June 2026 Art Agenda: recent and ongoing exhibitions around Metro Manila

NCCA Gallery | MANA

At the NCCA Gallery, the Silaw Artist Collective presented MANA, curated by Eghai Roxas. The exhibition examines the tension between environmental conservation and commodification, focusing particularly on the Masungi landscape. Featuring works by fourteen artists, the show highlights the consequences of biodiversity loss and challenges viewers to reflect on their stewardship of natural resources.

Read more: Ann and Billie Dumaliang bravely stand for conservation at the Masungi Georeserve

The Podium | Tapestry of Woven Dreams

Fashion designer Vida Doria showcased her transition from textiles to canvas in Tapestry of Woven Dreams at The Podium. Exhibiting alongside five members of Katha Art, Doria presented vibrant, emotion-driven floral and water scenes. A portion of the proceeds supported charities, reflecting her use of art as a quiet tool for personal healing and community support.

Metropolitan Museum of Manila & ILOMOCA | OMOCHA: Japanese Toys Today

The Japan Foundation, Manila brought OMOCHA: Japanese Toys Today to the Metropolitan Museum of Manila before its scheduled move to the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art (ILOMOCA). The exhibition traces the evolution of Japanese toys from Edo-period cultural objects to modern icons like Gundam and Hello Kitty, exploring their dual role as tools for childhood development and triggers for adult nostalgia.

Galerie Hans Brumann | Pey Raymond & Soleil Imperial

Galerie Hans Brumann hosted two distinct solo presentations. Pey Raymond’s If These Walls Could Speak used luminescent colours and bold compositions to explore the dialogue between past memories and present healing. Meanwhile, Soleil Imperial used her exhibition, The Artistry of Soleil Imperial, as a therapeutic sanctuary, translating her inner world into intricate, colourful canvases that questioned reality and perception.

Art Verité | Gian Miroe & Roland Llarena

Art Verité confronted viewers with two very different atmospheres. Gian Miroe’s eighty-six challenges the concept of human disposability. Using the motif of a trash bag, Miroe painted obscured figures to ask uncomfortable questions about societal worth and the systems that dictate it.

In contrast, Roland Llarena’s Sirûm offers a look at the domestic interior. Through recurring motifs like a rocking chair or a vase of sunflowers, Llarena explores the fragility of rest and the quiet cycle of decay and rebirth.

Gajah Gallery Manila | An Endless Soul, A Boundless Feeling

Indonesian artist Ibrahim marked his nearly 30-year career and first Philippine solo show with Jiwa Tak Berujung Rasa Tak Bertepian, which translates to “an endless soul, a boundless feeling”. The exhibition features fifteen works of vivid, textured landscapes in blues and greys. Guided by intuition and ‘happy accidents’, Ibrahim explores minimal forms that suggests flora, fauna, and a sense of boundlessness.

RCBC Plaza | Many Marias: Callas by Lecaroz

Painter Celeste Lecaroz presented Many Marias at the Carlos P Romulo Auditorium, running alongside the Philippine Opera Company’s production of Master Class. Working in the Spontanrealismus tradition, Lecaroz exhibited nine works that merged chromatic acrylics with grayscale tonal drawings to capture the fractured, multifaceted identity of soprano Maria Callas.

Read more: Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo in ‘Master Class’—a transcendent and piercing portrait of Maria Callas

Art Cube Philippines | Honasan, Balag, and Valdemoro

Art Cube Philippines offers a trio of exhibitions grounded in materiality and labour. Martin Honasan’s Gathering combines acrylic painting with reclaimed fabrics, using worn materials to meditate on finding sustenance amid physical struggle. Jessa Balag’s Taliwala explores the spaces between departure and arrival through painted, epoxy-sculpted paper bags that carry everyday ephemera and narratives of devotion. Finally, Abril Dominic Valdemoro’s Pitik-Pitik pays tribute to the tactile precision of Masbate’s construction workers, presenting sculptures that honoured their unrecognised contributions without romanticising their poverty.

Ateneo de Manila University Press | Federico Aguilar Alcuaz: Salaysay

As we close the chapter on these recent exhibitions, a look toward the future of Philippine art history arrives in print. The Ateneo de Manila University Press will soon release Federico Aguilar Alcuaz: Salaysay, a comprehensive monograph on the late National Artist for Visual Arts. Published by MAGIS and edited by Christian M Aguilar, Matthew Benjamin P Lopez, and Ricky P Francisco, the volume features newly uncovered archival discoveries, essays by prominent historians, and documentation of over 300 artworks.

