Lopez Museum: Al Dresden Ramos singing Mutya ng Pasig
Tenor, Al Dresden Ramos, singing Mutya ng Pasig at the Lopez Museum's When I have Sung My Songs To You. April 12, 2013
Plotting Points | Site Visit Highlights
Eugenio Lopez Foundation Inc. (ELFI), through the Lopez Museum and Library (LML), with support from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), brought together museum practitioners from allover the country for a three-day summit last March 30 - April 1, 2017.
Plotting Points convened museum representatives to reassess the current state of the field through relevant developments in national policies related to the arts and culture as well as innovations in museum research, operational practices and programming.
The summit sought to engage issues and challenges faced by museums and other cultural institutions in the 21st century by creating opportunities for dialogue and exchanges of ideas, strategies and even skills.
For the 3rd day of the summit, the delegates visited key institutions in various areas in the Metro (QC, Pasig, Makati and Manila). We'd like to thank all of the sites we visited for accommodating the delegates:
QUEZON CITY | Manila Observatory, Ateneo Art Gallery, UP Vargas Museum, and Bantayog ng mga Bayani
PASIG AND MAKATI | Lopez Museum and Library, Ayala Museum, Yuchengco Museum, and the Drawing Room
MANILA | First United Building, Calvo Museum, Bahay Tsinoy, and Museo Pambata
© Lopez Museum and Library and Hello & Co. Cinema
BenCab opens Frames of Reference Exhibit at Lopez Museum
National Artist Benedicto Cabrera (BenCab) celebrates fifty years of his art practice with a series of multi-sited exhibitions and events. As a fitting kick off, the first exhibition was held at the Lopez Museum's Library section and is open to the public until July 4, 2015.
Frames of Reference offers a glimpse into his life and art practice during the late 1960s onwards, while living and exhibiting abroad and his eventual return to the Philippines for good. More than his works, the exhibition is an intimate portrait of the artist, the lover, the family man, the bibliophile and a collector of, among others, hats he has and continuously wears.
Never before exhibited, about 15 of his artbooks which he refers to as his 'notebooks' will be made available to the public. These small scrapbook-like compilations of collages of clippings and cut-outs, drawings and sketches interspersed with his handwriting; prominently feature his love for nostalgia, handmade paper and bookbinding. A diaristic presentation of his aesthetics, letters, mementos and other keepsakes also find their way into the pages.
Other hand-crafted books show the early studies and iterations of some of his most important series of works: Sabel, Larawan and Japanese Women (ukiyo-e). Also included in the exhibition are early folios of prints he was a part of, along with other Filipino and foreign artists.
Frames of Reference is curated by Dannie Alvarez and is co-presented by Bencab Art Foundation; Sureste Properties, Inc.; Samsung Electronics Philippines Corp. (SEPCO), our technology partner; and Gourmet Farms Inc., our public programs partner.
For more information, call Tina at 631-2417. Lopez Museum and Library is at the G/F Benpres Bldg., Meralco cor. Exchange Rd., Ortigas Center, Pasig City. The museum and library hours are 8-5pm Mondays through Saturdays except Sundays and holidays.
Video produced by Lifestyle Network's Scene and Heard.
Leslie de Chavez at Lopez Museum's 'Complicated' Exhibit
Recognizing the complicated relationship of the Philippines with its colonial past, Lopez Museum opens its first exhibit for the year dubbed Complicated on February 20, in partnership with Tin-Aw Gallery.
Contemporary artist Leslie de Chavez, known for his acerbic cultural commentary, presents several installations and paintings that focus on colonization, not just as the context of our history, but as an ongoing process in which we participate. His works take a critical stance that aims to jolt audiences to reflexivity, awareness, and realization.
De Chavez, together with visual artist Mike Adrao and choreographer and dancer Ea Torrado are the three featured artists in Complicated.
The commissioned works of de Chavez, Adrao and Torrado are contextualized amid various collections from the museum's painting and archival collections. Works by Juan Luna, Fabian Dela Rosa, Juvenal Sanso, Jerry Elizalde Navarro, Bencab, Ang Kiukok, among others, are exhibited with select books from the library's collection and rich archive of colonial photographs, maps, travel journals, sketches and cartoons, including those done by Tony Velasquez (known for his creation of the early Filipino comics series Kenkoy), Liborio Gatbonton, and Mario Dangan.
