ALT Philippines Reminds Us Again Of All the Other Ways We Can Consume Art Spaces
Long has there been a dialogue about how we should perceive and experience art, how we've succeeded, failed, probed, and hidden in certain mediums and conventional spaces like galleries and museums. In this new decade, however, it is essential to look beyond these. Dissecting the other ways we can create, distribute, and consume art has become its pursuit. In the Philippines, such is the dynamic of ALT.
A concept that comes from some of the scene's most prominent gallerists and curators, ALT Philippines is an art platform that challenges viewers to see things differently from how they would in traditional and commercial gallery systems. This year, it's back for its third reiteration to demonstrate the evolving contemporary landscape with help from 200 of our most important contemporary artists.
Out of the original 10 galleries that started the program in 2020, The Drawing Room, Underground Gallery, Artinformal, Finale Art File, Blanc, Vinyl on Vinyl, Galleria Duemila, Mo Space, and West Gallery return to bring the public, to put it rather simply, an alternative experience in February.
The Crème de la Crème of the Philippine Contemporary
Some of the most acclaimed artists will be featured in the special project spaces. Each will be exercising alternative forms.
Among them are names like Juan Alcazaren, who is best known for blending clever text with sculpture, lighting, and installation. For ALT Philippines 2024, the artist will be offering up his large-scale, wall-bound oeuvre made of domestic ware and other daily artefacts, arranged like a constellation when lit up. It's a philosophical inquiry of sorts into ideas of reclamation and distance.
Johnny Alcazaren in his element
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Geraldine Javier lends her work to the space, as well. Notable for exploring the texture of the natural world, Javier's encaustic paintings connect her ongoing garden archive with the global threat of marine debris.
Her pool-like installation is made from finely cut plastic pieces collected from various water refilling stations. She says of her pursuits, “As you gaze into this pool, I want you to ponder the enormity of the task, gathering up all the plastic that has been dumped into the sea. A task that must be done.”
On the subject of reclaimed and discarded materials, Pete Jimenez might have something to say about that, too. The artist investigates such objects and turns them into phenomena. He'll be putting up “A City Set on a Hill Cannot be Hidden," which makes use of cement sacks, individually lit, arranged in a 45-sqm space. It's a piece that reckons with the capacity of light, as the group puts it.
Brisa Amir for Artinformal
Then there's Oca Villamiel, another artist with a keen fascination with the physicality of urban and rural spaces. For ALT Philippines 2024, Villamiel's “Water is Life" is an indictment of the status of our rivers, mountains, and seas. The piece, made from countless strips of silver foil, looks into the relationship between light and images, motion and stagnation, as well as all the decisions that have condemned us to the ebb and flow of nature.
Isabel Santos, on the other hand, enters this dialogue with her anticipated mural, a medium of relatively new territory for the artist. and illustrator. She is, of course, best remembered for her brand of deconstruction, where she blends pop culture motifs and old-world iconography. One can only imagine what that would look like on an expanded canvas.
Derek Tumala is another featured artist at the showcase
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Reimagining Immersion: Moving Images, Multimedia Performances
Cocoy Lumbao, Jr. will be curating a Group Show on the moving image for ALT Philippines 2024.
Sync, Memory is ALT's dedicated video section, maximizing the immersive experience through video space and video image. Said to have been loosely derived from Vladimir Nabokov’s memoir, Speak, Memory, the group exhibition highlights how video has become one of the most important mediums for the artist.
Works by Victor Balanon, Manny Montelibano, Christina Lopez, Miguel Lorenzo Uy, and collaborations by Jim Lumbera and Joey Singh, as well as Kira Dalena and Ben Brix, are to be shown. They were selected because of how they've constantly engaged in methods like video installation, the moving image, digital motion, animation, and recorded video processes and performance.
Somatosonic will be performing on February 22 at 6:00 p.m.
Complementing the section is a live multimedia performance from Somatosonic. The multidisciplinary art unit is made up of the trio of Christina Dy, Tad Ermitano, and Marco Ortiga, encompassing experiences in mixed media, sound, dancing, sculpture, visual arts, and kinetic media.
They will produce collaborative works that integrate media and techniques drawn from the members' various specializations. This will include artist-made instruments, augmented by electronic textures and a sonified dance performance.
A Productive Series of Exchanges
Adding a new wrinkle to the showcase is ALT Conversations. Here, practitioners from across the creative spectrum discuss the future of diverse art forms and their relationship to interdisciplinary practices and the contemporary world.
Erwin T. Romulo and Stephanie Frondoso will be moderating a discussion on New Media for the ALT
The series will be comprised of informal discussions, allowing artists, gallerists, curators, musicians, filmmakers, critics, and scholars to share key insights with audiences. This entails guests to participate in the discussion, as well. Curator, writer, and educator Carlomar Arcangel Daoana will also be conducting Daily Tours to further facilitate such exchanges. Conversations will be held every 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. while Daily Tours will be hosted every 3:00 p.m. of the four-day run.
Bridging Fashion and Art
Of note, too, is the Silent Auction. In a convergence between fashion and art, the cult retail concept UNIVERS enters the space with the Univers x ALT Artists for Charity. Six selected Filipino artists, namely Costantino Zicarelli, Jigger Cruz, Johanna Helmuth, Luis Antonio Santos, Raffy T. Napay, and Yeo Kaa, will be elevating the coveted Moreau Paris' Saint Tropez totes by employing various treatments. These include painting, sewing, printing, and laser etching, challenging ideas of commercial luxury and functional art.
The third edition of ALT Philippines will be held from February 21 to 25, 2024 at Hall 4, SMX Convention Center, Pasay City. Tickets are for sale via SM Tickets.
