Tag: installation

• Outside the Museum, walking Taipei

  I love museums, obviously. But not all artworks are found inside museums and galleries. Some of the most interesting ones are found outside it. Such accidents could be really quite fun.

  This tube of paint installation is something that can be found near the Shida night market. We ran into this on the very first day. I felt like a child again, admiring this piece.

  Outside the National Taiwan Normal University is a line-up of painted tiles. Looking closely, it is of street vendors selling street food! Very suited as it is in the Shida district.

  This could make you hungry of a quick fried snack, similar to what we have at home.

  I particularly like this one as it appears like he is selling bread. I have come to discover that Taipei has the best breads and pastries. There are shops everywhere with the yummiest window displays! Something that I totally did not expect when traveling to this country.

  I even liked this window display. I want to tell the bear, “Yes, I feel lost Sir. Can you help me?” It reminds me of this kid’s show that I adored, Bear in the Big Blue House. If I get to own a house, I would also want it to have a blue door.

  Yes, your work talks. Art talks. Everywhere. It is just a matter of engaging in the conversation, isn’t it? 🙂

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  January 26, 2013

  art, installation, National Taiwan Normal University, Shida Night Market, Street Art, Taipei, Travel, Window Display

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• Art Conversations: Ideas and Aesthetics of Modernism

  Modern ideas are often applied within the aesthetic imagination of the Filipinos. F. Sionil Jose’s obsession with the significant form and the greatness of the art of the masters echoes Clive Bell in his The Aesthetic Hypothesis, “It is the mark of great art that its appeal is universal and eternal. Significant form stands charged with the power to provoke aesthetic emotion in anyone capable of feeling it… Great art remains stable and unobscure because the feelings that it awakens are independent of time and space, because its kingdom is not of this world… The form of art are inexhaustible; but all lead by the same road of aesthetic emotion to the same world of aesthetic ecstasy” (Bell online). Poleteismo, being something which is not covered with such “great art” becomes a subject of controversy and even ridicule of those that remained left in the time and politics of the “great masters”.

  The controversy also shows the pre-conception of a bourgeois, educated perspective in the appreciation and critique of art. Isagani Cruz writes in his column, ““Kulo” was clearly too sophisticated for the general Filipino audience. That is proven by the controversy itself. Even the rich and famous who should know better because they have had the chance to visit the largest museums in the world reacted as though they had never travelled. Because they were miseducated, a number of Catholics understandably could not even distinguish between Church and State, art and religion, protest and violence” (online). This echoes the closed and elitist art world that is reflected in Jurgen Habermas, in his Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, “The bourgeois avant-garde of the educated middle class learned the art of critical-rational public debate through its contact with the “elegant world”. The courtly-noble society, to the extent that modern state apparatus became independent from the monarch’s personal sphere, naturally separated itself, in turn, more and more from the court and became its counterpoise in the town. The “town” was the life center of civil society not only economically; in cultural political contrast to the court, it designated especially an early public sphere in the world of letters whose institutions were the coffee houses, the salons, and the Tischgeselleschaften (table societies)” (1747).  It appears that popular critics still believe that there are still the salons and table societies that may house more progressive art forms rather than exposing the general public to such artworks. This elitism and close-mindedness in art discourse fails to enrich the Philippine art discourse and does not address the issue of aesthetics valuation of the Filipinos.

  Instead of daring to delve into the aesthetics of conceptual art, art writing in the Philippines are stuck in the ideal, reverting once again to beauty. GWF Hegel’s Philosophy of Fine Arts would become more resonant rather that any exploration or consideration for conceptual art. He says, “Only in the highest art are Idea and presentation truly in conformity with one another, in the sense that the shape given to the Idea is in itself the absolutely true shape, because the content of the Idea which that shape expresses is itself the true and genuine content. Associated with this, as has already been indicated, is the fact that the Idea must be determined in and through itself as a concrete totality, and therefore possess in itself the principle and measure of its particularization and determinacy in external appearance” (Hegel 101). They look into the beauty and truth of an idea of the artwork, rather than its corporeality in everyday life and Philippine society, “For the Idea as such is indeed the absolute truth itself, but the truth only in it’s not yet objectified universality, while the Idea as the beauty of art is the Idea with the nearer qualification of being both essentially individual reality and also an individual configuration of reality destined essentially to embody and reveal the Idea. Accordingly it is here expressed the demand that the Idea and its configuration as a concrete reality shall be made completely adequate to one another. Taken thus, the Idea as reality, shaped in accordance with the Concept of the Idea, is the Ideal” (100). Such an ideal pervades the imagination of art discourse and art practice that unfortunately traps other forms of discourse and practice. There is limited growth in simply searching for the ideal and never even challenging the concept of this ideal that is assigned, even forced into, upon the Filipinos.

