To mark the opening of the year, one fraught with tension and anxiety, but as always filled as well with hope that we will not only survive but prevail, here are some events worth supporting and encouraging.
To celebrate his 25th year in theater and his 45th year “in this world,” my good friend Bart Guingona is staging “The Atheist,” a one-man play at the Ayala Museum, on Friday, Jan. 30. Tickets have been priced at P1,000 per person, but all profits will go to the Ayala Museum outreach program. Besides, isn’t this as good a time as any not just to wish Bart a happy birthday, as well as to pay homage to his contributions to local theater, but also to help spread the bounty of art and culture to our countryfolk, especially young people.
As it happens, “The Atheist” also has enormous relevance to journalists, as it tells the story of Augustine Early, a “crooked reporter” who will go to any extent to get a front-page story. “When Augustine turns a prominent local politician’s tawdry predilections into front-page news, the scandal threatens to undo the one person Augustine thought was immune — himself.” Sounds like an ominous scenario, and especially dire for people in my profession!
Seats are limited, so order your tickets now!
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If you will remember, I wrote some months back about the 100 Nudes/100 Years Exhibit that the University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) mounted in time for the UP Centennial and to raise funds for the group’s projects, including supporting the university’s athletic programs.
This time, the UP Centennial Artists, all of them graduates of UP but not all from the College of Fine Arts, in cooperation with the UPAA, is holding a “Mother and Child Exhibit.” While less controversial than its showcase of nudes, the exhibit is no less exciting as it features never-before-seen pieces from artists as renowned as National Artists Jose Joya and Bencab, and well-known practitioners Cheloy Dans, Ofelia Gelveson-Tequi, Romy Mananquil and Janice Young, among others.
The “Mother-and-Child” Exhibit runs at the Trade Hall, third level of the Gateway Mall in Araneta Center, Quezon City.
To complement the visual aspects of the show, a number of talks have been slated in the same venue. The discussions will focus on the “Mother-and-Child” as a recurring theme in art, gathering students, artists and teachers from UP.
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This Friday, Jan. 9, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., you’re also invited to cocktails for the inaugural fundraising exhibit of “Lente,” a social enterprise that promotes photography as a means to build community-based education centers in the country.
The “Lente” exhibit takes place at Le Souffle, Top of the Citi, Citibank Tower, Salcedo Village in Makati City.
Some 40 signed and framed limited-edition photos by members of Lente will be on exhibit, and will launch Lente.ph. The event also serves to raise funds for the library projects of Synergeia Foundation, dedicated to raising education standards in the Philippines by transforming schools and improving their facilities, including building libraries where there are none.
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“The Road to Naoshima” is the name of an exhibit by photographer Jun de Leon which documents a visit he paid to Japan’s “art island” of Naoshima using, not a camera with all sorts of complicated, new-fangled gadgets, but rather a cell phone, the Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot phone.
The exhibit, which runs until Jan. 15, has been billed as the country’s “first outdoor camera phone photography exhibit” and can be viewed at Bonifacio High Street at the Fort.
Nearly half of De Leon’s photos have been enlarged to astounding clarity at 47 x 35 inches, printed on Kodak Enduratrans Film, described as a more demanding medium for enlarged backlit images. De Leon optimized the use of his C905 through a long journey on planes, buses, bullet trains and boats.
Naoshima is located off the southern coast of Japan, and means a difficult journey for travelers wishing to experience nature, art and architecture as a seamless whole. Credit for Naoshima becoming a peaceful art retreat goes to renowned architect Tadao Ando, creator of the Benesse House Museum complex on the island, and one of De Leon’s architectural heroes.
Ando is the prize winning architect behind structures as diverse as Teatro Armani, Giorgio Armani’s Milan headquarters; and the Church of the Light in Ibaraki, Osaka. His work is characterized by the use of natural light and architecture that blends with the environment’s natural landscape. These attributes are apparent in his creation of Benesse House and the Chichu Art Museum, the lead structures that have sparked art appreciation to new heights in Naoshima.
“You can’t really say what is beautiful about a place, but the image of the place will remain vividly with you,” Ando has said.
De Leon has taken that to heart and shares his memories of the island in photographs. Visitors will enjoy a showcase of 30 big, bold, and astoundingly clear camera phone pictures taken with the C905 in this first-of-its-kind outdoor exhibit.
