Is it cake? Artworks deceive at ALT 2024

MANILA, Philippines — In time for National Arts Month, ALT 2024, an annual art collective featuring nine of the country’s biggest art galleries, opened yesterday in Hall 4 of SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

The founding art galleries found in ALT 2024 include:

Apart from large art installations and the centerpiece ALT Collaboration between Univers and Moreau Paris showcasing hand-painted bags by artists to be auctioned for a cause, ALT 2024 is a must-see for all art lovers for thousands of opuses by Filipino artists, including deceptively quirky ones.

Among those that trick the eyes are the cake series of contemporary visual artist Lindslee. The realistic-looking cakes on panels are actually installation artworks made of acrylic on canvas. 

Stephanie Frondoso, who has been curating ALT since it began three years ago, explained in an exclusive interview with Philstar.com that the 2024 edition stands out for its much bigger venue “so it has more breathing room for art”; as well as for its larger installations and more spaces for programs like Sound Art, Performance Art and talks.

“It’s meant to be so that all the artworks are presented properly and from almost every angle, you can see the galleries,” she expounded on the exhibition space’s design.

“So the design is integrated from the furniture to the exhibition spaces,” she enthused.

The key areas of the exhibition, she said, include a Conversation section at the back, a video room in front, and four special exhibitions distributed around the area. The special exhibitions are by Juan Alcazaren, Geraldine Javier, Pete Jimenez, Oca Villamiel and Isabel Santos.

Palanca-winning writer, artist and curator Carlomar Arcangel Daoana explained to Philstar.com that the organizers’ vision for ALT 2024 is to not become a traditional art fair.

“Because a fair usually has a lot of booths, and (to be included in) the exhibition, it’s by application. Here, they’re (art galleries) all friends. They like envision it (ALT 2024) as a one big group show,” he noted. 

“One thing that I like about ALT is if you’re viewing it from the center, you can see it all from here. You can flow in and out of the booths and don’t feel like