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

The National Museum opened in January 2010 an exhibition titled “Botong Francisco Coching: Telling Modern Time, now on display at the 5th floor of the Museum of the Filipino People, National Museum (old Finance Building), T. Valencia Circle/Finance Road, Rizal Park, Manila.

The exhibition, curated by Dr. Patrick Flores, runs until the end of March 2010 and showcases the works of two masters, National Artist Carlos V. Francisco with his selected paintings, displayed back to back with comics illustrations of Francisco Coching.

As a collateral activity of the exhibition, on March 12 and 19, 2010, at 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., there will be lectures about the two contemporary artists. Alice Guillermo will speak on the first date while Robert Paulino and Solidad Reyes on the second, with Patrick Flores to discuss the curatorial component on both occasions. Both lectures will be conducted at the 4th floor, Tambunting Hall of the Museum of the Filipino People.

We would like to invite your fine arts students and faculty members to participate in both lectures. For confirmation or inquiries, please get in touch with Mr. Mel Lagartija or Ms. Rizza Salterio of the Museum Education Division at telefax no. 5270278. Please see attached file for the poster.

We look forward to seeing you at both lectures. Thank you.

Museum Education Division, National Museum

In his lecture, Prof. Randy David proposes a way of looking at the governance problems of our society by linking these to the challenge of modernity.  He will try to show that many, if not all, of these problems are normal manifestations of the difficult and often confusing transition to modernity that every society has to confront at one time or another – rather than the symptoms of an accursed condition for which there is no other cure but to find a messiah in our midst.

This lecture of Prof. Randy David, the last in the MFPI’s lecture series on “Politics: Pinoy Style”, will be held at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at the Silverlens Gallery located at 2320 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City. MFPI Fellowship will follow right after the lecture.

Fees
MFPI Members – P100.00
Non-members – P200.00
Students – P50.00

Please download and fill out reply form. Fax to 404-2685 / 722-9073/ 810-6912.
Email to inquiry@museumfoundationph.org
You may also text/call 0928-5039392 (Elvie) or 0927-8484680 (Mae) to reserve slots.

Art in the Park 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
2:00 to 10:00 pm
Jaime Velasquez Park
Salcedo Village, Makati City

Art In The Park Feb 2010 will exhibit pieces from:

Art groups and individual artists: CANVAS, Zone 5 Camera Club, Kulay, SC Tan, TutoK, Art Wednesday, Invisible, Putik, Joey Cobcobo, Ryan Rubio, Allain Hablo, Lester Almacio, Mac Valdezco, Philippine Association of Printmakers, Ral Arrogante, Sheer Joy, Ang INK, Provenance Fine Arts Brokers, and Tara Soriano.

Students, teachers, and established artists from art schools: L’Arc En Ciel, TUP, FEATI, and FEU.

Art groups and art spaces from outside Metro Manila: The Mighty Bhutens and their mosaics from Baguio, Nineveh Art Space of Laguna, Amarela Gallery of Bohol, Hugis Sining from Bulacan, Parokyano ng Malabon, Neo-Angono Artists Collective.

Established galleries: Blanc, Tin-Aw, Tala Art Gallery, Galerie Astra, Nova Gallery, Galeria de las Islas, Metro Gallery, Art Verite, Ricco Renzo, West Gallery, Artis Corpus, Avellana Art Gallery, Art Cabinet, and Gallery Genesis.

AIP 2010 will also showcase two extraordinary pieces: LEEROY NEW reprises pieces from his Odeon Universal Galaxy Show, and LEA LIM creates Silence, her site specific installation of 100 swings.

A special screening of Moccolo, a video by Romina Diaz starts in the playground area at 6:00 pm sponsored by Galleria Duemila.

Food and drinks will be provided by La Cuisine Francaise, Straits Wines, Pizza di Grazia, Rafik Shawarma, Windows Cafe, and Nic’s Bakeshop. A jazz quartet will serenade us throughout the day.

