DEC13_SUPERDUPERFINAL

PANIC BOX
SOIKA VOMITER
by Nomar Miano
The valuation of art is commonly couched in a historicist mold.
This tendency pushes features of artistic traditions to the margins
of discourse. That is, the value of art practices is usually pegged
on its contribution to the development of certain narratives. These
narratives help sustain notions or ideas that animate institutions—
notions like the “nation,” “culture,” a global community, ethnicity,
an “artworld,” etc. In effect, this tendency mutes certain aspects
in our encounter with art, aspects that are otherwise valuable and
insightful when given duly deserved attention.
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The inclusion of Soika Vomiter’s work in Kalibutan is partly a
corrective to reductive historicism. Whereas commentators in the
West see street art as an offshoot of institutional critique or the
conceptualist and do-it-yourself self-reflexivity that emanates from
punk subculture and counter-cultural interventions in the 60s and
70s, local artists do not necessarily think of such heritage as all
important. This is not necessarily a regrettable thing. Not that local
artists should not care about the heritage that shapes urban-based art
practice, which is completely understandable anyway considering
that street art started as anti-institutional and counter-expert. A
deeper reading of Soika’s work however suggests that there is more
to street art practice (and art in general) than its “sophisticated”
heritage.