Marker is Art Dubai’s curated programme of galleries and artspaces, which focuses each year on a particular theme or geography. This section aims to exemplify the fair’s role as a site of discovery and cross-cultural exchange, and is a feature of Art Dubai’s extensive not-for-profit programming.

In 2016, Marker turned its focus to the Philippines. Marker 2016 was the first such showcase of Filipino artists at any major international art fair and the first such exhibition in the Middle East to date, aiming—as in previous editions of Marker—to nurture cultural exchange between its focus country and the Gulf.

Led by curator-artist Ringo Bunoan, Marker 2016 highlighted independent and artist-run spaces in Metro Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Artist-run spaces have long been vital spaces for the development of Manila’s contemporary art scene, allowing artists to create and present works outside the conventional frameworks of museums and commercial galleries. Ringo worked closely with independent spaces to develop a group exhibition that showcases a new generation of artists from the Philippines, in all its diversity; Marker 2016 encompasses divergent media, and addresses ideas of community, place, intervention, collaboration, labour and alternative economies.

The exhibition featured 98B, Post Gallery, Project 20, Thousandfold, among others, and included photographs, videos, paintings, soft sculptures, works on paper, and textiles by artists including Mark Barretto, Tammy David, Jed Escueta, Miguel Lope Inumerable, Gino Javier, Czar Kristoff, Wawi Navarozza, Katherine Nuñez, Jayson Oliveria, J Pacena, Julius Redillas, Issay Rodriguez, IC Jaucian, Gail Vicente, and Tanya Villanueva.

Serving as an anchor to the exhibition was the work of Roberto Chabet (1937-2013), a pioneering Filipino conceptual artist, teacher, and curator who played an active role in several artist-run spaces throughout his lifetime. Marker 2016 included a major installation by Chabet.

Alongside the exhibition of artworks, Marker 2016 also featured a selection of artist books, monographs, zines, and other independent publications from the Philippines.

The Marker booklet for 2016 can be downloaded here.

Ringo Bunoan is an artist, curator and researcher based in Manila, Philippines. She was the co-founder of Big Sky Mind, an alternative space active from 1999 to 2004. From 2007 to 2013, she worked as the researcher for the Philippines for Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong where she initiated special research projects on artist-run spaces and Filipino conceptual artist Roberto Chabet. In 2010, she co-founded King Kong Art Projects Unlimited and was one of the lead curators of ‘Chabet: 50 Years’, a series of exhibitions in Singapore, Hong Kong and Manila from 2011 – 2012. In 2014, she co-founded artbooks.ph, an independent bookstore focusing on Philippine art and culture.

Marker 2016 was supported by The Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development