Designing ALT ART 2026 at SMX Manila: Baby Imperial on Building an Art Fair

Exhibition designer Baby Imperial of All At Once shaped the spatial strategy of ALT ART 2026, its largest edition to date. The fair occupied Halls 1 and 2 of SMX Convention Center Manila, expanding in both footprint and ambition. Organized by the ALT Collective—Artinformal, Blanc, The Drawing Room, Galleria Duemila, Finale Art File, MO_Space, Underground, Vinyl on Vinyl, and West Gallery—the fair scaled up without losing its collaborative foundation.

“ALT ART has been a labor of love by the 9 galleries to put this together. We didn’t want a space that was limiting because our priority is to be able to present the artist’s works as best as possible, because they work so hard to create these works,” Tina Fernandez, founder of Artinformal, says.

Turning a Blank Canvas into an Art Fair

ALT ART’s fourth edition features twice the floor area of its 2024 iteration–its walls rising to 5 meters high. “[The] 5-meter walls create visual impact and significantly alter the volume of the space with appropriate surfaces for art to be viewed in a compelling manner,” Imperial says in an email interview with BluPrint. 

The venue began as a blank, cavernous hall, challenging Imperial to create a space that balanced sightlines, circulation, exchange, and dialogue. Imperial transformed the hall into one of engagement and inclusivity. “An environment showcasing art is necessarily about artists and their work, located front and center. Equally important is the audience, the public, and their ease in accessing the art both visually and physically,” Imperial says. 

For ALT ART, she positioned the discovery section and project spaces generously and organically throughout the space. This ensures an immersive experience across diverse media (film, video, and sound) while leveraging scale and materiality. This programming strategy, tailored to each artwork’s specificity, creates a seamless experience that erases “booth boundaries.”

An Open Space for Open Conversations

The walls were angled to create a circular formation, with the café placed at the center of the venue. This space was designed for people from all walks of life to connect and converse. “And finally, it is critical to provide a central convergence space where art is visible from every angle,” Imperial says.

With audience comfort in mind, Imperial introduced a quiet seating area for reflection and engagement with the artworks. Food and beverage areas are strategically placed nearby to encourage social interaction.

In Collaboration with the Galleries

While Imperial led the exhibition design, the galleries retained autonomy in curating their own sections. “A dynamic partnership with gallerists, artists, and curators working together to generate spaces that cohere with curatorial intention and focus is de rigueur,” she says.

Cesar H. Villalon, founder of Manila-based gallery The Drawing Room, presented around seventy-five artists. “We decided to include a lot of artists because it’s not often that they have art fairs in the Philippines.” He was intentional in organizing the works, particularly in pairing Filipino artists Vermon Coronel Jr. and Troy Ignacio.

“Their works speak to each other. The medium would be paper—four to five layers of manually cut stencil paper. Then Troy would do birds in watercolor. If you see Troy’s handling of watercolor, it’s very different from others. It’s almost like paint. Ito naman, layers of hand-cut, manually cut work,” Villalon explains.

The ALT Collective and Baby Imperial shaped an environment that foregrounds both the artwork and the experience of encountering it. At its core, ALT ART remains about encountering art with generosity and inclusivity, reinforced by a long-term commitment to nurturing the art ecosystem.

_{Photographed by Ed Simon.}

Read More: ART 2026: A Major Expansion for Contemporary Philippine Art

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