DEC13_SUPERDUPERFINAL

Kalibutan Seminar Node 3: Works
Disclosed - Materialities of Art
Region 7 | May 15, 2021
The webinar Kalibutan Seminar Node 3: Works Disclose – Materialities
of Art with Region 7 curators and moderators Jay Nathan Jore and
Maria Taniguchi, and art collective Solitaryo Cinco (Khriss Bajade,
Bastinuod, Mark “KDLT” Copino, and John Villoria), artists Mona
Alcudia, Retired Artist, and Gabi Nazareno was the twelfth session
of V-CON 2. The two previous nodes provided a walk-through
of the exhibition proposals from the artists along with details on
creative methods. Seminar Node 3 explored more on the artists’
materials and techniques, their project phases, and the link of such
to the pandemic and global spaces.
mimic the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. To materialize such, her
works were initially erased by exhibition guests. Typifying strangers,
Nazareno blindfolded herself to remove visual bias and proceeded to
rub out the drawing she had just completed. Her graphite works are
mostly based on Bohol’s landmarks and were drawn into the rough,
custom-made surface of Japanese paper and acrylic emulsion. Her
method is performative, additive, and subtractive. To Nazareno,
erasing is as much of an art as drawing is.
Solitaryo Cinco art collective talked about their hometown, Cebu,
as they shared drone shots of areas that were closed down in the
onset and course of the pandemic. In their project for Kalibutan, the
artists employed both digital and traditional media, with specifics
of advertising as the primary tool. Aside from interviews, physical
material production, streets deployment, and documentation, the
art collective made use of aerial footage, QR codes leading to research
data on the pandemic, and a website for better, wider reach. With
conviction on decolonialism and background on exotic trends, Mona
Alcudia sought to establish the Filipino identity in the global art
scene. Hence, for Kalibutan, she placed the pop culture icon Peacock
Chair and the karaoke machine into the spotlight. The peacock chair
was originally a Filipino product the design of which she considered
as a metaphor for anonymity in labor. Alcudia’s objective was to
investigate the evolving themes of authenticity in labor, colonialism
and decolonialism, orientalism and hybridity in the increasingly
globalized world of product design and manufacturing. Retired
Artist’s Kalibutan performance involved sculpting carrots and sweet
potatoes into flowers. She grew said crops herself, along with some
corn. Retired Artist also shared design studies for an aquaponic papag
or bamboo structure in that same arable land. She resolved that her
work is a homage to artists who grapple with daily tests. Her acts
allowed self-reflection, as she opened herself to sharing common
concerns, toiling, redefining, reviewing, and unpacking notions,
and rethinking of one’s definition of practice. Gabi Nazareno’s
Kalibutan project was centered on large-scale graphite drawings that
51