F is for Patrick Flores, A-Z of Filipino Cultural Exports
This post is less about Patrick Flores, than it is around the curatorial decisions made in representing the Philippines at Venice Biennale in 2015.
Although Flores is the official curator of the Philippine Pavillion 2015, as selected as by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, an earlier media announcement in March 2014, revealed the role was originally awarded to Pearlie Rose S. Baluyut, Ph.D. The contemporary art historian and author, along with a panel of 5 anonymous advisers, were to select a number of artists whose work fit within the designated theme of heterotopia, a theory developed by French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984).
“Heterot(r)opic,” which “revolves around the concept of the Philippines as a tropical heterotopia, a real space of crises where utopia — the myth of civilization and the project of progress — is simultaneously represented, negotiated, and/or subverted,”
The Philippines as a heterotopia, was the same theory, used by art critic Dan Kidner, to describe Lav Diaz’s new film ‘Storm Children: Book One’. Kidner recognised an evident overarching theme of ‘the more memorable films’ shown at ‘The Rotterdam International Film Festival’ 2015, by sub-classifying the film as a ‘crisis heterotopia’ – a world created by adolescents in the aftermath of a catastrophe (Typhoon Haiyan ,2013).
Tony Godfrey, author of ‘Conceptual Art’ (1998), made a set of curatorial propositions in ‘If The Philippines Were At The Venice Biennale’, an article published for international art magazine ‘Pipeline’, July 2013. He noted the difficulty of reducing a selection to 1 artist to represent a country whose international voice had been missing for 50 years. Instead he surveyed different movements or groups of artists working in the Philippine art world, in a hypothetical shortlists of ‘would be’ contenders. These included –
- Social realists, a dominant grouping for many years, including leading lights Mark Justiniani (b.1966) and Alfredo Esquillo (b.1972)
- Artists trained by Roberto Chabet (b.1937) at the University of Philippines – who, like their mentor, make conceptual art and installations
- Loose grouping associated with the now defunct alternative gallery Surrounded by Water, including Mariano Ching (b.1971), Louie Cordero (b.1978) and Geraldine Javier (b.1970), who studied with Chabet but have re-embraced painting and object-making
- A number of young artists who have become associated with Manuel Ocampo (b.1965), who has returned to Manila after years in the US and Europe, where he gained a reputation for rumbustious narrative paintings
- Individuals that are more difficult to fit into any box: the current darling of the art market is Ronald Ventura (b.1973) with his hyper-realist paintings; Isabel & Alfredo Aquilizan (b.1965 and 1962) are perennial biennale favourites; and the painter Rodel Tapaya (b.1980)
And so the discussion concludes, with curator Patrick Flores proposition to – ‘Tie A String Around the World’. His selection includes feature film ‘Ghenghis Khan’, a restored film by deceased filmmaker Manuel Conde (1915- 1985). The film returns to Venice, 63 years after it was first shown to an international audience, in doing so will ‘reflect on the country’s modernity and the present scheme of a world redrawn on the surface of water’. Commissioned work by sculptor Jose Tence Ruiz (b.1958) and multimedia artist Manny Montelibano (b. 1971) will also address this premise.
It seems fitting that Flores has selected water as a bridging medium to draw together complex histories and aesthetics used by artists working in the Philippines, for reasons which fit my limited understanding of the country –
1 – Water as an analogy for income. Beaches – the No 1 sales pitch used by Filipino tourist boards to sell the Philippines as a tourist destination.
2 – Water as an analogy for migration. Having grown up in Australia, a country known for its racial injustices, I was branded by kids at school as a ‘boat person’. Perhaps the colour of my skin and colour of my hair suggested I was an asylum seeker?
As an artist, all these suggestions – will of course inform my take and understanding on the Filipino national identity, as it comes from a place outside the mainstream vehicle of propaganda. However the thematic focus tends to be concerned with social history, be it reactionary or documentary. Thus I can’t help but wonder how Filipino’s, born outside of the Philippines perceive the country – from the outside looking in.
#OFW more than a country of good looking, half-wit, opportunistic terrorists