The exhibit is further supplemented by loaned artworks by Juvenal Sanso and contemporary artist Anton del Castillo.
Complicated is curated by Ricky Francisco and Ethel Villafranca. It will run from February 21 to August 2, 2014.
Lopez Museum and Library is at the G/F Benpres Bldg., Meralco cor. Exchange Rd., Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Museum hours are 8-5pm Mondays through Saturdays except holidays. For more info, contact Tina at 631-2417.
Lopez Museum's 50th anniversary
THE Lopez Memorial Museum turns 50 this month (February) and anniversary activities kick off with the launching on February 18 of the coffee table book, Unfolding Half a Century: The Lopez Memorial Museum, alongside the opening of a cutting-edge exhibit, Threads: The Museum as Site for the Weaving of Tales.
Threads features contemporary artists Jean Marie Syjuco, Ann Wizer, Myra Beltran, Jef Carnay, Ann Tiukinhoy Pamintuan, Leo Abaya and Kiri Dalena. Each artist has been invited to either craft a work taking off from their personal conception of the museum or to cosplay characters found in iconic works from the museum collection. Taken together, their works will speak on what museums do, as sites of remembrance and narrative-making. Highlights of these performances and installation pieces will be exhibited at the Rockwell Power Plant Mall North Court from February 19 to 25.
Parallel to this will be the opening to the public of Lopez Museums 50th anniversary exhibition at the museums premises in Ortigas Center, Pasig. The exhibition, After the Fact evokes recollections of past exhibitions as well as a purview of future directions of Lopez Museum. It. features key works from the museum collection and works by Gaston Damag, Antipas Delotavo, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya and Keith Sicat.
What started as the personal collection of the late Lopez Group founder Eugenio H. Lopez Sr. has evolved into a trusted and well-loved Philippine institution. In fact, the Lopez Memorial Museum and Library collection now ranks as one of the finest in Asia.
Since its founding in 1960, the fine art section has grown from an initial collection of 19th century masterpieces consisting of 36 Juan Lunas and 182 Felix Resurreccion Hidalgos to include modern and contemporary pieces. The library currently counts over 19,000 Filipiniana titles by 12,000 authors, rare books, maps, manuscripts and literary works. With the institutions digitization project and conservation laboratory, it provides quick and convenient access to materials while ensuring that these are preserved for future use.
Over the years, Lopez Museum has always been committed to move the institution forward by broadening its engagements outside its physical structure, as well as pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to its exhibitions and programs.
For more info, visit lopez-museum.org or call +63-2 631-2417,
News Cafe Episode 103: Museums: Preserving Our Cultural Heritage
News Cafe talk to experts from the Philippine cultural and museum circuit about efforts to develop greater awareness and appreciation of the Philippines’ rich artistic and cultural heritage. We get into the minds of Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte-Alimurong, a museologist and archaeologist involved in the development of the Quezon City Museum, Petty Benitez-Johannot, former President of Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Inc., and Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Art, College of Arts and Letters at UP Diliman, and Cedie Lopez-Vargas, Executive Director of the Lopez Museum and Library
Jean Marie Syjuco for Lopez Museum's 50th Anniversary
THE Lopez Memorial Museum turns 50 this month (February 2010) and anniversary activities kick off with the launching on February 18 of the coffee table book, Unfolding Half a Century: The Lopez Memorial Museum, alongside the opening of a cutting-edge exhibit, Threads: The Museum as Site for the Weaving of Tales.
Threads features contemporary artists Jean Marie Syjuco, Ann Wizer, Myra Beltran, Jef Carnay, Ann Tiukihoy Pamintuan, Leo Abaya and Kiri Dalena. Each artist has been invited to either craft a work taking off from their personal conception of the museum or to cosplay characters found in iconic works from the museum collection. Taken together, their works will speak on what museums do, as sites of remembrance and narrative-making. Highlights of these performances and installation pieces will be exhibited at the Rockwell Power Plant Mall North Court from February 19 to 25.
Jean Marie Syjuco is a painter, sculptor, mixed media and performance artist who is largely self-taught. With her husband Cesare Syjuco, she ran Art Lab in Makati, a non-profit developmental facility with the aim of bring new art tendencies in the country to a wider mass-based audience. Among her performances are Por Kilo, inspired by Filipina mail-order brides, Patawad Diyos-Bundok, inspired by the Pinatubo disaster. Ms Syjuco has received the Gawad CCP Para sa Sinign Biswal in 1990 for her pioneering work in performance art.
