Marbee and Berg Go's Gallery Ninety in Baguio

The art scene has a new corner in Baguio called Gallery Ninety, a space for artists who highlight the rich cultural heritage of this picturesque city

If you’re prepared to do a four- to six-hour drive from Manila, Baguio City will reward you with its lush green park spaces, hillsides and cool temperature. Thronged by people from different parts of the Philippines, the City of Pines offers stories and sights that some of its homegrown talents have been keeping alive through different mediums of art.

Somewhere in the middle of its tall pine trees, ensconced within the campus of Berkeley School, is Gallery Ninety, a space that husband and wife Berg and Marbee Go opened when they decided to stay in Baguio for good. Their dream was simple—to help enrich the arts and culture scene in Baguio by providing a space for artists who have a connection to Baguio and the Cordilleras.

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Above Gallery Ninety in Baguio City

“Back in college, my good friend and classmate in art studies Aris Go and I thought of opening an art gallery ‘one day’. Fast forward to 2021, 20 years later, and the idea resurfaced soon after my husband Berg and I moved to Baguio,” Marbee tells Tatler. “We were at Aris’ living room talking about his furniture pieces made of old, recycled hardwood. Aris is an architect who designed some of Baguio City’s award-winning structures made with local timber.

Over the years, he had designed several extraordinary pieces using rare wood from his collection, which were all just piled up in his home. ‘Let’s open a gallery, we can put those pieces there’, my husband Berg said.” Gallery Ninety, as Marbee recalls, echoes the name of Aris’ architecture firm, 90 Design Studio; it is also a nod to their surname “Go”, which resembles the number “90”.

The place has so far featured three collections. “We’ve had two collections as a pop-up gallery during Mandeko Kito, an artisans’ market held twice a year in Baguio,” shares Marbee. “The first, Clay and Fire 2, was an exhibit of Sagada and Baguio ceramic artists Tessie Baldo, Siegrid Bangyay, Ardeth Angway Butic and Jeff van den Broeck.

The second featured the works of architect Dulthe Munar, a local Baguio artist who specialises in automata and uses wood, gears and motors for his pieces.

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Above Hotel Aurelio, 1978, mixed media on paper.

Above Ethereal, 1995, etching on zinc.

"The current one is our first collaboration with Mara Pardo de Tavera and Jacinto Ramos of Casa Luningning, our mentors who introduced us to the art of master printmaker Virgilio "Pandy" Aviado. We opened in 2022 with Aviado's 'Art of Print and Paper', an exhibition of prints ranging from the early Seventies to the current years of his prolific artistic career, she adds.

This body of work is mostly externalised in the subconscious and the mystical and is curated by Mara. She and the artist Pandy spanned a friendship of nearly 40 years. She recalls those years while in the throes of curating the pieces."

Above National Artist for Film Kidlat Tahimik was among Gallery Ninety’s first guests

In future projects, Gallery Ninety seeks to put up workshops, collaborative activities, talks and events that will further highlight and amp up the arts scene in the North.

"The gallery is the first phase of our plan to build a creative hub in Baguio. There will be workshops, collaborative activities, talks and events. Since it is within the school campus of Berkeley School, it will give students the opportunity to appreciate art and hopefully awaken the artist within them. They can sit in one of Aris' wooden benches and let the space inspire them creatively," Marbee concludes.

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Art in the North: Gallery Ninety in Baguio