Official Tops ArtFest 2026 artwork. Courtesy of Tops ArtFest. There is a lazy way to cover art outside Metro Manila: add a scenic adjective, call it a discovery, then wait for it to receive a Manila co-sign. Tops ArtFest 2026 gives that habit very little to work with. From October 22 to 25, more than 300 artists are set to gather at TOPS in Cebu City for four days of exhibitions, installations, performances, and other art experiences under the theme “Building and Breaking Norms.” Junyee and Nune Alvarado are the festival’s main artists, joined by Ronald Ventura, Romulo Galicano, Demi Padua, Charlie Co, Randalf Dilla, Dino Gabito, and other participating artists. The point is not that Cebu is producing an art event worthy of attention from elsewhere. A major Philippine art event is happening in Cebu. The rest of the country should learn to read the map properly. A festival with enough artists to make the curatorial question unavoidable “More than 300 ...

Medium Rare Kaleidoscope Edition Manila brings together music, gastronomy, and visual art in a single immersive evening at Salon de Ning, The Peninsula Manila on May 9, 2026 , positioning itself as a multi-sensory event that moves beyond traditional performance formats. Medium Rare Kaleidoscope Edition explores music, gastronomy, and visual art at Salon de Ning, The Peninsula Manila, on May 9, 2026. Set in Makati at The Peninsula Manila, Medium Rare Kaleidoscope Edition transforms Salon de Ning into a space where music, gastronomy, and visual art converge. A Manila event, Medium Rare Kaleidoscope Edition brings together music, gastronomy, and visual art at Salon de Ning this May 2026, creating an environment where disciplines intersect rather than exist in isolation. There are events that fill a room, and then there are those that reshape how the room is experienced. Medium Rare belongs to the latter. It operates not as a sequence of performances, but as a continuous atmo...

Some nights in Manila do not try to compete. They move differently. Quieter, more intentional, shaped with care. The kind of night that unfolds like a film you do not rush through. On May 9, 2026, Medium Rare returns with a Special Edition that transforms Salon de Ning at The Peninsula Manila into something more than a nightlife venue. It becomes a curated environment where sound, taste, and visual culture meet in a single, continuous experience. This is not a typical event announcement. It is a shift in how Manila chooses to experience culture at night. A Different Kind of Night in Makati From 7:00 PM until 4:00 AM, Medium Rare Special Edition unfolds as a structured sensory journey rather than a loose nightlife format. Part I begins earlier in the evening. A warm, intimate atmosphere shaped by an opening DJ set, a live neo-jazz performance, and a high-end gastronomic bites experience. The intention is not to overwhelm, but to ease guests into the night. Sound builds slowly. Conversat...

There are anniversaries designed to commemorate. And then there are anniversaries that recommit . In January 2026, Galleria Duemila celebrates its 50th anniversary with an exhibition that refuses nostalgia and leans instead toward continuity, movement, and conviction. Titled AVANTI, SEMPRE AVANTI / FORWARD, ALWAYS FORWARD , the show runs from January 13 to March 14, 2026 , marking five decades of sustained influence as the longest-running art gallery in the Philippines . This landmark exhibition situates Galleria Duemila not as a relic of Philippine modern art history, but as an active force that continues to shape how art is seen, valued, and discussed today. 50 Years of Philippine Modern Art, Seen Through a Different Lens Founded in 1975, Galleria Duemila has consistently championed Philippine modern and contemporary art outside the logic of trends and market pressure. At the heart of this philosophy is its founder, Silvana Ancellotti-Diaz , whose relationships with artists often g...

The legacy of National Artist for Visual Arts Arturo Luz takes center stage once again with "Streamlined II," a rare and highly anticipated exhibition running from June 3 to 16 at the Art Center, 4th Floor, SM Megamall Building A , Mandaluyong City. Presented by Renaissance Art Gallery and curated by artist-critic Cid Reyes , the exhibit builds on the success of its earlier iteration, further exploring the timeless visual language and structural elegance that define Luz’s iconic style. This second edition offers visitors a renewed appreciation of Luz’s pursuit of formal purity, disciplined composition, and minimalism that continues to influence generations of Filipino artists. A Singular Vision in Modern Abstraction Luz, declared a National Artist in 1997, began his journey in art as early as 17 years old. Inspired by the quiet restraint of Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo and the imaginative line work of Paul Klee , Luz developed his own aesthetic vocabulary— a linear ...

In celebration of its 15th Anniversary, Renaissance Gallery, a leading purveyor of non-representational art in the country, presents “XV” which opens on June 10 till June 22 at the SM Art Center, with cocktail reception on June 13 at 6 pm. Featured are the works of Hermes Alegre, Bien Benitez, Remy Boquiren, Arley Carig, Macoy Coching, Addie Cukingnan, Melvin Culaba, August Espino, Egai Fernandez, Allain Hablo, Sam Penaso, Jay Ragma, Jucar Raquepo, Cid Reyes, Genesis Rovero, Ronaldo Ruiz, Aner Sebastian, Resty Tica, Valen Valero, Mellisa Villasenor , and Janice Young. Succeeding this show is “Ambidextrous,” a group exhibition of artists working in both representational art and abstraction, which opens on June 24, with cocktail reception on June 25 at 6 pm. The show runs until July 4. XV is curated by noted art critic, writer and visual artist Cid Reyes. The Art Center is on the 4/F, Bldg. A, SM Megamall, EDSA cor. Julia Vargas Ave., Mandaluyong City. For inquiries, call Marga...

