The National Planetarium closing temporarily
THE NATIONAL Museum of the Philippines has announced that the National Planetarium will be temporarily closed, and its 46-year-old building will be decommissioned. In a Facebook post uploaded on Oct. 11, the National Museum said the closure was meant “to give way to the development plans of the National Parks Development Committee in the central and western sections of Rizal Park.” The post added that National Museum of the Philippines has taken over the eastern section of Rizal Park, with development plans in the area for the National Museum Complex. A new National Planetarium building is currently in the development stage.
Sustainable designs in tech and beyond in online dialogue
A FREE public webinar entitled “Sustainable Designs through Digital Tech” explores the different principles, various aspects and major drivers to achieve sustainable designs through various technologies and evaluate it through specific metrics. It will be conducted online via Zoom today from 4 to 6 p.m. Filipino Sign Language (FSL) interpreters will also be present during the session. It will be facilitated by Industrial Designer Gideon Catalan, who will demonstrate his expertise and fascination in utilizing both traditional and digital methods in transforming imaginative ideas into actual products. As a solutions architect for Accelerating Makers, a team that bridges the gap between the academe and the industry through collaborations and innovations, he believes that digital fabrication technologies make it possible for anyone to build. Organized by the Hub of Innovation for Inclusion at the Peter D. Garrucho, Jr. Innovations Institute of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, “Sustainable Designs through Digital Tech” is the latest installment of Social Innovation Talks, a series of lectures that initiate dialogues on innovation for social good. Interested participants may register through https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-innovation-talks-sustainable-designs-through-digital-tech-tickets-171017516997.
Contemporary Print Fair online
IN CELEBRATION of local fine art printmaking, running for a week from Oct. 18 to 25 at cartellino.com is “Limbag Kamay: Contemporary Print Fair.” A collaborative effort between Fundacion Sansó, Cartellino, and the Association of Pinoyprintmakers (AP), this fair is the first of its kind for the Philippines, as it shall exclusively feature hand-pulled fine art prints. Intaglio etchings, drypoint, relief, collagraph, serigraphs — hundreds of such works by some of Philippine printmaking’s best practitioners will be on show. Fairgoers can expect original works by master artists and printmakers Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado, Elmer “Emong” Borlongan, Noëll El Farol, Jess Flores, Lenore RS Lim, Manuel Rodriguez, Sr., Juvenal Sansó, and Wesley Valenzuela, alongside those by over 60 printmakers the likes of Mars Bugaoan, Joey Cobcobo, Hershey Malinis, and Diokno Pasilan. As “Limbag Kamay” is artist-initiated, its co-organizers — Angela Silva, Anton Villaruel, and Jun-Jun Sta. Ana — shall also be exhibiting works. Thirty (30%) of all profits will go towards building a prototype batch of small-size etching presses. These desktop etching presses are to be made available to printmakers across the Philippines. This is a future project to be handled by AP. The fair will also have online talks, demonstrations, and discussions on relevant topics about Philippine printmaking. All talks and demonstrations shall be streamed in the organizers’ respective channels.
Altro Mondo presents ‘Island’
ALTRO Mondo Arte Contemporanea presents “Island,” a solo exhibition featuring works by Raul Deodato Arellano at the Altro Mondo Creative Space gallery. The exhibit is ongoing until Oct. 24. “Island” is a result of the artist’s time spent in his sanctuary, producing figure and landscape paintings. The gallery is at 1159 Chino Roces Ave., San Antonio Village, Makati City. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Viewings are strictly by appointments only . For inquiries, contact the gallery on Facebook (@altromondoart) or Instagram (@altromondoart), or send a message via Viber or WhatsApp at 0917-888-7872.
