Condition Report: Almost There
The exhibition responds to and tries to explore a phrase from a particular study of spiritual life and spectacle in a Philippine province. Fenella Cannell proposes the notion of “intimacy and power” to define the process of shaping affinity and sympathy with others. Such a process always involves the effort to imitate but not to repeat, to belong but not to assimilate, and to share the experience with mutual investments. At the same time, it is driven by interest, by the desire to be recognized, the aspiration to be visible. The exhibition explores this tension between distance and kinship. Thus, the title speaks of a gap, an “intense proximity” that does not quite touch the address, the place to be, or the destination as yet.
Included in the exhibition are works/projects by selected artists in various media including painting, sculpture, film/video, installation and performance, and small-scale curatorial projects by three curators: Ayos Purwoaji Surip Mawardi, Lisa Ito-Tapang and Lyno Vuth that respond to a specific work by a participating artist or to a context drawn from the concept of the exhibition. Several works/projects include the element of direct, in-depth interaction with the public that spills out of the gallery space; a number of activities will be held in the form of walks, performances, lectures and discussions throughout the exhibition period, many of which will take place at the architectural platform built by Nousaku Fuminori with Rosario Encarnacion-Tan at the Vargas Lawn.
(Patrick D. Flores & Che Kyongfa)
Co-Curators
Patrick D. Flores［Curator, Jorge B. Vargas Museum］(Philippines), Che Kyongfa［Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo］(Japan)
Artists
Universe Baldoza (Philippines), Carolina Caycedo (UK / Colombia / USA), Cian Dayrit (Philippines), Ho Rui An (Singapore), Winner Jumalon (Philippines), Kapwani Kiwanga (Canada / France), Runo Lagomarsino (Sweden / Brazil), An-My Lê (Vietnam / USA), Miyagi Futoshi (Japan), Nousaku Fuminori (Japan), Philippine Educational Theater Association/PETA (Philippines), Shen Shaomin (China), Maria Taniguchi (Philippines), Adrienne Vergara (Philippines)