Visual Impact

Video art in the Philippines was the topic for Preview magazine's November 2007 Art Scene. There were some space limitations but my article in full appears below.

Visual Impact

In the past year, it seems that increasingly finding its place in the Philippine contemporary art scene is the medium of video art. In a medium fraught with difficulties, Jumpcut, End Frame Video Art Project and Mag:net’s Cinekatipunan have presented artists and experimental filmmakers with vital opportunities to exhibit their video artworks while the medium continues to appear in exhibitions staged at open-minded galleries, unbothered by its noncommercial nature.

The increasing presence of video art is still, however, no easy exertion and continually presents a challenge. “Of all the artistic mediums in the country right now, video art is the least prevalent,” says artist Jun Sabayton, curator of the Jumpcut 2 exhibition held at Green Papaya Art Projects last year which was also shown at the 24hr Art Space in Darwin, Australia last September. Video art is clouded with problems such as finding equipment (video cameras, editing gear, projectors, dvd players and multiple televisions – the plasma kind if one is lucky), encountering technical difficulties (even as simple as finding a way to loop the dvd player so one doesn’t constantly have to press “play”), designing the presentation (all the wires can make it quite messy) and discovering willing venues to show a medium that’s definitely not quite as collectible as paintings or draws a crowd the way a film does. All of this is done in the strong possibility that there will be no financial returns despite the investment – that is, if the artist found funding or self-funded it.

Artists Ian Madrigal and Mitch Garcia admit that while they make use of the equipment in their freelance graphic studio to make their video artworks, they are also faced with the problem of upgrading their equipment. “One thing is upgrading equipment is quite expensive so we have to maintain our day jobs and double our efforts in earning/working to afford making video artworks.” Yet, they’ve persisted in its production, believing in the medium. “The thing about video art (according to our point of view) is that you cannot cheat on it. The concept and technical aspect goes together and the artist must know at least basic video editing.”

Weekly showings of video art/experimental film at Cinekatipunan have given artists and filmmakers a regular and valuable venue to show their works, shortly to be joined by monthly video art exhibits at Listening in Style arranged by the non-profit organization Visual Pond. Dialogue/exchange with video art/new media communities abroad aids to foster the idea that the Philippine art scene is current with the art scene globally.

Video art, founded by Korean-born artist Nam June Paik beginning with his exhibition Exposition of Music – Electronic Television in Germany in 1963, takes its roots in the Philippines through experimental film and conceptual art. As written by video artist Tad Ermitaño in his essay Worlds Apart: The Two Faces of Video Art in the Philippines, video art’s tradition of experimental film “radiate[s] from the Mowelfund Film Institute (MFI), and the tradition of conceptual art… radiate[s] from the teachings of the conceptualist Roberto Chabet.” Ermitaño, who studied at Mowelfund, even had his video artwork selected and shown at the Ogaki Biennale in Japan last year. Of the conceptual camp, probably the most well known is Poklong Anading, who frequently uses video in his works and mounted a 4-channel video installation at the Ateneo Art Gallery for a week last April using four projectors.

Despite the continuous challenge, there is no place for video art to go but forward in the Philippines. The use of the medium is underscored by its increasing relevance in an age when moving images are ubiquitous - from the giant television in the highway to the plasma televisions playing ads in McDonald’s to the cellphones already in people’s pockets. Like a train gaining speed, the engine of this contemporary art form is accelerating to take Philippine art to new destinations - unplotted but all the more exciting.

Creative IT List 2007

I can't find my September 2007 issue of Preview :( Shucks, ok, we'll skip that first and go to October! I was particularly excited for the Creative IT List 2007, a lot of my recommendations made it on the list :D And I did write a lot as well - 5 write-ups on 6 artists! The 6 artists are Poklong Anading, Mideo Cruz, Yasmin Sison, Winner Jumalon and Angelo Suarez and Costantino Zicarelli, which I did a joint piece on.

Apologies!

Eep, I know I haven't posted anything in two months and I apologize for the delay! I had a wonderful trip to Australia and my cousin had a beautiful wedding there. I arrived back in Manila in November after a nearly 3-week trip there and the Philippine holiday madness was in full force! The Philippines is Christmas-crazy which makes for very fun holidays but very bad traffic... There were times when I'd spend four hours a day stuck in traffic o_O It's so difficult to get anything done during the holidays! It was still really fun though especially since my best friend who lives in the States came home! We were high school classmates and she left for the States after we graduated, eventually to become a Hollywood producer's assistant ;) She's a smartie, that one!

Anyway, I'm finally going to begin my studies for Master of Art Curatorship at the University of Melbourne this year! Classes start on 3 March and I'm scheduled to fly to Australia in mid-February. I've been really busy packing (or at least trying to pack) and I have some projects I'll be completing or working on till I leave.

These projects, which fall under Visual Pond activities, are
- curating masarapmatulog (that means "it's nice to sleep" in English. masarap = delicious; tulog = sleep). It's the solo video art exhibition of Andrei Salud opening on 24 January at the Cubicle Art Gallery (Stella Maris cor. C. Raymundo, Maybunga, Pasig). Show runs till 30 January.
- organizing a video art show curated by Jet Pascua, a Filipino artist based in Norway.
The show is called Garish Barish and is a collection of video artworks of different foreign artists based in Norway. You may view more at http://www.small-projects.org/frames/garish.htm. This show has a simultaneous run and venue with masarapmatulog. It will likely take the 1st floor of the gallery while masarap will take the 2nd floor.
- National Commission of Culture and the Arts Cinema Committee's offering for National Arts Month (which is February). Visual Pond was their first choice to act as a conduit for the project. We're basically the bankers and taking care of the money! It's a bit scary regarding the financial responsibility but it's about time that the organization makes a little money :)

Other projects include writing! I'll be continuing my writing from Australia as much as possible :) I actually think I'll be able to concentrate writing more from there!

