the days have been long, though filled with too many things happening, and certainly even more happening in the shadows, beyond public scrutiny: this is the Philippines after all.
so first a list, because there is also quite a lot of work to do, but also there is so much to talk about, and i feel like the three people who read this blog (haha!) might be wondering where i am, why so silent. well here i am.
(1) we finally premiered Gloc-9’s Biyahe ng Pangarap, a documentary conceptualized by Aries, and which I co-wrote with him. interwoven with the narrative of Aries’s struggles as artist is his first recorded-as-live concert, which we did in early September — and that would be the first time i worked as production and stage manager for a concert. watching my brother do it oh so professionally in his teenage years pays off, as it turns out. *takes a bow* it was also quite fantastic to see Shakira Villa-Symes in action. i want to be her when i grow up.
You can buy the DVD everywhere and download the live concert recording here.
(2) BLTX is happening on the weekend of December 6 and 7 2014, 2:00PM to sawa. still the only independent book fair on this side of the world, we’re looking for people and groups who might want to sell their zines and wares. it’s happening at Uno Morato, on the corner of Tomas Morato and E. Rodriguez, beside Shell and in front of Petron. email belatx@gmail.com if you’d like to join! also check out the BLTX VI FB event page!
(3) i’ve been teaching art appreciation and reporting on arts and culture classes to journalism majors of the Manila Times College and I must say it’s been quite a fun run. It gives me every excuse to go to a museum or gallery, discuss cultural issues at any given time, and just … enjoy. I can’t be sure my students enjoy it as much — there’s a lot of writing that needs to be done, haha, but the teacher sure as hell has enjoyed it. nothing like teaching without the trap(pings) of the academe.
which is to say that it’s also required me to stay more up-to-date than usual. there’s an ongoing Metropolitan Museum group exhibit on Imaging Philippine Flora (thank you for letting my students go to the press preview and walk-through!), and an upcoming walk-through for J. Pacena’s The Whispers from The Mountain and The Sea (POSTCARD PROJECT) at the Vargas Museum on December 2.
(4) but what excites me — and that is rare — is this exhibit which opens at Art Informal on December 4.
off the website: “Oplan Noplan is, of course, sardonic code for the pervasive unraveling of structures in both social weave and philosophic logic, which, alongside the resurgence of fatal viruses like Ebola, reminds us that many societal negotiations are subject to re-assessment, if not downright decay, in less time than it takes an electronic gadget to enter its intrinsic default of planned obsolescence.” — ano raw? hahaha!
but seriously — and regardless of what sounds like a difficult exhibit to understand because of that note — if there’s anything that i believe about the local art scene it’s that those who continue to be creative despite, and who practice what they preach, and are honest about work and labor and creativity, those are the people whose works are worth appreciating. that’s Sir Boogie and Antipas, removed from the trappings as they remain.
(5) speaking of which, Buen Calubayan’s got his Employee 55 up at the Lopez Museum as part of the exhibit Articles of Disagreements. the latter is an interesting enough statement about art criticism and its making relative to artmaking and creativity. but it is Buen’s exhibit that will floor you for its sheer breadth and scope, the interweaving of imagination and labor, creativity and hard work where the labor is not so much about the making of art, as it is the labor that is art in the making. i’m pretty sure i’m not doing justice to it at this point, but here are photos. it is the one exhibit i feel that everyone should go to for 2014, so go!
(6) i’m starting a column for my arts and culture reviews over at The Manila Times! it’s coming out every Sunday, above the crossword puzzle (yes, specific weekly placement! haha!). and lest it be confused with the radikalchick column over in the op-ed section, we’re calling the one over in the lifestyle section: RadikalChika. *sabay ilag*