Ground Zero presents works across various media that explore escape as a viable aesthetic and political—that is to say, artistic—response. Here, escape is not about a naïve denial of the real, but an acknowledgment of the absurdity that dominates the political sphere and increasingly, the hype-culture of contemporary art, and thereafter taking a moment to step aside. In this idea of escape, one remains in the midst of everything, in a paradox of stopping in motion. “Umuwi na tayo,” goes the song by the Eraserheads, “dahil wala ng sense ang ating mundo" — which in translation goes “Let’s get back home since the world doesn’t make sense.” Where—or perhaps more precisely, what—home is, sustains itself here as a lingering question whose openness is not only the rationalizing premise of the group exploration, but is also the very aesthetic held forth: these are works that could still the mind, that a new perspective might be born, one without prescription, out of the rare ...

Rody Vera’s award-winning Happiness is a Pearl is set to run until September 17 at Artist Playground’s larger home at Arts Above, 112 West Venue Building, West Avenue, Quezon City. Happiness is a Pearl asks the audience, “What can you do for love?” Mari is a desperate wife of a businessman who meets the very accommodating courtesan, Kenji. Kenji also meets the Japayuki Maria who does what she can to make ends meet, including her emotional needs. The well-written script is accented by the music of Jesse Lucas and Standard Tango plus Argentine Tango choreography by Lezlie Dailisan. Director Paul Jake Paule shards that to show the charm of the first run, they retained the original stage. I would have to say that I agree that the charm is definitely there and with a bigger venue, Artist Playground is successful in even expanding it. We also get better seating in the process. One of the best things I love about Artist Playground is that actors are free to explore their characte...

More often than not, mental health illnesses are trivialized – to the point that it is apathetically dismissed and ignored as a mere attempt to bring an afflicted individual back on an emotional level that is more acceptable and manageable for the common man. Mental illnesses are frowned upon with a stigma which is harmful to an afflicted individual. Discomfort Room is an experimental group show attempting to engage that stigma. It is an experiential acceptance; that these problems exist within our material plane of existence, manifesting in our daily lives like broken furniture inside our own homes. The room recreates the space inside our heads, decorated with the pains and illnesses depicted in different types of media. It communicates the ephemeral struggle against a constant burden in an individual’s daily life; and yet it is a safe-space, where the disturbed can realize that they are not alone in their fight. As art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable, t...

District Gallery is a newly organized art gallery located at Arts Above West Venue Building along West Avenue Quezon city and is s founded by the ARTIST PLAYGROUND, an arts and performance company. The gallery aims to inspire, engage, excite and connect people through contemporary art. It is committed to providing a collaborative space and environment for emerging and established artists and likewise aims to maximize local and global opportunities thru institutional partnerships. Fittingly, the inaugural show Inhabit showcases District Gallery as much it is about the exhibition. "Inhabit" thematizes on change, adaptation and speculation of reuse and negotiating the indelible traces of previous use and function as in this case, portions of a tax collection office that has been left unused and underutilized for a long time. With this premise and context, various artist came up with different creative responses to dramatize such act of take-over and settling-in beyond...

Museo Orlina in Tagaytay City presents a rare demonstration of hot glass blowing and glass sculpting, to be conducted by prominent Czech glass artist Jiri Pacinek from November 18 - 20. This will be held on the stage of the amphitheater of the Sculpture Garden. Mr. Pacinek has shipped in from the Czech Republic his portable furnace and annealer, as well as other glassblowing and sculpting equipment. He and his team of experts will be creating sculptural pieces on the spot, live on our stage, and will call on volunteers from the audience to try simple glassblowing and hot sculpting. The program will also include a brief lecture, an interview portion and a tour of his exhibition “Blown Away” of 30 recent works at the Reflections Gallery of Museo Orlina, curated by the eminent art critic and scholar Cid Reyes. A special invitation goes out to: 1. Art Practitioners for Friday, Nov 18, 2016 2. Fine Art Students and Faculty for Saturday, Nov 19, 2016. There will be wo sessions...

The Artist Playground, Arte Pintura, and Talent Factory Incorporated proudly present NURSERY OF CURIOSITIES -- A SOLO EXHIBIT BY NASSER LUBAY. A cocktail reception and formal opening ceremonies with distinguished special guests of honor from the seven fields of art will be held on May 15 Sunday- 6 pm at the Arte Pintura Gallery located at the G/F The Address at Wack Wack, Wack Wack Road, Mandaluyong City An equally interesting highlight of the exhibit is the world premiere of “Nursery of Curiosities – The Theme,” an original music written by award-winning composer Jesse Lucas. A specially-printed catalogue of "Nursery of Curiosities" will also be launched to accompany the exhibit. Curated by Philip Almazan Paraan, “Nursery of Curiosities” will run until May 31. EXHIBITION NOTES After making significant strides in the art scene highlighted by winning runner-up honors in an international art competition, Nasser Lubay finds the ripe moment to present a cohesiv...