Parallel to this will be the opening to the public of Lopez Museums 50th anniversary exhibition at the museums premises in Ortigas Center, Pasig. The exhibition, After the Fact evokes recollections of past exhibitions as well as a purview of future directions of Lopez Museum. It features key works from the museum collection and works by Gaston Damag, Antipas Delotavo, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya and Keith Sicat.
What started as the personal collection of the late Lopez Group founder Eugenio H. Lopez Sr. has evolved into a trusted and well-loved Philippine institution. In fact, the Lopez Memorial Museum and Library collection now ranks as one of the finest in Asia.
Since its founding in 1960, the fine art section has grown from an initial collection of 19th century masterpieces consisting of 36 Juan Lunas and 182 Felix Resurreccion Hidalgos to include modern and contemporary pieces. The library currently counts over 19,000 Filipiniana titles by 12,000 authors, rare books, maps, manuscripts and literary works. With the institutions digitization project and conservation laboratory, it provides quick and convenient access to materials while ensuring that these are preserved for future use.
Over the years, Lopez Museum has always been committed to move the institution forward by broadening its engagements outside its physical structure, as well as pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to its exhibitions and programs. For more info, visit lopez-museum.org or call +63-2 631-2417.
Coming Home to the Chronicle Where It All Began
I happened to be near the area of what used to be the Chronicle building in Pasig a few days ago. At that time, it was the only building along Tektite Rd. in the Ortigas complex. Well, the name has been changed and a large part of the then editorial department had been converted into the Lopez Museum and Library.
Lucky me, they have all the Chronicle files, some in microfiche.When the Chronicle moved from Aduana, Intramuros to Pasig to a new building and new presses, the task fell on my lap to write a story so that the full color potential of the new presses were tested and showcased.
So I was assigned to write this five-part series about blood donation, the donors, health policy, etc. The first full color picture on the front page was a surgical operation in a hospital. The red blood and the green hospital garb were a good contrast. To make a long story short, that Chronicle issue of July 19, 1971 was very significant. It was my article that the editors decided to feature, to show off the Chronicle's print and color capacity, to attract more advertisers. It was my article that signaled the transition from the old post-war press to the new printing process.
Jef Carnay for Lopez Museum's 50th Anniversary
THE Lopez Memorial Museum turns 50 this month (February) and anniversary activities kick off with the launching on February 18 of the coffee table book, Unfolding Half a Century: The Lopez Memorial Museum, alongside the opening of a cutting-edge exhibit, Threads: The Museum as Site for the Weaving of Tales.
Threads features: contemporary artists Jean Marie Syjuco, Ann Wizer, Myra Beltran, Jef Carnay, Ann Tiukihoy Pamintuan, Leo Abaya and Kiri Dalena. Each artist has been invited to either craft a work taking off from their personal conception of the museum or to cosplay characters found in iconic works from the museum collection. Taken together, their works will speak on what museums do, as sites of remembrance and narrative-making. Highlights of these performances and installation pieces will be exhibited at the Rockwell Power Plant Mall North Court from February 19 to 25.
Parallel to this will be the opening to the public of Lopez Museums 50th anniversary exhibition at the museums premises in Ortigas Center, Pasig. The exhibition, After the Fact evokes recollections of past exhibitions as well as a purview of future directions of Lopez Museum. It. features key works from the museum collection and works by Gaston Damag, Antipas Delotavo, Imelda Cajipe-Endaya and Keith Sicat.
What started as the personal collection of the late Lopez Group founder Eugenio H. Lopez Sr. has evolved into a trusted and well-loved Philippine institution. In fact, the Lopez Memorial Museum and Library collection now ranks as one of the finest in Asia.
Since its founding in 1960, the fine art section has grown from an initial collection of 19th century masterpieces consisting of 36 Juan Lunas and 182 Felix Resurreccion Hidalgos to include modern and contemporary pieces. The library currently counts over 19,000 Filipiniana titles by 12,000 authors, rare books, maps, manuscripts and literary works. With the institutions digitization project and conservation laboratory, it provides quick and convenient access to materials while ensuring that these are preserved for future use.
Over the years, Lopez Museum has always been committed to move the institution forward by broadening its engagements outside its physical structure, as well as pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to its exhibitions and programs. For more info, visit lopez-museum.org or call +63-2 631-2417.
