MANILA -- When we talk about arts in Southeast Asia, majority would think about the traditional kind.
However, in an event celebrating the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) 51st founding anniversary on Aug. 8, the Philippines rallied artists from all 10 member states to exhibit the other face of Southeast Asian craft – that is, modern art.
In the exhibit, "Ties of History: Art in Southeast Asia" at the Metropolitan Museum, art historian, scholar, and curator Patrick Flores said the initiative allows observers to learn how Southeast Asian works have evolved through the years.
"It's true that it's an impression that art from ASEAN countries are exclusively traditional art, but having said that, contemporary art engages with tradition," Flores said in a press conference. "Exhibitions like this give us the opportunity to rethink impressions of what constitutes the traditional, what constitutes the modern."
He said the exhibit draws attention to the "thoughtful and sensitive process of artistic transformation and maturity."
National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Chairman Virgilio Almario, said, “There is much to gain in gathering the talents of the region in order to view not only their works but to also reflect on the realities each of them responds to.”
Almario, in the same press conference, said he pushed for an exhibit that would show what “contemporary” in ASEAN is.
"I know for a fact that when you think about Southeast Asian art, we think of traditional things, traditional textile, and traditional songs. That is what is always exhibited in most of the ASEAN exhibitions," he said. "I would like now that the Philippines experience what is really happening in the contemporary art, not only in the Philippines but also in our neighboring countries."
Almario emphasized that “it is a proud moment that the Philippines initiates this celebration of ASEAN artists.”
The project was presented by the NCCA through the Dalubhasaan Para sa Edukasyon sa Sining at Kultura (DESK), with support from Senator Loren Legarda.
It will be held simultaneously in three major art institutions in the Philippines -- the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (MET Manila), the University of the Philippines’ Vargas Museum, and the Yuchengco Museum.
The exhibit features artists Amanda Heng of Singapore, Roberto Feleo of the Philippines, Anusapati of Indonesia, Do Hoang Tuong of Vietnam, Savanhdary Vongpoothorn of Laos, Chris Chong Chan Fui of Malaysia, Jedsada Tangtrakulwong of Thailand, Min Thein Sung of Myanmar, Vuth Lyno of Cambodia, and Yasmin Jaidin of Brunei.
The exhibit will be on view from August 10 to October 6.
Legarda, for her part, lauded the recent developments in Philippine contemporary art, saying the project puts the country at the center of contemporary art globally.
She invited ASEAN neighbors to continue the art project annually or biennially, in the same manner an ASEAN chairman hosts political and economic affairs in the bloc. (PNA)