  The intolerance of varying opinions on art is reminiscent of Immanuel Kant’s The Critique of Judgement wherein the judgement on “taste” is given importance and such concepts were invoked by various critiques published during the controversy. Such elitism of taste is widely invoked by writers and columnists, particularly, again, by F. Sionil Jose as he writes, “Now, let me contribute my two pesos worth in this melee. Bear in mind, I am an octogenarian. I have seen almost every major art museum in the world. I operated one of the earliest art galleries in Manila, Solidaridad, from 1967 to 1977, with the intention of giving our art a Filipino and an Asian face. I am also a novelist, and, as we all know, literature is the noblest of the arts. I am enumerating these not just to establish my bonafides but to show that I know whereof I speak. The exhibit should not have been shown at the CCP. If submitted to my old gallery, I would have rejected it. It is not — I repeat — it is not art! It is an immature and juvenile attempt at caricature. I have not seen the exhibit itself but I have seen pictures of it and they are enough to convince me of the validity of my conclusion” (online). Though there are differences in opinion, published works seeks the agreement of everyone and see the conditioning of “taste”. Kant states that, “The subjective necessity attributed to a judgement of taste is conditioned. The judgement of taste extracts agreement from every one; and a person who describes something as beautiful insists that every one ought to give the object in question his approval and follow suit in describing it as beautiful. The ought in aesthetic judgements, therefore, despite an accordance with all the requisite data for passing judgement, is still only pronounced conditionally. We are suitors for agreement from every one else, because we are fortified with a ground common to all. Further, we would be able to count on this agreement, provided we were always assured of the correct subsumption of the case under that ground as the rule of approval” (Kant 94). Kant also argues that “The necessity of the universal assent that is thought in a judgement of taste, is a subjective necessity which, under the presupposition of a common sense, is represented as objective. In all judgements by which we describe anything as beautiful we tolerate no one else being of a different opinion, and in taking up this position we do not rest out judgement upon concepts, but only on our feeling. Accordingly we introduce this fundamental feeling not as a private feeling, but as a public sense. Now, for this purpose, experience cannot be made the ground of this common sense, for the latter is invoked to justify judgements containing an ‘ought’. The assertion is not that every one will fall in with our judgement, but rather that every one ought to agree with it” (95). This insistence upon the belief of one that should be subscribed to by others is the discourse that is espoused by F. Sionil Jose and those who dealt with the issue. Such matters of taste and those with supposed superior or higher standards of taste is advocated through the popular media as opposed to those who have a limited access upon it.

  Part IV of Art Conversations. See Part I, Part II, and Part III.

  

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  • PAL.Chapter 21. The Moral Dimensions of Aesthetic Experience. pp.554-577 (biffnet.org)
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  March 7, 2012

  art, Art Conversations, installation, Kulo, Mideo Cruz, Modernism, Philippine Art, Poleteismo

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• Mark Salvatus’ Secret Garden 2 Critique

  Silip sa Selda Kinse

  by: Maria Portia Olenka C. Placino

  Sa isang tunay na selda—madilim, masikip, mabaho. Hindi makakilos. Walang buhay. Hindi makahinga. Nakakulong. Halos mahawakan ang katabi, naamoy ang mga pawisang katawan. Hindi makatakas sa isang kahon na walang buhay. Ganito ang selda, and kulungan. Walang pag-asa. Walang patutunguhan.

  Halaman. Liwanag. Pag-asa. Ito ang selda kinse. Ito ang selda ng pantasya ni Mark Salvatus. Isang sulyap sa hindi mabuksang pintuan. Liwanag. Puno ng liwanag. Puno ng halaman. Hindi mahawakan. Hindi maabot. Hanggang sulyap na lamang. Hindi mahawakang liwanag. Hindi matamong pag-asa.

  Ngunit sa pagtitig—plastik. Plastik lamang ang lahat. Hindi nasisilayan ng araw. Hindi tunay na liwanag. Ang ganda ay sira-sira lamang na plastik. Basag na pag-asa ng bukas. Ito nga ba ang tunay na pag-asa? Ang kawalan?