Grounded: Josephine Turalba's Scandals
Featured contemporary artist Josephine Turalba talks about her installation Scandals which is currently part of the exhibit at the Lopez Museum.
The exhibit dubbed Grounded is a literal and metaphorical take on the notitons of rootedness, engagement and mobility in scapes and interventions within and without these referenced sites.
This broadly interpreted theme is paralleled in the diversity of practices revealed alongside pieces from the collection of the Lopez Museum and Library. From Alma Quinto's research-propelled work with Pasig River Warriors to Eric Zamuco's allusive staging of seeming precariousness; from Goldie Poblador's touch-baiting hybrid of art and laboratory artifice to Barbara Hlali's painful depiction of bodily engagement; from Ahmed Al Shaer's comital take on natural selection to Toym Imao's cross-referencing folk and diasporic armature; ferom Kahed Hafez's tri-image ode to a stalled revolution to Josephine Turalba's dis-charged footwear bidding a traipse through a once private memory trove, Grounded is a posed exercise, of looking back and hopefully trudging forward despite the odds.
Grounded will run until August 3, 2013. Lopez Museum and Library is at the G/F Benpres Bldg., Meralco cor. Exchange Rd., Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Museum hours are 8-5pm Mondays through Saturdays except holidays.
ANC Cityscape March 13
ANC's Cityscape features the Lopez museum's current exhibition Propaganda. The exhibition fleshes out the idea of myth-making and its capacity to inspire change or derail genuine national progress. It is an exhibition that challenges our notions of art and history.
Ricky Francisco, co-curator of Propaganda, said the exhibition was conceived more than a year ago to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II with Don M. Salubayba, 2009 CCP Thirteen Artists Awardee and one of the most promising artists of his generation. Salubayba unexpectedly passed away during the planning process and the exhibition evolved to be also a tribute to him. The exhibition includes a few of his important works such as Pagsasabuhay, Abysmal Abound: Trinity of Passiveness, and his “anino-mation” (shadow puppetry) A Not so Giant Story (Legend of the Philippines) that have been sourced and borrowed with the help of Tin-aw Artists Management.
Also featured are World War II posters, election-related archival materials, LVN movies still photographs, a collection of rare maps, Philippine imprints; a recreation of Santiago Bose's 1983 installation Pasyon at Rebolusyon that has been reinstalled by Kawayan de Guia; commissioned works from social realist and Negros Occidental-based artist Nunelucio Alvarado; 2012 Thirteen Artists awardee Joey Cobcobo; and writer and Gawad Urian awardee film-maker Alvin Yapan.
The Lopez Museum and Library is at the Benpres Bldg., Exchange Rd. corner Meralco Ave., Pasig City. For inquiries, call 631-2417/
Ea Torrado's Sisa at Lopez Museum's Complicated Exhibit
Choreographer and dancer Ea Torrado, one of the three featured artists at Lopez Museum's upcoming exhibit Complicated, presents a three-channel video installation based on the frantic search of Jose Rizal's Sisa and reflections on the museum's iconic España y Filipinas painting by Juan Luna.
Using Sisa's search for her missing children as a metaphor of post-colonial identity, Torrado presents the search for the many desaparecidos and victims of extrajudicial killings in recent history as premised in the promises of modernity and progress which are both at the core of nation-building and Luna's painting.
This film is produced with the support of Tuchi Imperial, sound designer Chris Aronson, cinematographer and film editor Dan Pamintuan and the ABS CBN Film Archives.
The Lopez Museum and Library, in partnership with Tin-aw Art Gallery, opens its first exhibit for the year, Complicated on February 21, 2014. Curated by Ricky Francisco and Ethel Villafranca, the exhibit features commissioned works by guest artists Mike Adrao, Leslie de Chavez, and Ea Torrado, juxtaposed with works by Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Juvenal Sanso, Bencab, Ang Kiukok, Jerry Elizalde Navarro and other artworks from the Lopez Museum collection.
Complicated will run from February 21 to August 2, 2014.
Grounded: Toym Imao's Ship, Shift, Strip installation
Featured contemporary artist Toym Imao talks about his installation Ship, Shift, Stripped which is one of his four installations at the ongoing exhibit at Lopez Museum.
The exhibit dubbed Grounded is a literal and metaphorical take on the notitons of rootedness, engagement and mobility in scapes and interventions within and without these referenced sites.