Art auction supports International Care Ministries
THIRTY-FOUR artists have donated their works to the International Care Ministries’ (ICM) fundraising banquet this year. ICM is a non-profit organization working to transform the lives of the ultra-poor. Its annual fundraising banquet, which attracts hundreds of Hong Kong’s top executives, has raised tens of millions of US dollars over the past 16 years towards the alleviation of ultra-poverty in the Philippines. Every year, the works of Filipino artists have been a highlight of the banquet’s auction. Among the artists who have donated their works for the auction are painter Addie Cukingnan, sculptors Ram Mallari and Seb Chua, and painters Migs Villanueva, Louie Aguinaldo, Kristine Lim, Ombok Villamor, Carlo Magno, Marius Black, Sam Penaso, Benjie Cabangis, Marcy Dans, and Mary Rose Gisbert. Entitled “Inspiring Hope, Empowering Change,” the banquet will be held on Oct. 28, with the main event starting live at 8:30 p.m., Hong Kong/Manila time. The Countdown Show, with a more-detailed look at auction items starts at 7:30 p.m. Interested parties, or even just art lovers looking for new art in the auction, may learn more and sign up at caremin.com/banquet-2021.
CCP program helps dancers
WITH the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation continuing to affect the live events and performance arts in the country, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) has initiated a special program to support the professional dance in the Philippines. The CCP Professional Dance Support Program aims to arrest the deterioration of skills, techniques, and performance excellence of the Filipino dancers, while providing them with continued artistic employment and discouraging their shift to other occupations due to absence or reduced opportunities in dance. As a culminating event of the program, artists of the CCP Professional Dance Support Program will perform new and classical works choreographed and restaged by Filipino choreographers and regisseurs, mentored by National Artist for Dance, Alice Reyes, Alden Lugnasin, and Nonoy Froilan. The CCP Professional Dance Support Program artists come from the CCP Dance Workshop, Ballet Manila and Philippine Ballet Theater as well as regional dance artists. Collectively known as Dance On!, the culminating performances can now be viewed via the CCP Facebook page and YouTube channel. The program is shot specifically for the enjoyment of digital viewing. For more information, check out the CCP website (www.cultural center.gov.ph) and follow the official CCP social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
3 shows at Silverlens
SILVERLENS presents three shows this month. Maria Taniguchi’s “room of phases” studies seriality through a suite of square canvases painted in checkered pattern, with portions stripped of paint or a section wherein color does not take. Each canvas is created using silkscreen, using a thin layer of paint. The sequence of checkered canvases and the ambient purples of the unembellished paintings structure the main gallery space of Silverlens. Then there is a new show by Eric Zamuco called “Working on the Mountain,” taken from the title of a book of essays by N.V.M. Gonzales. In this series of work, the mixed media artist ponders on the metaphor of geologic accretion and formation found in ancient temples and applies it to objects in the thick of instability and ruin. Each assemblage, called Templo, is a self-contained compound of metal rods inserted through overlapping glass panels and wood like acupuncture points marking a body. “Working on the Mountain” and “room of phases” run from Oct. 14 to Nov. 13. Finally, there is Therese Regalado’s first solo exhibition, “Material Research,” featuring her assemblages, which runs from Oct. 21 to Nov. 11. Silverlens is at 2263 Don Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati City. For details on visits call 8816-0044, 0917-587-4011, or e-mail info@silverlensgalleries.com.
Kristine Lim’s ‘SOAR’
THIRTY-THREE framed mixed media works, several of them triptychs, make up the second solo exhibition of artist Kristine Lim titled “SOAR” at the Manila Hotel. She uses a technique which combines a special textured ground with layers of transparent metallic bronze and gold glazes over graphite drawings. With ‘SOAR,’ Ms. Lim proposes a potential way to salvation, based on the guiding principles of her Christian faith. Found at the lobby lounge of the Manila Hotel, SOAR is presented by Art Lounge Manila. The exhibit is ongoing Oct. 30. Proceeds from the exhibit’s closing auction will go to Malasakit Para Sa Bayan Foundation, Inc. For inquiries, call at 0977-839-8971, 0998-993-7963, or e-mail info@artloungemanila.com, or visit https://artloungemanila.com.