Amid rapid environmental shifts and the constant hum of technological progress, the current lineup of exhibitions across Metro Manila offers a collective moment to stop and take stock. Artists stepped back to examine the structures that governed their lives—from the shifting coastlines of the islands to the invisible social frameworks of the city. There is a prevailing sensibility on adaptation and material intervention; creators salvage typhoon wreckage, reclaim textiles, and map out quiet domestic spaces to process upheavals. The resulting works do not rush toward easy answers. Instead, they embrace the act of pausing, reflecting, and methodically piecing together a way forward.

Here is a rundown of the upcoming and ongoing shows for artephiles out there:

León Gallery International | Unidad (Oneness)

The mid-year season opened with Joan Punyet Miró’s Unidad (Oneness), marking the Mallorca-born artist’s return to the Philippines. The artist transformed the gallery into an intimate inner landscape, painting directly onto mahogany panels marked with vivid primary colours and handwritten text and hung them on charcoal walls. Meanwhile, twigs cast shadows on the white walls, exuding a sense of balance amid the exhibition’s polarity to highlight the message of harmony. The exhibition aims to bridge the spiritual and the earthly, offering a raw, physical meditation on memory, intuition, and human connection.

Unidad runs until June 6

Fundación Sansó x Happy Andrada at Discovery Primea

Fashion and visual art intersect in this unique capsule collection by designer Happy Andrada. Inspired by the prolific career of Juvenal Sansó, Andrada translated the artist’s diverse themes into a series of Filipiniana barong bibs. The endeavour also served a philanthropic purpose, with a percentage of sales funding the foundation’s scholarship programme.

The collection will be on view beginning on June 5

YSpace at the Yuchengco Museum | PASULONG: Recent Sculptures by Anton V. Quisumbing

Anton V Quisumbing returned to three-dimensional work after a solitary period of painting. Pasulong features twenty-nine compositions constructed from the bronze propellers of boats destroyed by Typhoon Odette. The arduous process of manipulating the unforgiving metal mirrored the emotional weight of recovering from an upheaval. The resulting sculptures, ranging from steady spiritual symbols to hurried, fluid forms, capture the non-linear nature of moving forward.

Pasulong has been extended until June 5

Galleria Duemila | Negative Capability

Dedicated to Galleria Duemila founder Silvana Ancellotti-Diaz, Negative Capability gathers works by Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, Nona Garcia, Kawayan de Guia, Charlie Co, and Manny Montelibano. The exhibition operates outside the dictates of marketability, focusing instead on creative risk and mutual respect. It frames the gallery as a site of encounter, where artists explore the generative power of uncertainty and collaboration.

Negative Capability runs until June 20

UP Vargas Museum | Embracing the wind, Cradling the water

Cristina Mejias examined the unseen forces that dictate the course of life—such as the wind and the human voice—through video and sculpture installation. Her delicate wood-and-metal structures expand and contract like scales, mapping sound and movement. The exhibition requires viewers to tune into the imperceptible, offering a patient, material register of oral histories and subtle environmental shifts.

Embracing the wind, Cradling the water runs until September 5

Silverlens Manila | The Coconut Tree Methodology

Martha Atienza’s first solo presentation with the gallery since 2020 addresses the lived politics of land and sea in Bantayan Island, Cebu. The exhibition centres on the displacement caused by coastal erosion and rising sea levels, using fallen coconut trees as wordless witnesses to environmental and systemic failures. Grounded in community intervention, Atienza’s methodology turns the gallery into a space for observation and collective questioning regarding sustainable living.

Meanwhile at the Silverlens Den, Collectors Plus provides a focused look at Southeast Asian contemporary art spanning three decades. The presentation highlights material experimentation and formal inquiry, featuring Raffy Napay’s thread-on-canvas, Geraldine Javier’s embroidery and biological specimens, and Syaiful Garibaldi’s microscopic spore art. It places diverse practices in dialogue, reflecting on the evolution of both established and emerging artists.

The Coconut Tree Methodology and  Collectors Plus will be on view until July 11

Kapitolyo Art Space | Kuwadro and Bahaghari sa Dingding

To mark the month that celebrates national independence and gay Pride, Kapitolyo Art Space hosts two concurrent exhibitions. Kuwadro uses the concept of the frame to examine the social and political boundaries that shape human autonomy, questioning the limits of freedom. Upstairs, Bahaghari sa Dingding presents a collective portrait of the LGBTQIA+ community, transforming the gallery walls into a space for personal histories, acts of resistance, and evolving identities.