This broadly interpreted theme is paralleled in the diversity of practices revealed alongside pieces from the collection of the Lopez Museum and Library. From Alma Quinto's research-propelled work with Pasig River Warriors to Eric Zamuco's allusive staging of seeming precariousness; from Goldie Poblador's touch-baiting hybrid of art and laboratory artifice to Barbara Hlali's painful depiction of bodily engagement; from Ahmed Al Shaer's comital take on natural selection to Toym Imao's cross-referencing folk and diasporic armature; ferom Kahed Hafez's tri-image ode to a stalled revolution to Josephine Turalba's dis-charged footwear bidding a traipse through a once private memory trove, Grounded is a posed exercise, of looking back and hopefully trudging forward despite the odds.
Grounded will run until August 3, 2013. Lopez Museum and Library is at the G/F Benpres Bldg., Meralco cor. Exchange Rd., Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Museum hours are 8-5pm Mondays through Saturdays except holidays.
Lopez Museum | Wikipedia audio article
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Lopez Museum
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SUMMARY
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The Lopez Museum is a Philippine art and history museum and library located in Pasig, Philippines at the ground floor of the Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Center.
Viva Voce Ensemble - Mutya ng Pasig (Nicanor Abelardo)
At the Lopez Museum and Library on June 30, 2016
Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez on About Face exhibit @ Lopez Museum
Lopez Memorial Museum's curatorial consultant Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez talks about the latest exhibit About Face.
Exploring the idea that the face represents the persona with which one confronts the world and how penetrable these public facades can be, Lopez Memorial Museum features works by contemporary artists xVRx, Renan Ortiz, Louie Talents and Alvin Zafra.
As the museum has established a reputation for being a repository of Lunas and Hidalgos and rare Filipiniana, Legaspi-Ramirez said that the artists were asked to consider images within the museum and library archive collections in taking on the proposed theme. She added The intention is to have contemporary artists look upon the practice of pictorially rendering personage as a means of circulating a persona or a public face, as opposed to a repressed alter ego or possibly a totally fictitious avatar.
The featured artists used and incorporated portraits including the less explored aspects of the collection such as its Rizaliana holdings and its LVN still archives, among others.
About Face will run until August 27, 2011 at Lopez Museum located at the ground floor of Benpres Building, Exchange Road, Pasig City.
Grounded: Eric Zamuco's Not of Water, flesh and blood
Featured contemporary artist Eric Zamuco talks about his installive suspension Not of Water, flesh and blood which is part of the current exhibition at the Lopez Museum.
The exhibit is called Grounded which is a literal and metaphorical take on the notitons of rootedness, engagement and mobility in scapes and interventions within and without these referenced sites.
his broadly interpreted theme is paralleled in the diversity of practices revealed alongside pieces from the collection of the Lopez Museum and Library. From Alma Quinto's research-propelled work with Pasig River Warriors to Eric Zamuco's allusive staging of seeming precariousness; from Goldie Poblador's touch-baiting hybrid of art and laboratory artifice to Barbara Hlali's painful depiction of bodily engagement; from Ahmed Al Shaer's comital take on natural selection to Toym Imao's cross-referencing folk and diasporic armature; ferom Kahed Hafez's tri-image ode to a stalled revolution to Josephine Turalba's dis-charged footwear bidding a traipse through a once private memory trove, Grounded is a posed exercise, of looking back and hopefully trudging forward despite the odds.
Grounded will run until August 3, 2013. Lopez Museum and Library is at the G/F Benpres Bldg., Meralco cor. Exchange Rd., Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Museum hours are 8-5pm Mondays through Saturdays except holidays.
ANC Travel Time feature on Lopez Memorial Museum
The Lopez Memorial Museum was founded on 13 February 1960 by Eugenio Lopez, Sr in honor of his parents, Benito Lopez and Presentacion Hofileña. Eugenio Lopez built the museum to provide scholars and students access to his personal collection of rare Filipiniana books, manuscripts, maps, archaeological artifacts and fine art.
Apart from constituting a seminal contribution to extant Philippine heritage, the Lopez Museum collection stands as one of the oldest, publicly accessible private art collections in the country.
Since its inception in the 1960s, the Lopez Museum has primarily been identified as a key viewing venue for important works by Spanish colonial period painters Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. However, with the museum's transition to Pasig and a deliberate shift to more dynamic acquisition and exhibition programs, LMM spatially reconfigured its galleries and adjunct exhibition spaces to showcase key objects from the permanent collection alongside other newer, acquired pieces such as those by national artists Francisco, Manansala, Ocampo, Legaspi, Edades, Luz, et al. and even commissioned installations and contemporary artifacts such as films, TV clips, video, and other multimedia work.
