Filipino art & soul

May 3, 2015

Italian Ambassador Massimo Roscigno hosted a cocktail reception at the Embassy residence in Makati City in honor of the Philippines’ participation at the 56th Art Venice Biennale 2015 exhibition that will run from May 9 to Nov. 22 in Venice, Italy. The Venice Biennale (Biennale d’Arte di Venezia) is a major exhibition of contemporary art, which is held every two years — an event that has over 300,000 visitors.

As explained by Sen. Loren Legarda — chairperson of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and who encouraged the country’s participation in the event — art is a very important facet of rebuilding the nation especially after the disasters wrought by typhoons Yolanda and Glenda.

For people who may wonder why the Philippines is joining the art exhibit now after 50 years of absence, the senator says art should be an enabler of development, which is why the Philippines should join the prestigious exhibit all the more. “Art will become an even more important platform to highlight Filipino creativity,” she remarked, adding that we need to engage the international community on the cultural level.

Admittedly, more Filipino artists will be encouraged not only in exhibiting their craft but also in promoting the relevance of the arts in nation building. An esteemed panel of jurors in the field of modern and contemporary art along with National Commission for Culture and the Arts chair Felipe de Leon, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Sen. Legarda deliberated on 16 curatorial proposals to select the official Philippine representative to the biennale.

The jurors selected Patrick Flores’ curatorial concept titled Tie a String Around the World, which is described as “a poetic and political reflection on the history of world making, the links between geography and politics and the notions of nation, territory and archipelago.” It is deemed as the most fitting presentation to highlight the Philippines’ return to the contemporary art world’s first and most prestigious biennale after half a century of absence, with the last one in 1964 with the works of Jose Joya.

Source: Philstar