Oh and very good news! I got a scholarship for my masters studies! I'm one of the international students granted the Endeavour Postgraduate Award and it covers nearly all of the expenses! I'm very grateful to the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training for the scholarship. The expenses to study abroad are really staggering and the scholarship is a lifesaver!

Oh, here's a link to the Endeavour program for Asian applicants if anyone's interested :)

http://www.endeavour.dest.gov.au/awards_by_country/for_internationals/for_asian_applicants/endeavour_postgraduate_awards.htm

Well, that's it for now! I'm a bit tired and I have an interview to do tomorrow plus an exhibit opening then a meeting. I hope to post some articles soon! Bear with me please :)

And a very happy new year to you all!!! :D

Child's Play

Yay! Christian Tamondong in Preview August 2007! Gosh, he has really developed over the years. The pictures, by the way, don't do his works justice. You really have to see it in person!

I'll probably type in more text next time, will run around like a headless chicken now to start writing/packing/whatever! Thought I'd post this already since I scanned it months ago.

Anybody want to recommend an art space in Sydney or Melbourne to visit? :)

Poet of Space

Here is the Leandro Locsin article at last! After I wrote this piece, I found out that my dad interviewed Locsin many years ago when he was delving into architecture for a change :) Recently, my friend and writing for the school paper. I should've used my dad's article as source! Oh well, it was still enjoyable Visual Pond org-mate/cofounder Tenten Mina came up with a fantabulous idea on a Philippine architecture project. A pop-up book!!!!!!! :D We're putting it in one of Visual Pond's to-do lists, hopefully it won't be a decade before we get to see that pop-up book dream come true!

END FRAME VIDEO ART PROJECT II: DAILY DISCLOSURES

The title of this post could also be "OR the reason I've been so busy and haven't updated this blog in a while!"

End Frame is the Philippine video art festival I started with my art management friends Rica Estrada and Tenten Mina last year with initial help by Cheska Tanada (who is currently working abroad till 2009). Together we make up Visual Pond, a non-profit organization committed to the visual arts :) We do work for our org in addition to our other work commitments (including full-time work) so it can get pretty crazy.

Anyway, last 12-16 October 2007, End Frame II took place at The Fifth, Shangri-La Plaza, EDSA cor. Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong, Metro Manila. (Shangri-La Plaza is a major shopping mall here in Metro Manila, easily accessibly by the MRT line) The festival was presented by Visual Pond, National Commission of Culture and the Arts, Listening in Style, Shangri-La Plaza, and Rodriguez de Alba Foundation for Creative Advocacy in partnership with The One Minutes, Pablo and Metro Home magazine with the support of the Ateneo Art Gallery :D

I should be writing more about it soon but for now please check out Visual Pond's multiply at http://visualpond.multiply.com to look at the pictures of opening night (good crowd!). Also uploaded in our multiply are PODCASTS - audio recordings of two talks that occurred during the festival. One is a talk on copyright issues of video art by Atty. Louie Calvario of Intellectual Property Office - Philippines and the other is an open forum on video art with resource speakers Teddy Co (Philippine video art historian and Member, Cinema Committee, National Commission of Culture and the Arts), Tad Ermitano (video artist who was part of both End Frame festivals) and Jun Sabayton (filmmaker, visual artist and independent curator who curated the all video art show Jumpcut 2 in Green Papaya in October 2006). The picture on the left shows Jun, Tad and Teddy during the talk.

The open forum, which revolved mainly on a question of the definition of video art, will particularly give foreign artists/writers/curators an insight to what is the state of the video art scene here. It is I think the first formal discussion on video art held in Manila.

You may also check out Tad Ermitano's blog at http://cavemanifesto.blogspot.com as he blogged about the forum. His work is the one you can seen on the left at the first photo above.

For those who really want to see more about the art scene here in Manila but are unable to come over, I suggest you create an account in multiply and start networking with many of us scenesters in the Manila visual arts scene. We often take pictures of the exhibitions we go to (praise the digital revolution!) and upload these on our multiply accounts. It's a great way to keep updated too since people often post announcements of their shows or friends' shows in their multiply's. And if some of us were unable to go to an exhibit, well, usually one who did get to go has uploaded pictures so we can check out the show at least through the documentation.

My multiply is http://lisachiki.multiply.com. I also upload non-art stuff there so don't be surprised :)

Now I'm leaving everyone with a pic of Visual Pond! :) Rica, Tenten and me in that order. Thanks to my mom who took the picture, haha! Good night and hope to post again soon :)

Between Intersections

This is a rather belated post because I only realized recently that I haven't posted the text I wrote for the brochure-catalogue of the exhibition, Between Intersections, which Poklong Anading (2006 Ateneo Art Awards Winner & Recipient, 2006 Ateneo Art Gallery Sydney Studio Residency Grant) held last April 2007 at the Ateneo Art Gallery. I particularly like this piece of writing of mine so thought I'd include it here :)
*The picture above shows two walls/projections of the exhibit but there were projections as well on the two other surrounding walls not seen in the picture.