Virgin Labfest writing fellowship accepting applications
THE CULTURAL Center of the Philippines (CCP) is now accepting applications for the Virgin Labfest 16 Writing Fellowship Program which will be held on Nov. 16 to Dec. 5. The Virgin Labfest, an annual festival of unpublished, unstaged, untried, and untested works of playwrights, directors, and actors produced by the CCP, Tanghalang Pilipino, and the Writer’s Bloc has gained a reputation of producing provocative and outstanding “virgin” plays. The Virgin Labfest 16 Writing Fellowship Program is a three-week mentorship program on the study and practice of dramatic writing for the stage. The fellows will take part in lectures, discussions, and workshops on playwriting and script critiquing. They will also be given access to watch recordings of selected past festival plays, as well as the opportunity to participate in the talkback and interaction with known playwrights and directors. The Fellowship Program will culminate in a staged/script reading of the fellows’ works on which will be streamed online via the CCP Facebook Page on Dec. 4 and 5. Requirements must be received by 11:59 p.m., Oct. 22, the announcement of accepted applicants will be made on Nov. 5. A registration fee of P1,850 will be required of all accepted fellows. For inquiries and details on the application process for on the Virgin Labfest 16 Writing Fellowship Program, e-mail vlf16wfp@gmail.com.
MCAD offers subscription-based streaming exhibit
THE MUSEUM of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) Manila will hold “Watch and Chill: Streaming Art to Your Homes,” a subscription-based art streaming platform and traveling moving image exhibition curated in collaboration with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in Seoul, Korea; the M+ West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Responding to and examining the changing behavioral patterns of the digital era, the exhibition shares video works by major artists active in Asia through its online platform (https://watchandchill.kr) and through on-site presentations specific to each city. For Manila, MCAD will be holding free drive-in theater screenings of selected video works from the collections of the four art institutions in the region. Screenings will be held five times a week, from Oct. 29 to Dec. 5. Artists featured include Shireen Seno, Mark Salvatus and Cocoy Lumbao from the Philippines as well as Oh Min, Yuan Goang-ming, Wang Gongxin, Kawita Vatanajyankur, Cao Fei, Cha Jeamin, Kim Heecheon, Wantanee Siripattananuntakul, CAMP, Chai Siris, Tada Hengsapkul, Cha Jiryang, Kim Heecheon, Saroot Supasuthivech, Koo Donghee, Jiang Zhi, and Cici Wu. Meanwhile, from Oct. 30 to Nov. 14, MCAD will present MCAD Commons: Artists’ Film International Program 2021. MCAD Commons is an exhibition program conceptualized as a programmed space removed from the museum’s main gallery space. For 2021, the MCAD Commons program presents Artists’ Film International (AFI), a collaborative project featuring film, video, and animation from around the world. A selection of films from the AFI project for 2021 will be presented in two offsite venues: Sine Pop in Cubao, Metro Manila and Project Space Pilipinas in Lucban, Quezon. Films will be presented through on-site video installations as well as scheduled screenings. Artists include Kiri Dalena, Mihály Stefanovicz, Rehana Zaman, Agnė Jokšė, Kenneth Tam, Julia Sbriller and Joaquin Wall, Victoria Verseau, Thania Petersen, Clare Langan, Patty Chang, Giulio Squillacciotti, and Kerstin Honeit.
Canva helps online learning with Canva Eskwela
CANVA introduces Canva Eskwela, a page featuring free and visually engaging content especially tailored for educators and learners in the Philippines: from desktop organizers and lesson plan templates, to presentations and ice breakers to make virtual classes more interactive and fun. Canva is known for being user-friendly and accessible even to those with no design background and it is even more convenient for educators to create content from scratch with Canva Eskwela so they can save time and focus on other tasks. With Canva for Education, students and teachers can also access easy-to-learn resources such as videos and audio recordings that contain tips and guides on designing their materials. Teachers can also find a community where they can share stories and best practices and support one another on the Canva for Filipino Teachers Facebook group. To sign up for Canva Eskwela for free, go to www.canva.com/education/canva-eskwela/.