  Nakakalito, nakakagulo at nakakapag-isip ang representasyon ni Mark Salvatus ng mga halaman sa paggamit ng plastik. Maganda at maliwanag sa malayo, ngunit sa pag-titig makikita ang sira-sirang plastik at artipisyal na liwanag. Tila isa itong kritisismo sa tunay na nangyayari sa loob ng selda, sa pag-silip, paniniwalain ka na maayos ito, maliwanag, tungo sa rehabilitasyon. Ngunit sa malapitang pagtingin, masikip parin ito, walang tunay na liwanag at nagbibigay ng hindi totoong pag-asa. Tila isang pagpapalaganap ng hindi tunay na kagandahan.

  Nakatitig ang tigre. Nakalabas ang pangil. Sino ang tigre? Sino ang totoong naghahari? Sino ang totoong nakabantay? Sino ang makapangyarihan—preso, bantay, warden? Isang pangarap, kaya ba itong bantayan ng tigre? Pumuprotekta o nananakot? Kapangyarihan. Makapangyarihan siya. Ngunit para saan ang kanyang kapangyarihan?

  Simbolo ng isang makapangyarihang grupo sa loob ng kulungan ang tigre—ang Commando Gang. Tila nagsusumigaw ito. Sa loob ng selda, sila ang tunay na makapangyarihan, sila ang nagpapatupad ng batas, sila ang naghahari sa lahat. Muli, sa pagtitig mauunawaan ang nais iparating, ang isang grupong naghahari sa tunay na selda. Nakakatakot na grupo ngunit sa kabilang banda, nagbibigay sila ng proteksyon sa kapwa nila preso. Higit sa pagpapatupad ng batas, sila ang tunay na batas sa loob ng selda. Sila ang dominanteng naghahari, katulad sa installation ni Mark Salvatus, sila ang nakahihigit sa lahat.

  “Do or Die” Gawain? Kamatayan? Nasaan ang buhay? Ang nasulyapang pag-asa? Akala ko ay ito na. Ngunit hindi. Kamatayan. Narito ba ang kamatayan? Ano ang dapat gawin? Ano ang makapagliligtas? Ang Grupo ba? Ang makapangyarihang grupo. Nasa kanila ba ang kaligtasan? Ngunit ang malinaw—nasa kanila ang kapangyarihan.

  Sa loob ng selda, kailangan mong gawin ang dapat mong gawin upang mabuhay. Kailangan mo itong gawin o mamamatay ka. Malinaw ang mensaheng isinisigaw ni Mark Salvatus. Sa isang silip lamang sa selda, alam mo na ang nararapat. Umayon ka sa galaw ng buhay, gawin ang dapat gawin at mabuhay ng naayon sa batas ng selda. Kung hindi gagawin ito, tunay mo itong ikamamatay. Ganun lamang ang buhay sa loob ng selda. Naipapakita, isinisigaw ito ng installation, malinaw ang mensahe. Gawin mo ang kinakailangan kung gusto mong mabuhay.

  Bumalik sa selda. Sa tunay na selda. Sa seldang masikip, mabaho, madilim. Paano nagkaroon ng pag-asa? Ng buhay? Mula ba ito sa mga may kapangyarihan? Hindi—nagmula ito isang pangkaraniwang preso. Binasa ang lupa. Nagbungkal. Natanim. Naghalaman. Unti-unting nabuhay. Lumipas ang oras na hindi nauubos. Mahabang panahon. Pakonti-konting nabuo ang pag-asa.

  Kumalat sa isang pahayagan. Sumikat. Mga takas na bilanggo—ito ang imahe ng Quezon Provincial Jail. Biglang nagkaroon ng pantasya, ng kakaiba. Nakahinga sila. Nagkaroon ng buhay, ng halaman. Mga halaman ng selda kinse. Susi sa buhay sa loob ng sleda. Nagbibigay buhay at bumubuhay ng preso. Nagkaroon ng pagkain—karagdagang nutrisyon sa katawan, sa isipan, sa kaluluwa. Nabuhay ang pag-asa. At pangarap.