Art in the Park 2010 is organized by the Museum Foundation of the Philippines with the help of Bgy. Bel Air, Security Bank MasterCard, and Radio U92 for the benefit of the National Museum and its network.

No admission fee. See you all there!

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Malikmata by Mark Orozco Justiniani
February 19, Friday
6-9pm

Celebrated painter, Mark Orozco Justiniani, veers his latest work away from the medium he has long been associated with and instead takes it to the world of sculpture where corners and frames cannot bind. This world, entitled Malikmata, is one where night and day converge, and folklore and reality abandon their distinction.

Justiniani’s keen interest in Filipino society and tradition takes the sculptural route to present Filipino folklore in a form that is multidimensional, concrete and tangible. Not only do the eyes find the splendor of the earth as the sun sets and shadows creep in; this inbetween too awakens the other four senses, and at the same time stirs the imagination. Meant to heighten every sensation, Malikmata, Justiniani explains, involves a lot of ‘ “looking through” with peepholes and lenses with several angles and different vantage points’. With viewers’ participation, the world Justiniani creates is sculptural commentary infused with physical interaction.

Malikmata reveals the creatures of the night, from the fireflies and spiders that lurk in our backyards to those monsters that haunt our dreams. Taking us into the world where what is real and unreal coexist, Justiniani presents a tikbalang who no longer tricks people into getting lost in the forest it guards; a manananggal who discovers the worlds her two halves occupy are one and the same; and an Agtayabun, the man-bird that arbitrates between the realms of the divine and the bestial, who has sided with the latter and allowed chaos to reign. Thought to be lost in modern consciousness, these creatures of folklore defiantly linger and taunt us to surrender to our darkest nightmares.

With sculptural representations manifest of a society that often combines rationality and mysticism, religion and folklore, fact and faith, Justiniani’s Malikmata is indeed a journey that goes back and forth between realms that are supposed to be distinct. More than confusing our senses, Malikmata questions how we construct reality and define illusion.

Malikmata is in collaboration with Tin-aw Art Management.

Malikmata will be shown alongside STRIP 2010 with Tammy David, Jake Verzosa, Veejay Villafranca at Silverlens Gallery and Saucerful of Secrets by Mariano Ching with Haraya Ching at 20SQUARE, SLab. Mark Orozco Justiniani will have his Artist Talk on March 06, 2010, Saturday, 3-5 pm.

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: Studies for Malikmata by Mark Orozco Justiniani

The Jaime Velasquez Park in Salcedo Village, Makati will be bustling with life, both terrestrial and extra terrestrial, on Saturday, 27 February, 2010, from two in the afternoon to ten in the evening. The Museum Foundation of the Philippines ups the ante on its annual affordable art fair with exhibits by 2009 Ateneo Art Award Winner Jan Leeroy New and an extraordinary installation by Lea Lim.

New, best known for his fiberglass aliens that seemingly landed on the Singapore City Hall during that city’s Biennale in 2008, will be reprising the attention-grabbing, brightly-hued creatures of his imagination from his recent show, Odeon Galaxy Universal, at Blanc Compound in Mandaluyong. Lim’s work is a slightly more subdued, monochromatic intervention into a space.  A swarm of swings hangs from the tree nearest the walkway, making it impossible for pedestrians to pass unhindered.  The beautiful, white forms pique curiosity and ask the passerby to pause for a moment, and maybe play a bit.   The works of New and Lim set the tone for the art fair, making even strange and conceptual works of art less daunting and more approachable. The affordable art fair has evolved from a Saturday morning event designed make art buying less intimidating for the art newbie, to a showcase of some of the best contemporary Philippine art. And in keeping with its goal of making art accessible to all, prices of pieces for sale are still at P20,000.00 and below.

Since Art In The Park first started four years ago, the art scene in the Philippines has exploded with activity.  New galleries have opened. Established galleries have expanded and improved their spaces to accommodate a flurry of artistic production. Amidst all this, Art In the Park is one of the most awaited events in the art calendar. It brings together, in a relaxed and convivial atmosphere, about 30 galleries and art groups from all parts of the metro and beyond. For seasoned buyers and regular exhibition goers, it is a treat to spend the day going from booth to booth catching up with artist and gallerist friends. The relaxed and friendly atmosphere encourages first time buyers and ordinary park-goers to take the time to look through each booth and strike up a conversation with the artists and gallery owners hanging out.

