CCP announces the 13 Artists Award recipients online
FOR the first time since it began in 1970, the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ (CCP) 13 Artists Awards (TAA) nominations and announcement of awardees were held completely online.
This year’s awardees are painter Allan Balisi, painter and new media artist Nice Buenaventura, painter Gino Bueza, printmaker Mars Bugaoan, visual artist and writer Rocky Cajigan, photographer Geloy Concepcion, painter and educator Patrick Cruz, painter and interactive installation artist Ian Carlo Jaucian, street art group KoloWn, photographer, video and site installation artist Czar Kristoff, painter Lou Lim, papercuttings sculptor Ryan Villamael, and interdisciplinary artist, designer, and writer Catherine Sarah Young.
The online submission of nominations closed in March. Then 97 nominees were contacted to submit digital portfolios. The selection committee chose 88 portfolios for evaluation. The selection of the 13 awardees was done through online evaluation.
This year’s selection committee was composed of artists who were themselves 13 Artists awardees — Imelda Cajipe Endaya (1990), Nona Garcia (2003), Nap Jamir II (1974), and Gerry Tan (1988) — along with Rica Estrada, the CCP’s Head of the Visual Arts and Museum Division.
“It was such a great dive into their practice to be able to see what all of the artists are doing now. And it’s really hard to box people in. And I think that’s a really great thing…,” said CCP’s Ms. Estrada at the online award announcement on July 1 held via Zoom.
“Moving forward, I’m seeing more diversity, [and] more experimentation. I’m seeing how artists will find new ways to talk about what’s happening in the world, in ways that we can’t even imagine yet,” she added.
The 13 Artists awardees will each receive a production grant to produce new work for a group exhibition at the CCP. This year’s exhibition will be curated by 2018 13 Artists awardee Shireen Seno. The trophy which the artists will receive will be designed by Mac Valdezco, a 13 Artists awardee in 2006. The awarding ceremony and exhibition will be announced at a later date.
CCP Chairperson Maria Margarita “Margie” Roxas Moran-Floirendo said in a video during the announcement: “We are always on the lookout for passionate and persistent creative visionaries to provide thought-provoking relevant ideas that can help international development. We hope the new batch of 13 Artists Awards recipients will continue to uphold the honors and responsibilities that come with the recognition.”
“We want to position the TAA as a springboard to the careers of exceptional young talent and believe that they will be noteworthy contributors of the Philippine art scene who continuously pursue artistic excellence over years of art practice,” she added.
Now on its 18th year, the CCP 13 Artists Award is the oldest government award for visual artists.
The award is named after the 13 Moderns, a group of artists in the mid-20th Century who broke with convention and moved away from the conservative formality of the country’s old masters. The idea of the 13 Moderns inspired then-CCP Museum Director Roberto Chabet to curate an exhibit called “Thirteen Artists” in 1970, all of whom were young and whose works were “a turning-away from past, familiar modes of art-making, a movement towards possibilities and discoveries.” In the decades that followed, exhibits and awards for the 13 Artists were held, with the artists chosen at first by Mr. Chabet, then by nomination and a review committee. Originally an annual then biannual event, the awards have been granted every three years since 2003.
It has named 198 artists-awardees since 1970, including one National Artist and four Gawad CCP awardees. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman
