DEC13_SUPERDUPERFINAL

joie de vivre, MassKara is said to image us, a migrant people coming
from Panay, Cebu and Bohol with no known tradition. Accustomed
as we are to growing a crop where the good year alternates with the
bad, we are famous for our great resilience and indomitability.
Lastly, in a session entitled Wrong Turns, False Starts which took into
consideration government-supported festivals vis-a-vis privately
initiated ones, Gina Jocson of Gallery Orange raised the question:
does it necessarily follow that government- supported festivals
succeed more than privately initiated ones? Based on VIVA’s
checkered experience, I think not. Because there were occasions in the
past when certain places hosted but without the right combination
of infrastructure, organization, and leadership to ensure its success,
they failed. Which is why to my mind the heading: Wrong Turns,
False Starts might very well describe VIVA ExCon’s rough patches as
it travels from one island to another. So, however much each island
might hanker to host VIVA ExCon. It remains to find out who will
succeed.
I end this article with Peewee’s two announcements during the
plenary that called for ratification: one was on VIVA ExCon’s
statement on the assault on nine farmers/members of the National
Federation of Sugarcane workers (NFSW) by ten to fifteen members
of some private army while breaking ground for the lean months on
the 20th of September at Barangay Bulanon, Sagay City which must
be “called out, critiqued and acted upon.” The other was the notice
that the giving of awards was never part of the original agenda of
VIVA ExCon. Rather it was conceived unilaterally by the late Dr.
Reuben Cañete during the Cebu VIVA in 2010 without consulting
anybody. So, until the next VIVA ExCon host decides, the Garbo
awards will be on hold as it was in VIVA ExCon Capiz 2018 because
while the word “garbo” in Bisaya means pride, in Ilonggo it means
“ostentatious,” “vain” or frivolous.” Hence, it sends the wrong
signals.
Collaborative Installation Work VIVA ExCon 2014 - Sta. Fe Resort
Sources:
Fajardo, Brenda, ed., VIVA EXCON 1990-1996
Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 1998,
Flores, Patrick, LIFEFORCE Program
Flores, Patrick, Fugue Frolic: An Ayco Retrospective
Katalista, brochure
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