Blanc, Tala, Tin-aw, Art Cabinet, Galerie Astra, Metro Gallery – all at the forefront of the contemporary art scene – will be joined this year by the pioneers – West Gallery and Gallery Genesis. The newest kid on the block, Charlie Cojuangco’s Nova Gallery, will make its Art In The Park debut. INK, Sheer Joy, and Canvas also return this year to continue amusing, introducing art to the young ones. Galeria de las Islas will be there, as always, for people who look for art and artifacts of a more historical and anthropological nature. The Putik booth showcases pottery – sculptural, decorative and utilitarian. The regulars, L’arc En Ciel, Kulay Art Group, and Ral Arrogante, will also be returning. The TUP Fine Arts Alumni and Students booth will be the perfect place to pick up well-priced artworks by fresh new artists.  The displays of The Mighty Bhutens (a group of artists from Baguio doing mosaic art), Nineveh Art Space and the Malabon artists give gallery goers the chance to see the art being produced outside Metro Manila.  Sherwin Tan and Tara Soriano, with her sculptural jewelry, will also be participating. Photography will be available from the Zone Five Camera Club. The diversity of styles, media, and concerns of this year’s art fair makes for a very interesting and dynamic show.

This year, getting an art bargain no longer means having to get up at the crack of dawn.  Art In The Park, which has traditionally started at 7am to coincide with the Salcedo Market, will now start at 2 pm and stretch till 10 pm. Visitors can leisurely stroll around the park exploring the different installations and art presentations, while having merienda, cocktails, and dinner at the booths of La Cuisine Francaise, Pizza di Grazia, Windows Café, The Straits Wine Company, and Nic’s Bakeshop.

Art In The Park is on Saturday, 27 February 2010, at the Jaime Velasquez Park, Salcedo Village Makati City. It is organized by the Museum Foundation of the Philippines with the help of Bgy. Bel Air, Security Bank Mastercard, and Radio U92.  Part of the proceeds will go to the foundation’s programs that raise awareness and appreciation for the National Museum and its network.

Abel Iloko, also called inabel, has a long tradition and history, and is justly famous for its quality and durability.  Its patterns and colors are derived from the natural environment of Ilocos – the whirlpools in the water, the whirlwinds that bring much destruction, the leaves and flowers of local flora, the stars, indeed the Milky Way itself.

Checks and stripes in a variety of colors are a constant feature of this native weave, although the drab browns, and dramatic black and whites are best remembered. The stripes are perhaps an adaptation of the patterns common among the upland tribes.

During colonial times, abel fabrics were used as sailcloth for ships and boats – yet another proof of the high quality of Ilocos weaving.  Blankets that are used by generations, handed down from mother to daughter, are likewise famous. So are the gossamer open weave mosquito netting that are also used for women’s kimonas and men’s shirts.

Records show that inabel was one of the major exports of colonial Philippines. In recent years, however, with the importation of cheap, machine woven fabrics and clothing, inabel was relegated to the background as a minor, perhaps quaint tradition.

Join the Habi: The Philippine Textile Council, an affiliate of the Museum Foundation, on a visit from February 18 to 21, 2010 to the remaining abel weaving centers in Paoay and Sarrat in Ilocos Norte; and Vigan, Santa and Santiago in Ilocos Sur. Observe first-hand the tedious and time consuming processes required to make the beautiful and unique patterns of this native weave.

HABI founding board member and Ilocos Norte tourism consultant Rene Guatlo will serve as guide on this familiarization tour. Participants will stay for three nights at the Sitio Remedios Heritage Village in Currimao, Ilocos Norte – a private get-away created by Dr. Joven R. Cuanang, Medical Director of St. Luke’s Medical Center, and proud son of Ilocos Norte.

