Two Openings Signal Manila’s ‘New Wave of Cultural Activity’

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‘From our inception, we wanted to bring Southeast Asian artists and collectors closer,’ says Gajah Gallery’s founder Jasdeep Sandhu. Founded in 1996 and now with spaces in Singapore, Jakarta and Yogyakarta, the gallery opened its latest iteration in Manila in November.

Gajah Gallery’s new space, in Mandaluyong, south-east Manila, extends its long-standing commitment to regional exchange. In 2012, Sandhu co-founded Yogya Art Lab with Indonesian artist Yunizar—an experimental foundry where international artists collaborate with Yogyakarta-based craftsmen across traditional and contemporary mediums. The lab, he notes, ‘has shown us how vital it is to create spaces where regional conversations can take root physically’.

Manila, with its rich artistic history and engaged community, offers the ideal setting for these exchanges to unfold. For example, in the gallery’s opening show, Confabulations, A Fantasy of the Real, Marina Cruz’s bronze sculpture (produced at Yogya Art Lab) Complete Pairs: Christmas 1959 (2024) casts twin dresses from 1959, exploring family memory and the interplay of collective and personal narratives.

Curated by Joyce Toh, known for her research-driven approach, Confabulations brings together Filipino artists including BenCab, Leslie de Chavez, Kiri Dalena, Mark Justiniani, and Kawayan de Guia alongside peers from Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. The exhibition runs until 31 December.

Gajah Gallery is not the only new arrival in Manila’s art scene. Ames Yavuz, which has spaces in London, Singapore and Sydney, this month presented a pop-up space with group exhibition Hold Everything Dear in Makati, displaying more than 50 Filipino artists and collectives in a salon-style hang of mostly 2025 works to explore care, kinship and intimacy across generations.

Looking ahead to the Manila Art Fair in February 2026, the city is set for a new wave of cultural activity. Sandhu notes that Gajah Gallery’s Manila space will pursue projects ‘sensitive to context and rooted in long-term commitment’ that foster ‘research-driven presentations, collaborations with local thinkers, and dialogues across generations and geographies’. —[O]

Main image: Kayleigh Goh, L’Antichambre (2025) (detail). Cement, marble dust, acrylic, gesso on wood. 124 x 174 x 5 cm (framed). Courtesy the artist and Gajah Gallery.