Arts & Culture (03/25/26)

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Manila hosts 1st Southeast Asian Congress of Hispanists

THE Embassy of Spain is presenting the first Southeast Asian Congress of Hispanists this week. The event brings together scholars, researchers, and practitioners dedicated to the study of the Spanish language, literature, and culture. Participants from across Southeast Asia, along with invited experts from Europe and the United States, will come together at the Instituto Cervantes in Intramuros from March 26 to 27 to foster dialogue on the role of Hispanic studies in a global and multicultural context. The event is being held through the Instituto Cervantes and its Cultural Section and in collaboration with the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española and the Fundación Duques de Soria. Further information may be found at https://www.hispanismosea.org/.

Next-gen creators in multimedia exhibition

THE multimedia art exhibition ORGANICA: Emergence is presenting a collection of over 170 prints, traditional and digital artworks, and immersive installation pieces. Featured works range from illustrations, graphic design, photography, and 3D modeling to animation, games, video clips, films, and motion graphics. It likewise includes paintings, sculptures, and zines, among many others. Anchored in the theme of Bio Art, the showcase explores art as a living system. It features the portfolios of graduating Multimedia Arts students from the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) and is free and open to the public from March 26 to 28 at the Ayala Malls Circuit in Makati City.

NCCA stages Pakudos cultural recollection

THE National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) will be staging its first Lenten cultural recollection, titled Pakudos. The activity will kick off with a Holy Mass and be followed by a cultural performance by MB Rosie Sula, Sinukwan Kapampangan, Powerdance, Manunubli ng Sinala, and JM Yosures, who are all respected cultural performers from their regions. The Lenten presentation will be held on March 27, 5 p.m., at the Rizal Park Open-air Auditorium in Manila.

Kaida Contemporary mounts Fil-Chi women’s exhibit

AS PRODUCTS of migration, the Filipino-Chinese are a multi-hyphenate people with an identity in constant flux. This will be explored in Kaida Contemporary’s ongoing exhibit for women’s month, To know a bird’s song go to the mountains , curated by Janice Liuson-Young. Anchored on reinterpretations of the titular Chinese proverb, the exhibit seeks to unpack the reconfigurations of home through the works of 13 female Filipino-Chinese artists: Celine Lee, Shireen Co, Julieanne Ng, Sarah de Veyra-Buyco, Valerie Chua, Kadin Tiu, Jing, Tracie Anglo-Dizon, Billie Jean Chuaunsu, Janice Liuson-Young, Aze Ong, Kim Lim, and Helena Go. It runs until April 7 at Kaida Contemporary, located on 120 Kamias Rd., Diliman, Quezon City.

NYC-based Filipino artist exhibits at Art Cube Gallery

AN EXHIBITION titled The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is the 18th solo show of Julio Jose “Jojo” Austria, a Filipino artist based in New York City (NYC). FMLA is defined as unpaid and job-protected time off granted to employees specifically to care for an immediate family member, administered by the United States’ Department of Labor. The show poster was based on an actual form that the artist filled out as a Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) worker of nine years. Here, the term leave of absence (LOA) takes on a dual meaning — for the artist, a return to familial duty in the Philippines, his physical absence in studio bringing a different kind of presence within the paintings themselves. FMLA runs until April 7 at Art Cube Gallery at the OPVI Center, 2295 Chino Roces Ave., in Makati City.

PETA redefines people’s theater in Control + Shift

THE Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) is bringing back Control + Shift: Changing Narratives, which runs at the PETA Studio Theater from April 10 to 19. It will feature a “StudioLab” of fresh stories and restaged productions, with two new works produced under PETA’s Artist-Teacher Training alongside two returning pieces from last year’s festival and one developed with a theater group from a community partner. Set A features Jhudiel Clare Sosa’s Cleaners, directed by Julio Garcia, and Herlyn Alegre’s Monit-oh! Monit-ah!, directed by Norbs Portales. Set B features Mikaela Regis’ At Nagkatawang-tao Ang Verbo, directed by Anthony Cruz, and Anj Heruela’s Baga ng Gumuguhong Langit, directed by Ian Segarra. The PETA Theater Center is at No.5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City.

Tiffany Lafuente, Maricar Tolentino at MO_Space

TWO EXHIBITIONS are on view at MO_Space this month. In The FUN Stuff, Tiffany Lafuente cracks the veneer of everyday life, poking fun at mundane rituals as well as the domestic objects that allow us to fashion identities and shape how others perceive us. Meanwhile, in /hour, Maricar Tolentino sets down what she has previously practiced, the density of pigments and insistence of imagery, and picks up time and repetition. In white-on-white thread, she accounts for what labor demands and what it cannot, in hours, days, weeks, and months. The exhibitions run until April 19 at MO_Space, Bonifacio High Street, BGC, Taguig.