Art Fair Philippines and the 10 days of art leading up to it arrive like a flurry in February. And with that flurry comes swirls of color, streaks of paint, with new concepts through sculptures, mixed media works, and installations that provoke thought and often lift the soul. Right after the holiday season and the pressure of beginning a new year, the timing of the fair is welcome, with all its inspiration in tow.
From Feb. 6 to 8, Art Fair PH 2026 will open at Circuit Corporate Center One in Circuit Makati. This year, the fair occupies a former office building, temporarily transforming it into a vertical ecosystem of art. The move aligns with Circuit Makati’s long-term vision as a creative and cultural district, ahead of its planned Contemporary Art Center in 2027—a world-class museum for visual, digital, and interactive art that will complement existing venues like the Samsung Performing Arts Theater.
An old workspace, reimagined
“Over the years, Art Fair Philippines has occupied unexpected spaces, from The Link to Ayala Triangle Gardens, and now Circuit Makati—each location gently challenging the notion that art only belongs in formal institutions,” says Ayala Land creative director Paloma Urquijo Zobel de Ayala. “More than a venue, this moment marks the beginning of a longer cultural ecosystem being built in Circuit.”
The fair spans six exhibition floors. Visitors enter through a reception area on the fifth floor, with galleries extending through levels five to nine and eleven. Eight high-speed elevators will transition between the art encounters on each floor.
With galleries participating from Southeast Asia to Europe, the 2026 edition reinforces Manila’s growing relevance in the global art market. The local lineup is formidable, ranging from established spaces like Silverlens and León Gallery to contemporary museums such as Pintô Art Museum and Arboretum.
Experimental platforms like Modeka and Archivo 1984 sit alongside photography-focused exhibitors Tarzeer Pictures and FotomotoPH. There will also be room for homegrown initiatives, including Cartellino and Istorya Studios, the creative venture of artists Rodel Tapaya and Marina Cruz. Regional presence is also felt through spaces like Bacolod’s Orange Project.
Internationally, the fair brings together Singapore’s Ames Yavuz and Gajah Gallery, Malaysia’s Core Contemporary, Vietnam’s Vin Gallery, Taiwan’s Der-Horng Art Gallery, and several Japanese exhibitors, including Gallery Kogure and Kawata Gallery. Madrid-based Cayón rounds out the roster, further linking Philippine art to European conversations.
Linger in the Projects section
If there is one place to slow down, it is the Projects section, arguably the most tightly curated part of the fair. “These are artists we feel deserve to be highlighted,” says Art Fair PH co-founder Lisa Periquet.
For 2026, all 10 Projects artists are gathered on the sixth floor, with exhibition design by Rita Nazareno and Gabby Lichauco of Nazareno/Lichauco. Rather than rows of booths, the space is conceived as a barrio or town plaza, complete with walkways, alcoves, benches, and even an eskinita. Designed for lingering, Periquet says it “will be a fun place to experience, with benches so you can sit down and view the work, just like in a town plaza.”
Among the featured artists is Imelda Cajipe Endaya, a foundational figure in Philippine contemporary art, whose printmaking practice—central to her lifelong engagement with social realities—takes focus.
Nearby, Ambie Abaño’s woodcuts turn inward through repeated self-portraits, meditations on the soul shaped by the resistance of wood grain and the passage of time. For the fair, she also incorporates fabric into her works.
Max Balatbat’s contribution moves outward, engaging architecture, religion, and urban life. He presents a chapel inspired by the one his grandmother built at the end of their street in Caloocan, in an intimate structure that fits naturally within the town plaza concept.
Brenda Fajardo’s tarot cards, meanwhile, reinterpret a Western system through Filipino mythology, politics, and collective memory, inviting viewers to interact with the cards as living, postcolonial images.
There will also be a strong sense of movement throughout this year’s Projects section. Textile artist Ged Merino, based in Bogotá, works with the symbolism of the mosquito net, or kulambo. In his installations, the net becomes a gathering point, accumulating gestures, objects, and performances over time.
