Discourse brings art to higher plane

Some Catholic groups denounced the pullout of the visual arts exhibit “Kulo” at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Their suing CCP and the artist-participants in connection with the exhibit is simply a hysterical reaction. They should cool it. Catholic infrastructure is already predominant in Philippine society, owing to our history’s 300-years of church-state rule. Catholic churches are all over the country. Catholic schools, convents, seminaries and retreat houses also abound. Even public offices play host to Catholic altars and rituals in violation of the constitutional principle of Church-State violation.

Why go ballistic over a one-month exhibit with a crucifix-cum-condom artwork in a hall of an underfunded public cultural institution?

Catholic groups should be the last to harp on CCP using taxpayers’ money on undertakings that do not suit their religious taste. They should not forget that religious institutions in the country, mostly Catholic, are tax free. Thus, albeit indirectly, these institutions are subsidized by the entire Filipino people, including non-Catholics.

The CCP maybe underfunded, but officials who run the institution are professional and dedicated artists who know the basic requirement of creativity, which is freedom of expression. With this freedom is the opportunity of artists to express and promote their respective ideologies in various forms and styles. Surely, the Catholic Church is not lacking in artist-devotees who can produce millions of crucifixes without condoms.

On the other hand, dialogues and discourses regarding issues like this could bring form and content on a higher plane. Then, the crucifixes could be transformed into symbols of a suffering people in an oppressive and inequitable political and economic system.

—JULIE L. PO,
Linangan ng Kulturang Pilipino
[email protected]