The return of onsite art events and exhibitions across the Philippine islands finally happened in 2023, with a renewed focus on specific localities beyond Metro Manila. The country had suffered through the longest community quarantine in the world during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and art institutions were among the last the government allowed to reopen. While partial re-openings had occurred in early 2022, with Art Fair Philippines leading a hybrid event alongside many institutions trying to seek balance, most smaller-scale and independent art institutions only found the confidence to launch their events and projects in 2023, once they could fully expect onsite participants from across the regions.

The Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference (VIVA ExCon), initiated in 1990 by Black Artists in Asia (BAA) and presently organized in collaboration with Green Papaya Art Projects, went back onsite, this year in San Jose de Buenavista and nearby Sibalom town in Antique province on Panay Island—more than an hour from Manila by plane. Artists and collaborators have maintained the biennial VIVA ExCon through the decades to highlight the narratives and concepts of Philippine art through the lenses and experiences in the Visayas islands, as a counterpoint to the national dominance of the Manila art scene. VIVA ExCon's 30th anniversary, held in Bacolod, Negros Occidental, back in 2020, was heavily impacted by the government lockdowns, and ended up traversing various hybrid in-person and online events until 2021. The 2023 iteration, running from November 8 to 10, was themed “Suba sa Iraya” (meaning “crosscurrent” or “counterflow”) and explored the dialogues of Visayan art as it moves through the broader framework of Philippine and global contemporary art with more than 45 participants as well as guest speakers and performances.