Thursday, July 29, 3:00 – 6:00 pm

Marble Hall
Museum of the Filipino People
Valencia Circle, Rizal Park, Manila

Performance by SPIT
(Silly People’s Improv Theater)

Afternoon Tea

Sale of posies, herbs and small potted plants
Sale of books on Philippine art and culture

You can download the reply form from here. Please take the time to print and fill it up and fax to 404-2685 or 722-9073. You can also send e-mail to inquiry@museumfoundationph.org.

STEREO 2 by Juan Caguicla and Christina Dy
July 27, 2010, Tuesday
6-9pm

Silverlens Gallery celebrates MANILART 10 with STEREO 2 by Juan Caguicla and Christina Dy, July 27-31, 2010 at Silverlens

STEREO by Juan Caguicla and Christina Dy continues on July 27 at Silverlens Gallery. As a special extension of the Silverlens Show at MANILART 10 , the Philippines’ second international contemporary art fair to be held from July 30 to August 01 at the SMX Convention Center, Caguicla and Dy join Frankie Callaghan, Leslie de Chavez, Mariano Ching, Chati Coronel, Christina Dy, Wawi Navarozza, Gina Osterloh, Hanna Pettyjohn and Rachel Rillo.

Showcasing the second part of two series marrying Caguicla’s edgy photography and Dy’s large-scale charcoal drawings, Caguicla and Dy present only one image, albeit a very strong one. As in January’s STEREO 1, the two choose their body as their subjects to produce an altogether new and grotesque image. It is indeed “stereoscopic”, as described by mutual friend Raymond De Veyra, the source of the show’s name.

In this show, called STEREO 2, Caguicla and Dy go much further with what they bare and where they connect. And by also going much bigger in scale, STEREO 2 is meant to make an impact. There is a thrill in seeing it for the first time.

Complementing STEREO 2 is their collaboration for Brian Tenorio and Emi Jorge’s design exhibition, Tenorio/Jorge on Fifth Avenue, which ran from April 29 through May 22 in The Philippine Center in New York. “As a backdrop to Tenorio and Jorge’s designs are two of the most-photographed faces in the Philippines, Piolo Pascual and Angel Aquino – both excellent specimens of quintessential Filipino beauty.”* Caguicla photographed Pascual and Aquino while Dy drew on the decorative details. To highlight what is ‘Pinoy’, they thought to put together Pascual and Aquino’s iconic beauty and Catholic iconography.

As in STEREO 2, they lay out imagery that is familiar, full of detail and with perhaps a milieu of metaphors to be found. But the idea behind Caguicla and Dy’s work is not to prescribe, but rather to look with new eyes.

STEREO 2 is shown alongside Beautiful Inside My Head Forever with Martha Atienza, Bea Camacho, Sam Kiyoumarsi and Pow Martinez, curated by Norberto Roldan at SLab; and Sure Sure, Happy Happy, Picture Picture by Maria Jeona at 20SQUARE.

MANILART10 will be at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City from July 30 to August 01,2010. For more information and tickets, please visit www.manilart.com

Words: Bea Davila, Image: Juan Caguicla and Christina Dy, Piolo Pascual / Filipino (left), Angel Aquino / Filipina (right), 2010

* Words by Brian Tenorio (www.briantenorio.com)

Traditional images worked in new technology – why? What are its effects in various media? In Gaston Damag’s case, it was an opportunity to utilize his culture and turn institutions\’ ideas about it on their heads. For Keith Sicat, it enabled him to push cinematic tehcniques In their works, the artists try to articulate how their works link past and present. On July 17, Saturday, 2-4 pm, they will speak about their process and its effects in light of diaspora.

Gaston Damag is a Paris-based Filipino performance and installation artist and Keith Sicat is an independent filmmaker. Both artists’ works are featured in the exhibition After the Fact, ongoing until September 2010 at the Lopez Museum.

