DEC13_SUPERDUPERFINAL

We were actually quite excited about the platform chosen given the
limitations of the pandemic. We went into the future studies design
and perspective with the main objective to arrive at a possible,
probable and preferable future for the artist community. To design
this, Futures Thinker Rhoderick Samonte walked us through some
of the basic principles of futures thinking which proved to be a
method for informed reflection on the major changes that will likely
occur in the next ten, twenty or more years in all areas of social
life, including the arts. Futures Thinking uses a multidisciplinary
approach to pierce the veil of perceived opinion and identify the
dynamics that are creating the future.
The artist group, with the exception of a small number of shining
careers, has always been peripheral at best but just tolerated and
left alone most of the time. They sometimes feel that they don’t
factor in most of society’s general blueprint. It is, therefore, about
time to create a discourse that shifts perspectives and reassures the
artist community that they can direct their own future. We invited
representatives of four sectors to look into the context of existing
dynamics vis-à-vis the arts: this is family, business, education and
governance. We were happy to note that key people representing
the major stakeholders in the lives of artists were appreciative of the
direction that the ExCon was taking and willingly contributed in
the developing discourse.
It is true that the problems of the world may not have been solved
in the duration of the V-CON but the perspective gained by
individual artists were powerful tools in reshaping a future and
carving out a road towards something that is agreeable to them, that
is empowerment.
Indeed, the Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition & Conference
(VIVA ExCon) 16 recalibrated itself to successfully engage creative
spirits in a virtual dynamics that was interactive, observant of health
protocols and one that brought together the artist community to
find strength among each other and rise together in spite of the
challenges of the times.
So given this futures thinking lens, the assembly of artists examined
their own experiences and answered the question on how these
helped or hindered their career in the arts and what their preferred
future is in the context of these four sectoral focus. The virtual break
out rooms were maximized in terms of small group discussions per
area which were further fleshed out in the plenary. The dynamics
enabled each artist to reflect and articulate experiences in a nonthreatening
and safe space. They found their voices and created
statements expressed in images that represent their say in how
their future is going to be like. This then allowed them to widen
their perspective and realize the relationship of their individual
experiences to the prevailing societal dynamics and therefore assess
for themselves how best to proceed given the preferred future that
they have identified.
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