Migration exhibit moves from CCP to private gallery

An international art project about migration has moved the opening of the multi-venue exhibition to the Blanc Compound instead of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), citing the government institution's inability "to protect its autonomy" and the need for artists to express themselves freely. The multi-pronged art exhibit Nothing to Declare was originally scheduled to open at the CCP on Oct. 18 before moving to two museums, but its curatorial board decided to change the venue of the opening exhibition in the wake of the CCP's premature closing of the controversial "Kulo" exhibition in the country's premier art space. The CCP was forced to temporarily close the gallery where the "Kulo" exhibition was on display after one of the artworks there, artist Mideo Cruz's mixed-media collage called "Poleteismo," was vandalized last August. Sought for a reaction, CCP Vice President and Artistic Director Chris Millado told GMA News Online: "We consider it a loss, but of course, at the same time, we see it as an opportunity for other galleries other than the CCP to continue this dialogue. We sincerely wish in the future that this group of artists could work again with us." Millado said the CCP has lined up other projects, including a joint exhibit of Michael Lagos and Anton del Castillo that will focus on the impact of images of war and violence on children, and a Roberto Chabet retrospective in December. "We feel that this is a group of artists with something very important to say, especially in the aftermath of what happened with the whole controversy. I think this is a group of young artists who show very interesting work, who actually present quite difficult questions out there. It would have been a way to extend the dialogue, continue the dialogue that has been raised previously," Millado said. With its vision to "make contemporary art accessible to a wider public, and to create a space for a lively exchange of ideas, even and especially if those ideas are unpopular," the curatorial board of Nothing to Declare decided to pull out of CCP due to artistic differences. "Such a vision and predisposition must find a home outside CCP, an institution unable to protect its autonomy and fulfill its mandate. Therefore we, NTD organizers urge fellow educators, cultural workers, curators and artists to come together and form alternative venues and spaces conducive to forming a community of critical audiences of art," according to a statement issued by Flaudette May Datuin, head curator and faculty member of the University of the Philippines (UP) Department of Art Studies. Also on the exhibit's curatorial board are Leo Abaya, Vargas Museum curator and UP College of Fine Arts faculty; Yuchengco Museum associate curator Claro Ramirez; former CCP Visual Arts Director Karen Flores; and organizers Precious Leano and Josephine Turalba. The art exhibit was originally scheduled to be on display at the CCP until November. "Nothing to Declare is a contribution to contemporary discussions on migration, not only of people across borders, but of forms and realities across time and space," according to the exhibit notes.

The exhibit "traces with each translocation and transformation the idea of a fountainhead-- a remembered, imagined or mythical source from which flows the flux and unrest of identities denied or assumed, re-invented, struggled with, and ultimately discarded. What would be the impetus for these movements, and are there ends in sight? The quest for rest, closure or home, is also largely undeclared." Thus, in a move aligned with its theme of shifting, the exhibit itself has migrated from one space to another, in consideration of its objectives. Nothing to Declare was initiated by Datuin, Turalba, and Leano in 2010. They received more than 100 submissions and selected around 50 artists whose works will be shown at the Blanc gallery, UP Vargas Museum, and Yuchengco Museum. "Nothing to Declare thrives in a blanc space, a white cube which could also be a white space - an absence of color that connotes not just a seeming neutrality, but an open-endedness that could effectively ground a query into destinies and destinations," continues the exhibit notes. "Migrations can be cyclical and serial; thus, individual lives become similarly marked by centers and stations." Participating artists at Blanc are Sonia Barrett (Germany), Estan Cabigas (Philippines), Jef Carnay (Philippines), Jean Marie Casbarian (USA), Noel Soler Cuizon (Philippines), Lizza May David (Germany), Livia Daza-Paris (Canada + Venezuela), Kawayan de Guia (Philippines), Chad Erpelding (USA), Renee Kildow (USA) Knoll+Cella (USA/Austria), Leeroy New (Philippines), Frances Nicole Manzanero (Philippines), Lizelle Ortigas (Philippines), Eva Petric (Austria), Mark Salvatus (Philippines), Josephine Turalba (Philippines), and Sonja Van Kerkhoff + Sen McGlinn (The Netherlands/New Zealand). The exhibit at BLANC opens at 6:00pm on Tuesday, October 18 and ends on November 12, 2011. The exhibit at Yuchengco Museum runs from November 16 to January 29, 2012 while the segment at the Vargas Museum is from November 18, 2011 until January 7, 2012. - Carmela G. Lapeña/YA, GMA News For details, visit nothing2declare2011.wordpress.com