The group will also visit the Sta. Maria Church on the way to the weavers of Santiago. After a walkabout at the Vigan Heritage Village, a private tour of the Syquia Mansion will be conducted by Mr. Eddie Quirino, grandson of President Elpidio Quirino, followed by a merienda featuring the local specialty, the Vigan empanada. For Ilocos Norte, the tour will include visits to the Museo Ilocos Norte, the Laoag public Market, San Agustin and Sta. Monica churches in Paoay and Sarrat, respectively.

Abel Tour Itinerary

Package A: Our package, inclusive of airfare on Cebu Pacific, transfers between airport, hotel and tours, 3 day-3 night accommodations at Sitio Remedios (single-occupancy), all meals and tours, is P24,000. (Airport terminal fees are to be taken care of participants)

Package B: Our package, inclusive of airfare on Cebu Pacific, transfers between airport, hotel and tours, 3 day-3 night accommodations at Sitio Remedios (double-occupancy, sharing), all meals and tours, is P20,000. (Airport terminal fees are to be taken care of participants)

Package C: Our package, inclusive of airfare on Cebu Pacific, transfers between airport, hotel and tours, 3 day-3 night accommodations at Sitio Remedios (dormitory, sharing), all meals and tours, is P16,000. (Airport terminal fees are to be taken care of participants)

Limited slots only. To reserve a space immediately, please download and fill-out the reply form and fax to 404-2685 or email to inquiry@museumfoundationph.org. You also have the option of downloading the tour details. To inquire further, please call Elvie or Mae at 404-2685, or on mobile number 0928-5039392 (Elvie) or 0927-8484680 (Mae).

With the May 2010 Philippine Presidential elections 4 months away,  The Museum Foundation of the Philippines is conducting a series of lectures on Philippine culture and politics entitled “Politics: Pinoy Style.”

The third part of this series is a talk by artist and political satirist, Jose Tence Ruiz, on February 9, Tuesday, 6-7:30pm in Silverlens Gallery. Entitled “SPARKS: Illuminating the Filipino Self,” the talk is on the formation of social realism in Philippine media and its significance on Philippine nationalism and nationhood. Ruiz will be showing ‘how the visual lineage” of social realism can find its roots pre-1975, the year social realism was formally declared. “A whole host of precedent imaginations…sought to articulate an entire world of self recognition,” Ruiz explains. “It would be the basis for a workable nationalism, a community imagined.”

Fitting a time with heightened social consciousness, this lecture series discusses the past’s definition of social realism, i.e. its interpretation of social ills, competencies, and talk, in hope of illuminating the present’s socio-political scenario.

You can download the reply form, fill it up and fax to 404-2685 / 722-9073/ 810-6912. You may also text/call 0928-5039392 (Elvie) to reserve slots.

Image: (left) Vicente Manansala, Wartime Inflation and the Housewife, 1941, (middle) Bag-ong Kusog, How the Imperialists are Provoking and Pitting Us Against Each Other, 1926, (right) Galo Ocampo, Ecce Homo

Panel Discussion: “Talk on the Master Narrative of the Aesthetic Incorrect” with Gaston Damag, Manuel Ocampo, Raymond Lee, and Gerry Tan : January 29, Friday, 4-6 pm, SLab at Silverlens Galleries.

Four Filipino artists and thinkers come together to discuss the irony of making art as a devotional practice in a setting that doesn’t need it. Gaston Damag, the man behind Synthetic Reliquaries a show, which mixes the ‘native’ Ifugao bulul with resin polyester, wants to launch an inquiry into the position of contemporary art in history, society and space. How does art’s meaning and interpretation change in every setting or context? What is the role of the artist in this journey of thought? Does art and meaning exist because of who makes it and/or who looks at it?

The event is free of charge but reservations are required. Please contact Thess Nobleza at 8160044 or email us at manage@silverlensphoto.com.

Image: Gaston Damag, Domesticated Pieces, 2003/2010, Photograph by Rachel Rillo