Art lovers can expect some new exciting additions to the upcoming 2025 edition of Art Fair Philippines. The organization announced a new venue space at the Ayala Triangle Gardens, moving away from their previous location at The Link Makati. They also announced their planned program of featured artists and events to entice art lovers into the annual event.
Art Fair Philippines organizers Dindin Araneta, Trickie Lopa, and Lisa Periquet unveiled the new plans. Open to the public from February 21 to 23, local and international galleries from places like Austria, Japan, Vietnam, and Spain will mount exhibitions during the fair. Beyond that, much excitement centered around the venue space at Ayala Triangle Gardens.
The new Art Fair Philippines space at Ayala Triangle Gardens was designed by LV Locsin Partners. The new structure will span from Ayala Tower One to Ayala Tower Two, with a closed-roof structure crossing the gardens.
Trickie Lopa shared that fair-goers should not expect small booths around an open-air garden. Instead, a temporary structure will be built for the event, feeling like “one big long tent.” It will be fully air-conditioned as well, to increase the comfort of the visitors.
“You start in Tower 1, where the fountain is, right?” Lopa said. “And then, there’s a walkway in the center of the park, which they call the runway. It just so happened that the area is going to be re-landscaped, so the plants have been removed.
“Not the trees, we’re working around the trees. [But] the plants have been removed because they were supposed to be refreshed. So, before they’re planted back, we’re putting the art fair there.”
Fairgoers can enter through the Makati Avenue or Ayala Avenue entrance. Parking spaces abound across Makati at a walkable distance from the Art Fair, including the parking space at Ayala Triangle Tower 2 and Gabriela Silang. However, the organizers recommended using Grab to minimize traffic, especially on Sunday when Makati institutes a car-free day alongside Ayala Avenue.
Beyond the main structure, Nazareno/Lichauco designed the space where the featured projects of Art Fair Philippines will be exhibited. The ArtFairPH/Projects space, Lopa said, was made specially to showcase the works of the featured artists best.
“We invited them to work with us,” she said. “What we did with them was we talked to each of the project artists. It was a matter of putting them all together in one space, and making that work out.
ArtFairPH/Projects and their featured artists will tackle different mediums and concepts for the event. Many of them explore a different microcosm of our experience within society, utilizing artworks to speak about the topics in a personal and illuminating way.
Manuel Ocampo, for example, will be showing mixed-media works created during their residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute. These works are different from what Ocampo typically creates, and will be a “focal point” of the exhibition.
Goldie Poblador, a glass sculptorist, will also debut works centered around the idea of the “Medusa as the Monstrous Female.” Incorporating scent and sound alongside her glass works, the exhibit was inspired by an oil spill in Verde Island and will interpret the marine creatures living there who had to adapt to the new environment.
Ceramics artist Jezzel Wee, painter Manny Garibay, and contemporary artist Ryan Rubio will also contribute to the ArtFairPH/Projects. Spanish artist SpY Studio, whose works “intervene” with the infrastructure around us, will also mount a large exhibition during the Art Fair.
For ArtFairPH/Digital, Isaiah Cacnio and Chia Amisola will contribute different works for the fair. Cacnio will contribute a work which “explores the themes of light, movement, and spatial dynamics, transforms ordinary spaces into immersive environments.”
Meanwhile, Amisola will showcase “KAKAKOMPYUTER MO YAN” for the first time in the Philippines. Exhibited in other countries, the work mimics the look and feel of a computer shop, highlighting “computer art” and the unique online experiences in the Philippines.
For the concurrent 10 Days of Art to celebrate Art Fair Philippines, different exhibits will be mounted across the Makati Central Business District for the public to enjoy. Beyond the aforementioned exhibit by SpY Studio, Briccio Santos will mount an exhibit at Legazpi Park.
Artist Kim Borja will release an exhibit, “To The Whole of Existence,” at Palm Drive Activity Center in Glorietta 2. E.S.L. Chen, meanwhile, will do a watch-based exhibit called “Time Explosion at One Ayala, while TLYR Collective will do an interactive exhibition at Paseo Villar Underpass.
FOTOMOTOPH will do a repeat of their “Fotomoto Underground” exhibit at the Legazpi Underpass; They also collaborated with Neal Oshima for an exhibit at Greenbelt 3 Sunken Park.
In an effort to expand beyond the Central Business District, Art Fair Philippines will also mount three exhibits at Circuit Makati. All three utilize light-based sculptural work, spanning across the public grounds of the area. The three artists will be Jefrë, Olivia d’Aboville, and Derek Tumala.
More information about the event can be found on their website.
As per usual, Art Fair Philippines will be mounting different talks about the art world to disseminate discussion on the craft and its market. Some talks center around the featured artists’ works; others will circle around contemporary and digital art. A “panel discussion on collection management from a collector’s point of view” is also planned for the fair.
Art Fair PH will also be showcasing some films during the event. Among them will be Kono Basho by Jaime Pacena II, which tells “the story of a young Filipino-Japanese woman who travels to Japan for her estranged father’s funeral and her experience connecting with his Japanese family, especially with her half-sister.”
Another film to be shown is The F.A.T. Boys!! Episode 1: Each One Teach One by Drew Milo. This will center around two friends who meet an environmentalist based in La Union. The environmentalist tours the two around a land he reforested over the decade with indigenous Filipino plants.
The talks and the film showing will be happening at the Executive Centre at Ayala Triangle Tower 2. The talks will happen at the sixth floor of the building while the film screenings will happen at the eighth floor.
Art Fair Philippines will be open to the public from February 21 to 23. Tickets are available at Art Fair Philippines’ website and priced at PhP 750.
Photos provided by Art Fair Philippines.
Related reading: Art Fair Philippines 2024 Opens To The Public This Weekend
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