Corporate art: Firms’ murals brighten Makati’s underpasses

The Makati Commercial Estate Association (MACEA) on Tuesday unveiled the latest murals going up in four of Makati's underpasses.

Each mural is sponsored by a corporation—Pilipinas Shell, Nestle, Security Bank and Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation—and the branding is not just front and center in the murals, it's the message of the art itself.

The mural sponsored by Nestle's Kitkat shows people "having a break" atop what look like colorful Kitkat bars, while Security Bank's mural shows a Security Bank building as a launch pad for a space shuttle going up into space.

"We focused on our contribution to education," said the Security Bank representative as an explanation for the artwork.

The murals will go up at the following underpasses:

• Sedeno underpass - Nestle Kitkat
• Rufino undertpass - RCBC
• Security Bank - Paseo de Roxas underpass
• Shell - Salcedo underpass

Asked why the artworks needed to bear the imagery, branding and message of their corporate sponsors to such a degree, MACEA president David Balangue said that they had to consider the costs involved in putting up the murals.

"It's just a realization that there is a cost involved... it's quite costly to put this up, and MACEA was not really in a position to absorb that cost," Balangue told GMA News Online.

"We know there are companies out there who want to showcase their values and their operations, and want to communicate and share that with the public. So it's a win-win situation: for MACEA for breathing life into the underpasses, and for the corporate sponsors for being able to project the corporate values they want people to appreciate," he added. 

Earlier, Balangue said that the brief they provided the companies was to provide art to inspire the 300,000 people who trudge through the underpasses every day. "When we told [the companies] that the objective is to inspire the pedestrians, to them that means something, and they wanted to have a role in inspiring pedestrians who use the underpasses," he said.

MACEA is considering doing the same for the central business district's elevated walkways: putting up artworks on panels along their length. Also with corporate branding? "Yes, Balangue said. "It's the practical side of it." —NB, GMA News