(SPOT.ph) Art Fair Philippines 2019 has barely started and, already, a new art hub is opening its doors in another side of Makati City. Altro Mondo Creative Space—the new home of Altro Mondo that was previously located at Greenbelt 5—is officially launching as the gallery's bigger and better space on February 23 with a group show titled Ouverture. You can find it along Chino Roces Avenue, a good three kilometers away from Makati's busy business district.
"What we have in Greenbelt 5 is a space that is a little over a hundred square meters. We could not do much in terms of exhibition and the demands of the artists and collectors," Remigio "Boy" David, creative director of Altro Mondo Creative Space, tells SPOT.ph about the reason behind the move. He started thinking of expanding and started looking at spaces along Pasong Tamo in March 2018.
Eventually, he chanced upon 1159 Chino Roces, which was originally a repair shop for high-end automobiles. "When I saw it, I fell in love with it because of the potential it has for both artists and clients." All that David wanted after renovations is that it's "breathing and comfortable" to easily adapt to the needs of their upcoming shows.
Now the biggest commercial gallery in Metro Manila, Altro Mondo Creative Space hosts five exhibition halls: The 300-square-meter Main Gallery on the ground floor; the Monteverdi Media Room on the lower mezzanine; and Espace Celine, Spazio Franco, and Artists' Lane on the upper mezzanine. When asked if Monteverdi, Celine, and Franco are artists, David chuckled. As it turns out, Celine and Franco are his children and Monteverdi is the family name of his French wife, who has Italian roots. "After all, this gallery is dedicated to my family," he says.
Filling these galleries with simultaneous shows is a tall order. To resolve this, Altro Mondo Creative Space took in a program director to handle their exhibitions season after season. This aligns with the gallery's vision to "create a dialogue between the established and the experimental, the past and the present in an environment that is responsive to the issues of modern and contemporary art while being accessible to a public that ranges from scholars to young children."
This dialogue starts with Ouverture, which features some of the biggest names in both the local and international art scene. The lineup includes National Artist for Visual Arts Benedicto Cabrera, internationally acclaimed artist David Medalla (founder and director of the London Biennale), Olivia d’ Aboville (featured artist for Art Fair Philippines 2019), and Roberto Feleo (recipient of the Cultural Center of the Philippines' Thirteen Artists Awards in 1988), among others. Side by side with these names are renowned international artists like Georg Oskar, Agostino Arrivabene, Christophe Avella Bagur, and Dragan Zdravkovic.
"We will take a leading role in bridging the gap between contemporary art and its potential audience in order to create a context for understanding how today's visual arts reflect and express the complex social and cultural issues underlying our changing world," David says. Looks like it's going to be busy at Altro Mondo's new home.
Altro Mondo Creative Space is at 1159 Don Chino Roces Avenue, San Antonio Village, Makati City. It opens on February 23 with an inaugural exhibit titled Ouverture. For more information, visit Altro Mondo's website.