The Lopez Memorial Museum is at the ground floor, Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Pasig. Museum days and hours are Monday-Saturday, except holidays, from 8am-5pm. For more details call 6312417 or email pezseum@skyinet.net

Artist Talk: Bato Bato sa Langit by Alfredo Esquillo Jr.
June 26, 2010, Saturday
3-5pm

Alfredo Esquillo Jr.\’s Bato Bato sa Langit, is a game of throw-and-catch, where criticism constantly bounces back and forth. \’Who throws\’ and \’who gets hit\’ are questions that require some stepping back, humility in tow, to arrive at an answer. In this show, the game is framed by three large paintings and three jeepney-wheelchair installations, through which Esquillo looks at the Philippines’ sense of nationhood and the obstacles in its way forward.

On June 26, Saturday, 3-5pm, Esqui (as he is called) will have his artist talk on Bato Bato sa Langit. Setting the backdrop are his paintings that depict the first stone cast by America – leaving a wound extensive and deep -; and his jeepney-wheelchair installation pieces that painfully reveal that the biggest and powerful stone is one that Filipinos threw at themselves. Get to know Esqui\’s journey with Bato Bato sa Langit, and join him referee the game of throw-and-catch.

This event is free of charge. RSVP call 8160044 or email manage@silverlensphoto.com

Bato Bato sa Langit is on display until July 03,2010. It runs simultaneously with Being There 1946: The Legacy of Teodulo Protomartir in Silverlens Gallery; and Lover Lay Down by Christina Dy in 20SQUARE.

Bato Bato sa Langit is in partnership with Tin-Aw Art Management.

Words: Bea Davila, Image: Alfredo Esquillo Jr., B.I. Joe, 2010

Being There 1946: The Legacy of Teodulo Protomartir
June 9, Wednesday
6-9pm

Teodulo Protomartir was there in 1946 when the Americans gave the Philippines its independence. On July 4, he witnessed the birth of the Philippine Republic. For the first time, the Philippine ag ew alone and free. The Filipino crowd cheering by, planes flying overhead, oats lining the parade…a celebration it was. And Protomartir caught it all on still camera.

Protomartir, the photographer who first brought the 35mm format to the Philippines and actively promoted photography through his photo club and radio show, shows us a monumental event in Philippine history and the Manila that enveloped it. Considered as the Father of Philippine photography, Protomartir captured the city in ruins from the Second World War, its battle wounds and its restoration – scenes we thought only survived in memory. He captures post-war Manila’s architecture and landscape, with Filipinos going about their daily business in familiar places such as Intramuros, Luneta, Ermita and Quiapo as well as in buildings and bridges that are no longer, including the old Sto. Domingo Church, which is one of the six Churches that once stood in Spanish Intramuros. For almost four centuries there stood the home of Our Lady of La Naval before it was bombed in 1941.

Beyond historical evidence, the significance of Protomartir’s images is meaningful. Protomartir hands to the Filipino people cultural treasures that should remain part of Filipino consciousness and memory. Sixty-four years later, we celebrate Protomartir because through him we were there too.

Complementing this exhibit is a talk on July 1 by Carlos Celdran, celebrated tour guide and authority on Manila’s history. Entitled Placing The Transition, the talk bridges 1946 and 2010 with photos of the places Protomartir photographed as they are today. Uro dela Cruz will also be giving an introduction to Protomartir, the man behind it all.

The talk will be on July 1, Thursday, 6-8pm at Silverlens Gallery. This event is free of charge. RSVP call 8160044 or email manage@silverlensphoto.com

The Images of Being There 1946: The Legacy of Teodulo Protomartir were printed by Billy Mondoñedo. Being There 1946: The Legacy of Teodulo Protomartir runs simultaneously with Bato Bato Sa Langit by Alfredo Esquillo Jr. at SLab, and Lover Lay Down by Christina Dy at 20Square.

For inquiries, contact Silverlens Gallery at 2/F YMC Bldg. II, 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati, 816-0044, 0917-5874011, or manage@silverlensphoto.com. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 10am–7pm and Saturdays 1–6pm. www.silverlensphoto.com / slab.silverlensphoto.com.

Words: Bea Davila, Image: Teodulo Protomartir, 4 (top left), 12 (top right), 417-418 (bottom), 1946

Feeling nationalistic? Shop!

In this sweltering summer of politics when campaign jingles and promises fill the airwaves, cynical citizens can rekindle their love for country in MaARTe: A Contemporary Filipino Arts and Crafts Fair. Presented by the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Filipino Heritage Festival Inc., National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the Department of Tourism, the bazaar will run on May 20 and 21, Thursday & Friday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm at the Museum of the Filipino People (Old Finance Building).