Grounding in the space, ceramic pioneers Jon and Tessy Pettyjohn highlight both their differences and long dialogue with each other as sculptural artists who work with nature and material.
Sa Tahanan Co., a collective of Filipino artists in the diaspora, looks at Philippine objects scattered across global archives, interpreting them through a postcolonial lens.
I’m also looking forward to the durational work by Spanish artist Ampparito, who will handwrite every single day in a calendar from this year until 2099, making a visual representation for the average lifespan of a person who comes to see the fair.
The Projects section also makes room for rarely seen works by modern masters. Constancio Bernardo’s hard-edge abstractions reveal the experimental edge of Philippine modernism. There will be bronze sculptures of Solomon Saprid and geometric work by Romeo Tabuena. Their inclusion grounds the Projects section in Philippine art history while keeping the conversation open-ended, with many perspectives to approach the curation from.
Screens and conversations
Beyond the array of galleries and the Projects section, Art Fair Philippines continues to explore the space between art and technology through ArtFairPH/Digital.
Painter and graphic artist TRNZ presents “The Keeper,” an animated short film portraying his distinct childlike figures. Now in motion through working with Fleet Studios, Art Fair PH co-founder Dindin Araneta describes the film as looking “at the quiet weight of pressure in our society and how it is in constant pursuit of success, accolades, and external validation.”
Meanwhile, the TLYR Collective’s immersive presentation explores digital alchemy through generative art, augmented reality, and installation, probing how identity shifts across physical and virtual spaces.
Education continues to remain a core part of the fair. ArtFairPH/Talks, presented in partnership with the Ateneo Art Gallery and the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, will host daily conversations with artists, curators, and thinkers. Free guided tours at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. further open the fair to first-time or even long-time visitors.
Art that refuses to stay still
Art Fair PH 2026 doesn’t stop at the building. Running alongside it from Jan. 30 to Feb. 8 is the ninth year of the “10 Days of Art” initiative. This citywide initiative activates Makati through exhibitions, installations, and public artworks in malls, underpasses, and open spaces, drawing people toward Circuit and beyond it.
Highlights include the Art Walk by Ayala Land, featuring Alfredo and Isabel Aquilizan’s interactive work at the fountain of Ayala Tower One. Ronald Ventura presents a carousel of fantastical creatures at Circuit Mall that you can actually ride—a version of a work previously shown in Taipei and bound for Singapore. Mich Dulce’s sculptural hats from “Nagsasalitang Ulo” also appear at Greenbelt 5, alongside Joel Wijangco’s “Art 2 Wear.” FotomotoPH will once again occupy the Paseo underpass, while digital artist Isaiah Cacnio installs LED works across Circuit, Glorietta, and Greenbelt.
As co-founder Trickie Lopa notes, “This is a way for us to make sure that art is beyond the frontlines of the fair.”
Gallery Weekend will also run parallel, with participating galleries across the city opening their doors in sync with the fair.
This year also sees the appointment of Anne-Laure Lemaitre, an independent curator and producer based in New York, as curator of the new residency grant, part of a growing effort to bring international curators into dialogue with Philippine art and artists. “It’s quite important to shine a light on Philippine art by bringing international curators to the country,” says Lopa. The applications are also officially open to artists who would like to engage in cross-cultural dialogue this Art Fair PH 2026.
With all these initiatives, and more than 150 student volunteers who applied as interns, the fair continues to grow its community from the ground up.
Art Fair Philippines has always been about more than sales, scale, or spectacle. Throughout the years, the fair has built a community between artists and audiences, spaces and cities, daily life and the occasional sense of the everyday crossing over with a sense of “mysterium tremendum,” a transcendent, primal feeling that art can sometimes bring.
As Zobel noted, much of Art Fair PH offers “human connection in the middle of everyday life, often in moments when we least expect it.”
In the slow, slightly dazed days of February, that feels exactly right. And we can’t wait for the season to begin.—LALA SINGIAN-SERZO