Its Library collection consists of over 19,000 Filipiniana titles by about 12,000 authors. The Lopez Library houses an invaluable collection of Philippine incunabula, rare books, manuscripts, dictionaries, literary works in Western and vernacular languages, religious tracts, periodicals, newspapers, coffee table volumes, academic treatises, contemporary writing, maps, archival photographs, cartoons and microfilms. It remains a critical node in the small network of institutions devoted to ongoing Philippine scholarship produced locally and internationally.
Planting Rice website sows Filipino art criticism
SAN FRANCISCO – A platform project collaboration by two Filipina curators, San Francisco- based Lian Ladia and Singapore-based, Sidd Perez, all began from an inquiry sparked by a rumor that there was no art criticism in the Philippines. “We wanted to find that out and we figured out ways in how to find that out,” says Ladia. “We found out that it’s not true, [art] criticism [in the Philippines] does exist. It’s just that it wasn’t accessible. It’s in people’s hard drives, basements, it’s in a family member’s archive.” The duo did not just rely on scholarly text, Ladia says, but also thought about “how artists work around that theme in their works, how filmmakers did that, and how several forms enable to become platforms for art criticism like magazines, newspapers.” at Kadist gallery in San Francisco. Planting Rice is a web-based platform that generates an archive of new and republished critical, historical exhibition texts, and current discussions and collaborations by artists and writers about contemporary art in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, developing outside established institutions and beyond available publications. The site is a resource for artists and researchers of Philippine and Southeast Asian contemporary art. The platform will serve as a repository of republished historical and critical art text on the Philippines, focusing on the fact that significant writing is out there but inaccessible. The first iteration of the website was launched in February 2011, the year after Ladia and Perez first met at Green Papaya Art Projects in Manila. “Lian was curating the exhibition projects there. We started thinking about doing something together,” says Perez. “Beyond just curating exhibitions, how can we work with the network that we already have? We also wanted to self-educate about the communities and circuits that we’re practicing in. But how can we do that also in a public sphere where we can also simultaneously work things out with everyone else?” Ladia and Perez, who was then affiliated with more gallery-based art, recognized the lack of infrastructure and support for artists and the art community in the Philippines. “So many practices were largely independent and also collaborative,” says Perez. “No funding. Artists were helping themselves, helping one another. It was something that we both saw. It was something also that Planting Rice always talks about.” An impetus of the project then was the notion of how they would be able to provide channels of opportunities and how artists and the community can know of each other “They had no idea where to start looking for residencies and opportunities when, in fact, it as there,” says Perez. “We just wanted to shape a way to do things that were already passing through us.” At the time, they tried a variety of platforms from the website to a newsletter as well as a Facebook page. This also extended to curatorial and exhibition projects under the Planting Rice banner. “A curatorial platform comes in different forms. When we met in the Philippines we dealt with spaces, but we also felt that there were other curatorial gestures or needs between artists that we need to address,” says Ladia. “And ‘spaces’ doesn’t necessarily mean physical spaces, it can be an online space, in can be an intermediary space. At this moment, we are talking about an archival space, which is something that we always wanted to address.” that Ladia and Perez mounted in the Lopez Museum and Library in Pasig City from September 18 to December 20, 2014. The exhibition focused on “art languages that will unearth the different forms of art writing and anecdotes of criticism in Philippines art history.” “We decided to use a space in the museum that we called Café of Letters as a casual way to interact with other people. We had programs there where people could just swap text on a USB [drive],” says Ladia. Planting Rice also served as a neutral platform for different artists and groups, of various and contrasting ideologies, who would not have seen each other eye to eye. “There were several factions of people not wanting to be associated with each other, but with the platform it’s more neutral and it’s an online space. That was something that people appreciated because there was no discrimination. It was not about featuring just one group. It was accessing, getting knowledge from different groups,” says Ladia. Since then several artists and curators worldwide have found a connection to the Philippines because of Planting Rice. “One thing that was recognized in Planting Rice is the acknowledgement that there is the diaspora and there are artists working on topics about the Philippines, who are Filipino, but are based elsewhere,” says Ladia. Currently, the project has evolved and consolidated into a single platform in the form a website while retaining a Facebook page for social media...
source: inquirer.net