Junyee, Nune Alvarado to lead more than 300 artists at TOPS in Cebu
The theme takes a direct look at how artists reckon with the structures, traditions, conventions, and assumptions that shape both the creative world and broader society.
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The theme takes a direct look at how artists reckon with the structures, traditions, conventions, and assumptions that shape both the creative world and broader society.
GALLERY exhibit.
INTRICATE sculpture by renowned artist James Doran-Webb.
COMMUNITY market.
COMMUNITY market.
Art workshop by Mar Vidal.
What do artists preserve, what do they challenge, and what becomes possible when accepted boundaries are reimagined?
These questions sit right at the core of Tops ArtFest 2026. The four-day celebration of contemporary art returns to TOPS in Cebu from 22 to 25 October for its third edition, gathering over 300 artists around a single, sharp concept: “Building and Breaking Norms.”
Building and breaking
The theme takes a direct look at how artists reckon with the structures, traditions, conventions and assumptions that shape both the creative world and broader society. It prompts us to consider what creators inherit, what they choose to preserve or challenge, and what unlocks the moment established boundaries get reconsidered.
For this festival, the act of making art is as much about construction as it is about disruption. Artists build on histories, cultures, materials, memories, and established forms. At the same time, they question conventions, rattle expectations, and craft entirely new languages to help us make sense of the world.
That precise balance between what gets inherited and what gets transformed shows up in the choice of headline artists, Junyee and Nune Alvarado. Their respective practices offer a grounding focal point for a festival that brings together creators across all disciplines and philosophies.
They are joined by Ronald Ventura, Romulo Galicano, Demi Padua, Charlie Co, Randalf Dila, and Dino Gabito, among others. Together, this lineup forms the backbone of a four-day schedule that pushes far past standard showcase exhibitions.
Art beyond the gallery
Across its four days, TOPS plays host to exhibitions, installations, talks, workshops, performances, and distinct artistic encounters. The entire program is dialed in to give audiences a real look at both established and rising practices, letting people engage with completely different takes on how art is made, felt, interpreted, and remembered.
This open-ended ethos sits right at the heart of how festival director Lorenzo Miguel Dino views the gathering.
“Rather than presenting art as a fixed experience, Tops ArtFest 2026 invites audiences to enter into a conversation between tradition and experimentation, the familiar and the unfamiliar, and the structures we build and the structures we choose to dismantle,” Dino said. The setting itself becomes part of that experience.
“At TOPS, art will not be confined to a single gallery or a single discipline. Instead, it will inhabit spaces, landscapes, conversations and encounters,” Dino added.
The festival sees art as a mirror of the world and a blueprint for what that world could become. That vision has evolved alongside the event itself, from its 2024 launch to this year’s focus on what artists inherit, preserve and push against.
From legacy to new possibilities
Tops ArtFest first kicked off in 2024, debuting with over 200 artists and 24 exhibitors gathered at TOPS for a dense schedule of exhibitions, installations, workshops, art talks, live demonstrations, competitions and auctions.
By the following year, the festival turned its gaze backward under the theme “Legacy.” That 2025 gathering brought together roughly 200 artists and more than 1,000 artworks sourced from around 30 galleries, all while honoring Cebu’s deep creative heritage through tributes to Martino Abellana, Julian Jumalon and Jose Joya.
That progression tells a compelling story. First came establishing the festival as a true meeting ground for creators and art lovers. Next came paying homage to the artistic lineages that paved the way. Now, the 2026 edition directly asks what today’s artists actually plan to do with that inheritance.
“Building and Breaking Norms” pulls tradition and experimentation into the very same room. It operates on the belief that fresh artistic expression does not require abandoning the past — it can just as easily spring from questioning, refashioning, or breaking away from established norms.
With more than 300 artists stepping up, Tops ArtFest 2026 expands that ongoing conversation through a multidisciplinary program designed to carve out room for creative expression, cultural dialogue, and the ever-evolving work of Filipino artists.
At the center of it all lies a question that resonates long after the venue doors close: What happens when artists decide which of the rules they inherited are worth keeping — and which ones are ready to be broken?
Tops ArtFest 2026: Building and Breaking Norms runs from 22 to 25 October at TOPS, Cebu City, Cebu.