  Isinalaysay ni Mark Salvatus ang istoryang ito. Nagsimula sa isang tao na nagbungkal ng lupa sa Selda Kinse ang isang istorya ng sining. Sa loob ng mahabang panahon, binungkal nila at lupa at naghalaman. Lumago ito at lumago ang proyekto hanggang sa kumalat sa mga pahayagan. Naunawaan ito ni Mark at naisipang ibahagi ang istorya sa mundo ng sining. Mula sa masamang imahe ng Quezon Provincial Jail, nabuhay ang isang istorya ng pag-asa, nagkaroon ng istorya ang sining. Tunay na makapangyarihan ang sining, magagamit ito sa pagpapalawak ng proyekto hindi lamang para sa nasadlak sa Selda Kinse ngunit para sa lahat ng nakukulong sa selda ng Pilipinas. Lahat sila, may kanya-kanyang istorya. Isang proyektong pang-komunidad ang sinimulan ni Mark para sa kanila. Madami pang istorya ang nais na maisalaysay. Nag-iintay sa mga alagad ng sining. Muli nabuhay ang tinig ng komunidad sa sining. Simula pa lamang ito, humihiling na palawakin, humihiling ng boses para sa tunay na pag-asa.

  Narinig, nahinuha ni Mark. Mula sa pangarap sa selda—bumuo ng sariling pangarap. Secret Garden 2. Nakakapagpagaling din kaya? Makakalakad ang lumpo? Mabubuhayan ng pag-asa? Magbubukal ng kasiyahan? Tila ba siya si Mary—nakadiskubre ng hardin? O si Frances—bumuo ng pangarap ng hardin?

  Lumaki si Mark Salvatus sa panahon ng munting cartoons sa telebisyon— Cedie and Munting Prinsipe, Princess Sara at ang Secret Garden. Wala mang direktang patungkol sa nobelang Secret Garden ni Frances Hodgson Burnett, nagpapakita ito ng nagkakatulad na istorya—isang munting mundo na napapaloob sa mundo, isang munting istorya na napapaloob sa isang istorya. Ang hardin na nabuo sa mundo ni Mary Lennox ay nakapagpagaling ng lumpo at nakapagdala ng kasiyahan, ang hardin na nabuo ni Mark Salvatus ay nakapagbuhay ng pag-asa at nakapagparating ng mensahe ng mga nakakulong nating kababayan. Humihiling sila ng ating atensyon. Tingnan natin sila, sulyapan, titigan. Hanapin natin ang ating magagawa. Pakinggan natin ang kanilang munting kwento.

  Ang tunay na selda—nababalot ng dilim, binabantayan. Hindi basta napapasok. Natatanaw lamang. Napapaligiran ng rehas, barbed wire, alarm. Maingay. Mabaho. Siksikan. Hindi makahinga. Paano makakalaya? Walang takas, walang kawala.

  Ang kalayaan ay wala sa loob, ito ay nasa labas. Nahahawakan natin ang kanilang kalayaan. Hindi man sila makalabas mula sa seldang kanilang kinasasadlakan, tayo ang makapagbabahagi ng kanilang kwento. Katulad na lamang ng ginawa ni Mark Salvatus, naghahayag siya hindi lamang ng isang kwento kundi pati narin kritisismo. Sinasagot niya ang kalagayan sa loob ng selda. May katungkulan tayong gawin ang nararapat, gawin ang ating bahagi ukol sa pagbabago. Epektibong midyum ang sining upang mapalawak ang pang-unawa at maibahagi ang sariling istorya. Sinimulan ito ng isang alagad ng sining, at sumisigaw ito sa iba pang alagad ng sining upang kumilos para sa pag-babago, para sa tunay na kalayaan—hindi man ng katawan, kundi ng kamalayan.

  Secret Garden 2—hardin ng pangarap, napupuno ng liwanag, binabantayan. Hindi basta napapasok. Natatanaw lamang. Napapaligiran nina Juan Luna at Felix Ressurection Hidalgo. Tahimik. Mabango. Maluwag—napakaluwag na kapaligiran. Natatanaw ang kalayaan. Napapaligiran ng kalikasan.

  Sa ganitong kapaligiran kinatha ni Mark Salvatus ang sarili niyang Secret Garden. Tila hindi nararapat, tila hindi bagay sa ganitong kalagayan. Ang isang masikip na mundo ay pinaligiran ng milyon-milyong halaga ng sining. Ngunit tila ito ay nakikipag-usap sa kanila. Sa ilalim ng grandiyosang likha ng mga Ilustrado—ang tunay na kalagayan ng mga Indiyo—ang mga inapi, inalipusta at tinanggalan ng kalayaan. Pare-parehong nakakulong, noon at ngayon. Parehon natahimik ang mga personal na istorya ng pagkakakulong. Sining biswal, magkaiba, ngunit magkatulad—sa ilalim ng kanilang ganda ay ang tunay na kwento ng mga Pilipino, lumuluha, nakakulong, masikip, at mahirap na kalagayan sa buhay.