Celebrating the creativity really makes this country great, weavers from the north and south showcase their fabrics and hand woven items, alongside contemporary jewelry designs by Michelline Syjuco. Colorful bags crocheted from recycled plastic and wires by the women of the Invisible Institute revive an old craft with a new twist.

To highlight the event, there will also be a concert dubbed Himig at Kultura: A Night at the Museum featuring Palawan’s Sinika, Sinosikat, Drip, and Up Dharma Down on May 21, Friday, 6:00 pm. The concert will also be held at the Museum of the Filipino Courtyard.

An entrance fee of Php50 to the bazaar entitles the holder to free admission to the Museum of the Filipino People during museum hours and to the concert on May 21. Proceeds will be donated to the National Museum as a fundraiser.

So spend some time at the National Museum – see Filipino art, buy local products and revel in the glories of our ancient and evolving heritage as we celebrate Filipino Heritage Month this May.

Join the Museum Foundation as it celebrates Heritage Month in Cebu from May 28 – 30, 2010. On the first evening of the tour, we join Cebu city in its Gabii Sa Kabilin, which literally translated is “Night of Heritage”.  It is Cebu’s celebration of the Filipino Heritage Month and International Museums Day when from 6 pm to 12 midnight, six museums will welcome visitors with tours, activities and cultural presentations.  Walk from one museum to the next or take the tartanilla (horse-drawn carriage) and spend the evening leisurely taking in Cebu’s old downtown.

Explore the museums, churches and old homes of Cebu with Architect Melva Java, Professor Florencio Moreno, Dr. Jocelyn Gerra and Mr. Bino Guerrero.  These specialists on Cebu history and culture will show us the architectural jewels of Cebu City and the environs to the South including the towns of Boljoon, Sibonga and Carcar.

Marvel in the contemporary furniture and accessories design that Cebu has become renowned for with a visit to the workshop of Kenneth Cobonpue and those of fashion accessory designers.

Savor the cuisine that has made Cebu world-famous.

We will depart Manila for Cebu the morning of Friday May 28 and spend two nights at the Marco Polo Hotel, departing Cebu for Manila in the afternoon of Sunday May 30. Package details can be found at the lower portion of the email.

Join the Museum Foundation as it explores the oldest city in the Philippines!

Proposed Tour Itinerary

Friday, 28 May 2010

• Arrive Cebu, go directly to the University of San Carlos
• Lecture on Cebu heritage architecture at the University of San Carlos by Arch. Melva Java
• Lunch and introduction to Cebu history and culture by Dr. Jocelyn Gerra
• Check into Marco Polo Hotel
• Visit Kenneth Cobonpue\’s workshop
• Merienda in Abaseria, a Filipino deli where can buy everything including the chairs. Great Filipino merienda: suman & budbud, latik, puto, cucinta
• Gabii sa Kabilin walking/ kalesa tour by Mr. Bino Guerrero
• Late dinner at STK Paolitos Seafood House, four generations of family cooking epicurean Filipino food in an antique Filipino house and you dine in their extended living room… a must dine
• Continuation of tour till midnight for those inclined

Saturday, 29 May

• Early breakfast at the hotel
• Tour of Southern Cebu by Mr. Florencio Moreno: Boljoon, Sibongan and Carcar towns
• Boljoon: Tour of Boljoon Museum, Boljoon Church complex
• Brunch at the Boljoon convent with view of Bohol Strait
• Sibonga: Tour of Our Lady of Pilar Church with murals by Raymundo Francia and the only domed mortuary of Cebu built probably in 1839 based on a bas relief inscription on the portal of the cemetery.
• Carcar: Walking tour visiting heritage homes and buildings
• Merienda
• Back to Marco Polo Hotel
• Dinner

Sunday, May 30

• Breakfast
• Driving tour of city and shopping: Vision Theatre on Colon Street, Malacañang sa Sugbu and the Shamrock Hotel or popularly known as Compania Maritima Building, Capitol Building
• Shopping for fashion and home accessories
• Lunch at local restaurant
• Check out
• Depart hotel for Airport
• Check in at the Airport
• Depart Cebu for Manila

Dr. Jocelyn Gerra is Executive Director of the Cultural Heritage Program of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation.