Kuwadro and  Bahaghari sa Dingding both open on June 6

Art Lounge Manila (The Podium) | C/AURUMSCAPE

Glenn Perez merges the precision of engineering with the fluidity of metallic ores in his solo exhibition, C/AURUMSCAPE. The contemporary artist utilised layered compositions and dynamic textures to balance kinetic energy with moments of calm. The resulting industrial yet poetic pieces explore the intersection of structure and tranquillity in abstract form.

C/AURUMSCAPE runs until July 28

JCB Gallery, Philippine Women’s University | Kasibulan Kontra Korapsyon

Curated by Portia Placino, this exhibition revisits the legacy of KASIBULAN, the country’s first women’s artist collective founded in 1987. The show places works by current members in dialogue with the founders, renewing their commitment to social intervention. It highlights how women artists carve spaces within a male-dominated industry by using craft and textiles to confront deep-rooted issues of inequality, political precarity, and systemic corruption.

Kasibulan Kontra Korapsyon runs until August 14

Metropolitan Museum of Manila | Threads of Dreams

In partnership with the Embassy of Japan and The Japan Foundation, Manila, the museum presents a focused dialogue between fashion, memory, and cultural exchange. The exhibition highlights over 60 garments crafted by designers Jaggy Glarino, Rhett Eala, and Joey Samson, examining the intersection of traditional influences and contemporary garment construction.

Threads of Dreams runs until July 26

Provenance Art Gallery (Power Plant Mall) | Bridging The Gap 2

Returning for its second edition, Bridging The Gap 2 transforms the mall into a rotating platform featuring 80 contemporary Filipino artists over three months. By bringing works from established and emerging artists into a highly accessible commercial space, the initiative aims to dismantle the traditional boundaries between creators, seasoned collectors, and first-time viewers.

Bridging The Gap 2 opens on June 10 and will run until August

Parola (UP Fine Arts Gallery) | Sidhi and Visual Communication Thesis Exhibition

The University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts showcases its graduating talent through two distinct exhibitions. Sidhi highlights the Industrial Design programme, presenting practical, human-centred design solutions. Shortly after, the Department of Visual Communication is taking over the Atrium, displaying fresh, critical approaches to graphic design, multimedia, and visual storytelling from the next generation of creatives.

Sidhi opened last June 2 while the Visual Communication Thesis Exhibition opens on June 6

West Gallery | Disc.cussion

Disc.cussion brings together a diverse group of artists to explore alternative approaches to printmaking by using discarded compact discs as matrices for drypoint. Transforming an obsolete medium of digital storage into a site of tactile image-making, the exhibition reflects on material reuse and the evolving relationship between digital and physical forms. The participating artists navigate distinct technical constraints, particularly the disc’s central void, which removes a traditional focal point and encourages radial compositions.

The polycarbonate surface of the CDs also differs from traditional copper or zinc plates, altering how lines are incised and how ink is transferred. Featuring works by Noell El Farol, Poeleen Alvarez, Elmer Borlongan, Pandy Aviado, and several others, the exhibition repositions the compact disc as a material with continued artistic relevance. By repurposing discarded media, the project proposes a sustainable, circular approach to contemporary print practice.

Disc.cussion runs from June 18 until July 18

MC Home Depot Atrium, Uptown Palazzo | IGNITE: An Art Exhibit

Organised by the Bastedor Art Project and presented with Kaufman Inc., IGNITE gathers 60 artists to advocate for responsible development. The exhibition merges artistic expression with an awareness of sustainable design and ecology, highlighting the role of creative initiatives in fostering environmental consciousness.

IGNITE runs until June 20

Gallery C, Conrad Manila | Harbinger Metropolis

Sculptor Ivan Co marks Conrad Manila’s tenth anniversary with a collection of ten kinetic pieces crafted with semi-precious gemstones. Featuring automatons, gravitrams, and pendulums, the dynamic works serve as a meditation on the accelerating pace of technological progress. The exhibition asks viewers to consider the blurring boundaries between utopia and dystopia in a rapidly shifting urban landscape.

Harbinger Metropolis runs until July 25

NCCA Gallery | Taym Pers 5

The Alpas Art Group returns with Taym Pers 5, an exhibition rooted in the Filipino playground expression for ‘time out’. The works present the act of pausing not as an interruption, but as a necessary space for renewal. Amid rapid technological and social changes, the artists invite audiences to slow down and rediscover the value of presence, memory, and mindful engagement.

Taym Pers 5 opened last June 4

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