  Isang pangarap. Magandang pangarap. Ngunit may katuturan ba? May kalayaan ba? Totoo ba ang pag-asa? O katulad lamang ng plastik—maganda, maliwanag at maaliwalas, ngunit plastik parin. Patay ang kagandahan. Walang patutunguhan. Nakakulong sa pekeng liwanag.

  Katulad ng rebolusyong nasimulan ng sining ng Ilustrado, ganun din ang rebolusyon na dapat simulan ng kontemporaryong alagad ng sining. Hindi sapat ang pang-ibabaw na ganda. Sa ilalim ng liwanag ay ang dilim ng kwento ng mga Pilipinong walang kalayaan. Daan-taon na ang lumipas, ngunit hindi parin tapos ang kwento. Patuloy parin ang pakikipaglaban para sa pagbabago. Patuloy pa rin ang pangangailangan sa isang rebolusyon. Hindi natatapos ang pakikipaglaban para sa kalayaan.

  Mula sa kadiliman at obskuridad. Napunta sa liwanag at kasikatan. Mula sa tapunan ng mga hindi napangalanang nilalang, nalagay sa prestihiyosong akademya ng Ateneo at UP. Nabubuhay nga ba ang pangarap? Sumisindi nga ba sa alab ng buhay? O lalong nawawala, nababalewala? Gumaganda lang ba ang kahirapan sa prestihiyosong pagtingin?

  Sa akademikong lugar maluwag na natatanggap ang diskurso ng pagkakakulong at ng kalayaan. Ngunit hindi nararapat na dito na lamang matapos ang lahat. Magandang instrumento ng pagsisimula ang sining sa akademya, ngunit dapat itong mapalawig upang makarating sa isip at damdamin ng mga Pilipino. Ang pagpapalaya sa kamalayan at kwento ng bawat Pilipino, sa loob at labas man ng selda ay nagsusumigaw sa midyum ng sining, at nagkukumawalang makarating sa kapwa niya Pilipino. Sinimulan man ni Mark Salvatus ang kwento ng sarili niyang Secret Garden, hindi ito dapat matapos sa kanya. Nararapat makarating ang kwentong ito sa kamalayan ng mga Pilipino. Ang mga kababayan natin sa loob ng selda, hindi man makalaya ang katawan, makakalaya naman ang kamalayan.

  Dilim at liwanag. Kasikipan at kaluwagan. Halos pareho lamang. Selda kinseng nagbibigay ng buhay ngunit nananatiling nakakulong, nakapiit, masikip. Secret Garden 2 maganda, maaliwalas, maliwanag ngunit walang buhay—plastik. Magkaiba ngunit magkapareho. Nakakulong at walang kalayaan. Nakapiit. Sinisilip. Sinusulyapan. Ngunit naaintindihan nga ba? Nagbabago ba? Nasaan ang katuturan? Sana, mabigyan ng katuturan, makita ang tunay na pag-asa, tunay na liwanag.

  Walang iisang istorya ang nahayag. Kwento ito ng madami, ng grupo, ng kolektibo, ngunit hindi iisa ang kwento. Pare-pareho at nagkakaiba. Hindi pa man nagbabago sa ngayon, ang ekspresyon ng mga isyu ng lipunan gamit ang sining ay makapagsisimula ng pagbabago. Nabuksan ang pinto ng Secret Garden, nasulyapan, natitigan. Maaari itong magsimula ng pagbabago, ang pagpapalaya ng kamalayan. Ngunit simula lamang ang magagawa ni Mark Salvatus, ang pagbuo ng kwento ay depende parin sa mamamayang Pilipino. Naihayag na ang istorya, ang isyu, ang kontradiksyon—ano ang kasunod? Aksyon ang nararapat na kasunod. Ano ang gagawin natin sa kwentong naihayag ng Secret Garden? Kailangang kumilos upang makamit ang tunay na liwanag.

  Pantasya at katotohanan. Nagsama, nagliwanag. Nakikita, ngunit nasusulyapan lamang. Pagbabago, humihiling ng higit na pagbabago. Nagpapakita ng dilim ng katotohanan at liwanag ng pangarap. Liwanag. Isang sulyap sa selda kinse at sa pangarap—pangarap nila, pangarap ni Mark, pangarap natin.

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  May 7, 2011

  Art Criticism, contemporary art, Frances Hodgson Burnett, installation, mark salvatus, Philippine Art, secret garden, The Secret Garden

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