Arch. Melva Java is Director of CHERISH (Conservation & Heritage Research Institute and Workshop) of the University of San Carlos. She was former Dean of the College of Architecture and Fine Arts of USC. It was during here term that the Architecture Bldg was conceptualized  and consequently built together with the current Dean, Maxwell Espina.

Prof. Florencio Moreno is on the faculty of the San Carlos History Department, a researcher for the Cebu History Project and is affiliated with Casa Gorordo Museum as a researcher.

Mr. Balbino Guerrero is a tour guide specializing in heritage and museum tours.  He also co-anchors “Sugbanon na ni”, a radio show on culture, history and language.

Tour Package

Depart on 28 May 2010, Friday
Manila – Cebu 08:00-09:15
Cebu Pacific 5J 563

Return on 30 May 2010, Sunday
Cebu – Manila 17:35-18:50
Cebu Pacific 5J 570

Our package, inclusive of airfare on Cebu Pacific, transfers between airport, hotel and tours, accommodations at Marco Polo Hotel (Twin Rooms, sharing), all meals, the Cebu Heritage Tour, and travel insurance is P24,000 for MFPI members and P25,000 for non-members. Twenty slots are available.

You can download a copy of the reply form here. If you are interested to join us, please fill up the form and fax it to 404-2685.

Deadline for reservations is May 14, 2010. To reserve a space, or inquire further, please call Elvie or Mae at telefax number 404-2685, or on mobile number 0928-503-9392 (Elvie) or 0927-8484680 (Mae). You may also email us at inquiry@museumfoundationph.org.

Thank you.

Buntong Hininga by Leslie de Chavez

April 21, 2010, Wednesday

6-9 pm

For the first time in seven years, Leslie De Chavez releases his frustration and disappointment in the Philippines\’ history of struggle and shortcoming in the Philippines… and this time with a big and loud sigh.

Philippine socio-politics has been the keystone of De Chavez\’s art since 2002, and he expresses it without words or sound, but with images and colors that blare out very strong ideas and resonating emotions. This show,entitled Buntong Hininga, realizes (what he feels is) the Filipino reply to socio-political reality: the collective sigh. De Chavez describes it as “for the most time, the immediate or probably the only thing we can do” when faced with such dim situations.

It is without coincidence that De Chavez’s work comes at a most fitting time. With election fever on its final and most crucial course, De Chavez fills the three exhibition spaces of Silverlens Gallery with paintings, installations and video projections with themes only too familiar to the Filipino people. With the cancers born from colonization, poverty and disorder firmly embedded in society, Filipinos are more than aware of the corrupted state of Philippine socio-politics.

Using symbolism, set within his characteristic quiet, dark and ghoulish backdrop, De Chavez creates a narrative that is critical, but is also searching. In the painting, Front Acts, De Chavez fills the large canvass with allegorical references – from the words ‘Bahala na (So be it)’ spelled out with pieces of bone sprawled on the floor for the world to see, to the hypocrisy of a man who covers his face from the smoke he himself is emitting; from a priest, whose head is a beach ball, holding a faceless Sto. Niño to a man with earphones that have bound him in the wrists.

With ideas of \”self-preservation, spiritual decay, dissatisfaction, corruption, and culture of impunity”, Buntong Hininga reminds Filipinos of the inspiration Philippine social and political history never provided, and gives a glimpse of the possible future. We sigh at what is, and mourn for ‘what could be’.

While Buntong Hininga is De Chavez’s \”breathe-out of accumulated sentiments, experiences, disappointments, observations and imaginations about [Filipino] contemporary life and its imperfections”, it is at the same time, De Chavez\’s plea.

De Chavez aims to create productivity and possibility where Philippine socio-politics remains wanting. Buntong Hininga is to stir up various emotions and opinions, and be an “opportunity to re-think [past and present]”. And above all, one should wonder if one can do more than just sigh.

Buntong Hininga by Leslie De Chavez opens on April 21,2010 at Silverlens Gallery | SLab.

