From Venice to PHL: ‘Muhon’ Exhibit Comes Home

The Philippines’ first national pavilion in the Venice Architecture Biennale is home.

On October 26, 2017, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda will open the homecoming exhibition of Muhon: Traces of an Adolescent City – The Philippine Pavilion at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

The exhibition, curated by Sudarshan Khadka Jr., Juan Paolo de la Cruz, and Leandro Y. Locsin Jr. of Leandro V. Locsin Partners (LVLP), was the Philippines’ official representation in the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2016, the country’s first official participation.

The participants and their subjects are: Poklong Anading for KM 0; Tad Ermitaño for Pandacan Bridge; Mark Salvatus for Binondo; Eduardo Calma for the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC); Jorge Yulo for Mandarin Hotel; 8×8 Design Studio Co. for the Magsaysay Center; C|S Design Consultancy for Pasig River; Lima Architecture for the Makati Stock Exchange; and Mañosa & Co. for Tahanang Pilipino or Coconut Palace.

“Muhon was our first national pavilion for the Architecture Biennale. It has started a dialogue that allows us to ponder on the realities that surround us, particularly on our built heritage, and to shape our own personal narrative as a community. It is now here in the country for Filipinos to see,” said Senator Legarda, whose vision and leadership paved the way for the country’s return to the Venice Biennale.

Through the exhibition, the curatorial team poses the question: “Are we demolishing buildings before we have had the time to fall in love with them?”

Leandro Locsin Jr., one of the co-curators, explains, “The primary objective of the exhibition is to question the debilitating mindset of a damaged identity ascribed to the conflict between fashion and commercialism and a desire to conform to a preconceived notion of self and history.”

Muhon aims to make sense of the implications of the careless destruction of cultural heritage and the relative lack of social consciousness about the issue.

Muhon: Traces of an Adolescent City homecoming exhibition is organized by the NCCA, the DFA, and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Manila.

It will be open to the public from October 27 to December 30, 2017 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Malate, Manila.