Arts & Culture (03/02/22)

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MO_Space opening 2 shows

MO_SPACE is opening two shows on March 2. The first, at the Main Gallery, is “The Brightest Part,” featuring works by Celine Lee. At Gallery 2 is “I,” a solo show by Miguel Lorenzo Uy. Both shows will run until March 27. In “The Brightest Part,” Ms. Lee continues to be confronted with the transmutability of visual art — particularly its physicality or lack thereof in the digital age — and centers on the metaphor of shadows: a recurring theme in the artist’s oeuvre. Her latest body of work integrates photography with sculpture. In “I,” Mr. Uy presents a series of photos, all of which are close-up shots of all cameras/lenses currently in his possession or has access to. The series acts as a self-portrait for the artist, whose current interest is in questioning his relationship with the technologies and media that have constituted his identity. The gallery opens daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. For inquiries, call 8403-6620 or 0917-572-7970. MO_Space is at the 3^rd level, MOs Design, B2 Bonifacio High Street, 9^th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

����䴡’s Saan Ka Lulugar webinar series

IN CELEBRATION of National Arts Month, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), through the National Committee on Architecture and the Allied Arts (NCAAA), is holding a series of conversations that will highlight how creativity in planning, designing, and constructing of built environment can hasten recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. With the theme “Creativity as a Catalyst for Recovery,” the four-part webinar series, “Saan Ka Lulugar” is open to the public. The fourth session, on March 4, 2 p.m., will focus on creative innovations. Register at . For more information, visit .

Free webinar looks at WWII in the Philippines

The Ayala Foundation, Inc. — Filipinas Heritage Library, and US Embassy in the Philippines present “Popcorn At The Barracks” with Nick Deocampo. The free webinar is part of “Liberation: War & Hope,” a series of events in commemoration of the 75^th anniversary of the end of WWII. The webinar will be on March 5, 10 a.m. to noon, on line via and . In the latest installment of “Liberation Talks,” webinars by Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL), independent filmmaker and UP professor Nick Deocampo will discuss the legacies left behind by World War II on Philippine cinema using three perspectives: historiographic, semiotic, and nationalist. Mr. Deocampo will reconstruct movie spectatorship and film production during and after the war. This history will shed light on how nationalist filmmakers use Hollywood melodrama to revisit wartime and post-war Filipino-American relations. Reflecting on cold war developments, the speaker will examine movies that deal with the theme of the Second World War, particularly Manuel Silos’ Victory Joe and Lino Brocka’s “Hellow, Soldier” from the acclaimed drama trilogy Tatlo, Dalawa, Isa. The webinar will also cover topics related to the treatment of American films during the three-year occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese military as well as the triumphant return of Hollywood on local screens. The semiotic approach will use the science to provide a tool to give meaning using the signs in the films — the images, sounds, and gestures. How do films — minus the dialogue — speak? And finally, the talk will seek to answer how nationalism forms a framework that made cinema evolve into national culture. To learn more, visit and .

Geneology webinar focuses on links to Fujian

THE MUSEUM Foundation of the Philippines will be holding a webinar, “Relative Finder: Reconnecting Family Histories From Filipinas to Fujian,” led by Eduardo Dela Cruz, on March 5, 10 a.m. Mr. De la Cruz is an IT professional from Northern Samar. Since 2012, his advocacy work Relative Finder, has helped reconnect the roots of over 60 families from the Philippines and China. He is a contributor to Tulay Chinese-Filipino Digest where he writes about his experiences bridging lost family histories. His work has been presented in international conferences and media outfits. To join the webinar, register here: .

Asian Cultural Council holds fundraiser

THE ASIAN Cultural Council (ACC) Auction 2022 will be held on March 5 at 2 p.m. at the Leon Gallery. A portion of the proceeds from this annual auction will help fund various ACC grants for Filipino and other Asian artists and arts-based practitioners. To view the catalogue, visit . Register to bid online at . Auction items are currently on view at Leon Gallery, Eurovilla I, Legazpi St. corner V.A. Rufino St., Legazpi Village, Makati.

Free collage webinar offered

CUT and Paste, a two-part workshop-webinar, will be headlined by Kaloy Olavides, a 2012 Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Thirteen Artist Awardee. Hosted by the Arts and Culture Cluster of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, the multimedia artist and musician will highlight how combining and forming an assemblage of different photos, clippings, and small accents can serve as a study and reference for aspiring artists to achieve their concepts. The Benilde School of Design and Arts educator will introduce Magic Eye Pictures or autostereogram, which creates the visual illusion of a 3D scene from a two-dimensional image. He will showcase some of his personal drawings in the style as well as the most significant works of his students. He will also discuss the leading influences in the genre, such as the collages of Winston Smith, popularly known for his artworks for the punk rock group Dead Kennedys. Cut and Paste is free and open to the public. It will be conducted online via Zoom on March 9 and 16, at 2 p.m. Each session will conclude with a question-and-answer portion as well as a collage workshop. To register, visit the official Facebook page of BACC at .   

Salcedo holds auction of PHL art and furniture

SALCEDO Auctions’ “Important Philippine Art & Furniture, including Tribal & Ethnographic Art” auction will be held on March 12, 2 p.m. The auction preview is ongoing until March 11, daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at NEX Tower, 6786 Ayala Ave., Makati. For inquiries, call Salcedo Auctions at 0917-825-7449 or e-mail info@salcedoauctions. To view the catalogue, visit .

UnionBank, CANVAS.PH team up on NFT art space

UNION BANK of the Philippines (UnionBank) is leveraging its expertise in blockchain technology in a partnership with the non-profit organization Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS.PH) to help artists and collectors navigate the emerging non-fungible token (NFT) art space. The partnership was made official through a virtual signing event on Feb. 17 between Cathy Casas, UnionBank’s Head of Blockchain Center of Excellence (BCOE), Digital Assets Markets Unit and API Marketplace; and Gigo Alampay, Executive Director, CANVAS.PH. They were joined by former Department of Energy Secretary Popo Lotilla, who introduced CANVAS.PH to UnionBank, and who has set his eyes recently on the transformative potential of blockchain technology especially here in the Philippines. Under the partnership, UnionBank, through its BCOE, and CANVAS.PH will jointly facilitate an educational program focused on NFTs for artists and collections. This program consists of a series of webinars and a sale and auction of Filipino NFT artworks curated by CANVAS.PH, the proceeds of which will be for the benefit of the latter’s mission to work “with the creative community to promote children’s literacy, explore national identity, and deepen public appreciation for Philippine art, culture, and the environment.” To help minimize the environmental impact that will result from the use of the blockchain network Ethereum, UnionBank will augment its already existing tree-planting activities, including in Ibaan, Batangas at the site of CANVAS’ planned children’s museum of Philippine art, pledging to plant even more trees to offset the potential carbon footprint.

Consumer rights group stages art show

Pushing for consumer rights through art, the multi-sectoral group Rights Action Philippines (RAP) has mounted an art exhibit entitled “Protecting Our Consumer Rights in the State of Pandemic” which is ongoing until March 12, at the Gallery M, Taft Ave., Pasay City. The exhibit, featuring more than 80 paintings and sculptures from 49 contemporary artists, depicts the realities that artists and consumers alike are going through in these pandemic times. Among the works are Romualdo Calingo’s Munting Nakayanan, Lauren Jascha Tolentino’s Pang ilang tao kaya? series, Geronimo Sicat-Santos’ Artificial Flavor; Marcelo Quezon’s King of the Road series, and Jojo Garcia’s Balik Pasada, No to Phaseout. The exhibit can be accessed online through RAP’s website, and FB page and .