Survival Mode

MANILA

ays before the opening of Art Fair Philippines (AFP), the country’s largest art event, the inaugural ALT Philippines (February 14–16), co-organized by ten galleries that broke away from AFP, opened at the SMX Convention Center. A popular attraction presented by the Drawing Room (Manila) was Derek Tumala’s video installation (2020), which flashes more than 900 images across ten vertically oriented screens to imitate how photos are viewed on mobile phones. Other notable works included Lesley-Anne Cao’s engraved marble slabs at the artist-run MO_Space (Manila), and Josephine Turalba’s mahjong set, (2019), at Galleria Duemila (Manila). While some exhibitors found success at ALT, selling out their booths by the end of the first day,