ARNDT Catalogue Manila

“PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF...”
It can be said that if you wander in the wilderness for 40 days
and 40 nights, you will either become a prophet or a madman.
Or perhaps both.
But in Manila, it seems that it doesn’t take that long.
As much as the city itself is a bustling metropolis, it is also a
wasteland of the lost. Stand long enough in a corner and you
can spot them: these solitary figures that stand, for all the
world rushing past them, alone. Approaching them, you may
even catch their attention long enough for them to return your
stare… and then look past you. Move in even closer, you might
even begin to discern their voices above the din, maybe reciting
strange litanies to deities that have long absconded their houses
of dwelling and left them to the devout and faithful to loiter in—or
rather they may be in conversation with the city itself, allowing it
to speak to them through the bang and clatter of the sidewalk,
the cacophony of the car horns in traffic, or the susurrus of the
waves from the bay. Arguably, these are true citizens of Manila,
who are not mere fixtures in the urban landscape but possibly,
keep the vision of the city alive—even if only in their minds.
“Maynila: Maalinsangan ang Gabi, Mahapdi ang Araw” (Manila:
The Nights are Restless, The Days are Scornful), is an exhibition
of Filipino contemporary art that collects these visions and hears
those voices. It chronicles a secret history of Manila—one that
also considers the graffiti scrawled on the walls and counts the
chalk outlines on the pavement as part of its story.
There are no heroes and villains here, just the usual suspects.
And all endings resound like the conclusion of prayers.
ERWIN ROMULO