Words: Bea Davila, Image: Leslie de Chavez, Front Acts, 2010

German Jazz | Deutscher Jazz is a travelling exhibition that chronicles the history of German Jazz from the Berlin jazz scene in the 1920s to the persecution of jazz musicians during the Nazi era; from postwar developments in East and West Germany to the musicians, labels and festivals of the twenty-first century. The rare photographs from private and public archives are complemented by CD samples of recordings from the last eighty years. Text panels trace the development of this music form within the social and political history of Germany. Museum viewers will also have the opportunity to listen to German Jazz music with MP3 players that supplement the exhibition. German Jazz:Deutscher Jazz is produced by the Goethe-Institut and Dr. Wolfram Knauer, director of the Darmstadt Jazz-Institute.The Berliner Jazz Band Hyperactive Kid performed at the opening reception. An unconventional trio, the band has a bassless setup that allows saxophone, guitar and drums to take other musical paths. Since 2003 Hyperactive Kid fuses different styles – jazz with rock, hiphop, free Music, drum and bass and modern/contemporary music. All the members contribute original compositions.

Ayala Museum hosts jam sessions on two consecutive Thursdays on 11 March and 18 March, organized with the Philippine International Jazz Festival . Sandra Viray, festival organizer, performs on Wednesday, 24 March. Jazz aficionados will enjoy music and Sommelier Selection wine.

This exhibition is done in partnership with the Goethe-Institut. It is Goethe-Institut’s first time to partner with Ayala Museum since it opened in the Philippines. Goethe-Institut’s Director Richard Künzel and Ayala Museum’s Director Guillermo Luz hit the right note on jazz and are on the road to a long-term cultural partnership.

The Goethe-Institut thanks KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Sommelier Selection and The Philippine International Jazz Festival for their sponsorship and support.

German Jazz will be available for viewing to the public at the Ground Floor Gallery of Ayala Museum from March 10 to April 4, 2010. For more information, please call Ayala Museum at telephone (632) 7577117 to 21 local 29.

Dear Sweet Filthy World by Patricia Eustaquio
March 17, 2010, Wednesday
6-9 pm

Patricia Eustaquio, continues her exploration of memory with Dear Sweet Filthy World, bridging Elvis Costello’s song of the same name with oil paintings, cardboard sculptures, and boats cut from felt and cast in epoxy resin. Through these objects, Eustaquio expresses memory as an idea, and memory as she made it.

Eustaquio describes memory as a puzzle that must be broken down to be put back together again; it is ideas taken from our surroundings that “become floating individual thoughts that we access and take separately” to make a whole. Dear Sweet Filthy World is Eustaquio’s ode to this conceptual process, so vulnerable and relative, and yet at the same time, it is her narrative \”to convey the irony of our feeling towards reality, the realities in life, the world.\”

Taking her cue from the song, Eustaquio composes the show as a letter, allowing sentimentality and nostalgia to play a part. Understanding how one’s recreation of the past is built on fragments, Eustaquio allows her own memory to express itself, however limited and isolated it may be. As a subtext to Dear Sweet Filthy World, Eustaquio writes an actual letter, where she takes on the persona of someone coming to grips with a terrible event she has not experienced. This mirrors her memory of the Typhoon Ondoy tragedy. Watching from Delft, where she was completing her art residency, Eustaquio’s memory, time and space interfering, had gaps to be filled.

In doing so, Eustaquio’s art and language took a turn towards reaction. Dear Sweet Filthy World accuses the world, and questions the sweet and the filthy in it. Eustaquio wonders: \”is the world sweet because of nature, and filthy because of man; is it vice versa; or is it either-or?\” However personal, Dear Sweet Filthy World is also a set of “puzzles that complete themselves in the viewer’s mind”. Taking various forms and meanings, Eustaquio’s work allows us all to voice our feelings to a world where man struggles to shape memory, and fights to make sense of the ironies of life.

As in her previous show, Death to the Major,Viva Minor, Eustaquio allows us to question \”the beautiful and grotesque, lifting the veil and revealing the void that waits underneath\”.*

Patricia Eustaquio was awarded the CCP Thirteen Artists Award and the Ateneo Art Award in 2009, and will be part of the Art Omi Residency in New York in June.

*From Cross my heart and hope to die by Donna Miranda in Patricia Eustaquio’s catalogue (Silverlens Gallery)

Words: Bea Davila, Image: Patricia Eustaquio, Dear Sweet Filthy World II, 2010