encounter a work that may resonate with them deeply.

There was also room for works that don’t easily fit a collector’s portfolio, so to speak, such as video art – how can you claim provenance here? – and an arte provera installation of lamps made from cement sacks by Pete Jimenez.

Viewing such works, especially Walang Masulingan, a 2024 two-channel video by Ben Brix and Kiri Dalena, I felt like a student again, attending my first big art event in the early 2010s, wide- eyed, dumb with awe and wonder, not just at the work, but at life, at an art piece’s ability to deepen one’s appreciation for this embodied, if at times, odorous existence—an innocence that many of us strive to reclaim, consciously or otherwise, amidst adulthood’s grind.

At the entrance, what may stand as the show’s unofficial exhibit note reads “Are you here for the art? The atmosphere? The people? More importantly, have you seen anything you like?”

ALT Philippines 2024 runs at the SMX Convention Center, Hall 4, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City until February 25. Stay posted and follow developments at http://altphilipppines.com or via their official social media channels: @AltPhilippines on Instagram and Facebook