Art Spaces and Public Service

Uy joy,

sorry kung medyo delayed yung response ko medyo busy. sayang di tuloy kita natext nung opening dati sa fp pero me show kasi kami din darating sa sept 6 sa green papaya. sana makapunta ka. meron din kami sa Sept 12 sa west agllery sa west ave. tapos sa sept 19 sa guijo naman tapos sa sept 28 sa ccp..... grabe deads nako sa dami ng deadline kaya di ko alam kung masasagot ko agad yung tanong mo - pero di naman sa pinapaboran ko ang green papaya - malakas lang kasi ang sustainabiltity nila , and parang mas may direksyon sila or apektado lang ako masyado ng pagkadismaya ko minsan sa mga nangyayari at pagkahinayang sa mga nabuo nang mga programa at art spaces dahil wala masyadong follow-through. Mahirap din kasi talaga pagsabayin ang magtaguyod ng art career at magserbisyo sa eksena. kasi parang public service na din ang mag taguyod ng gallery lalo na kung di siya talaga pangbenta - kailangan kasi ito ng matinding commitment - mahirap gawin para sa mga nagsisimula pa lang magtaguyod ng kanya-kanyang career - it's either maging stepping stone niya lang to ang magtayo ng art space (kaya din kadalasan natatali sa certain personalities ang mga galleries/artist-run-space - meaning nagiging egotistic din ang aims pero subconscious lang siguro yun) or maging stepping stone ng ibang artists na ineexhibit niya dito - in short - parang branding din.

Pero tingnan mo din yung structure ng mga artist-run-spaces sa ibangbansa tulad sa Japan, thailand, singapore, new york at La at kung saan pa para may comparison din kung ang success at failuire rate ng mga ganitong klaseng spaces ba ay natatali din ba sa culture? Parang ganoon din - kasi meron ding nagiging successful na tumatagal ng 10 years although ang structure niya ay kaparehas na din ng mga institution na may mga board of trustees din at nagrorotate ng mga members.

Di kaya parang ganoon lang din ang lifespan ng mga ARS dito sa Pinas ay dahil sa ningas cogon pa din?



Interviewihin mo din sana sina Katya, Wire, Yason and mga taga-museums din tulad nina Eileen, Din Din araneta, si Isa Lorenzo ng silverlens o kaya sina canete, mga teachers mo kung bakit di din nila masyado pinopromote ang magpunta sa mga shows sa mga ARS .he he he



Tsaka kung may great difference ba talaga ngayon ang mga ARS sa mga institutions? ...hhmmm kaya ko nabanggit ito kasi dati parang may ganitong comment si Yasmin (sison) about CCP na parang ARS lang din siya kung mag-operate - na nagaaccept lang sila ng kung sino nagpropose sa kanila para magexhibit pero wala naman talaga silang binibigay na pondo para sa pagexecute ng work, even for cocktails. Sagot lang nila pagprint ng invite ( na ngayon ay pinagsasabay ang 3 ongoing shows sa isang postcard invite) at pagsend out ng press release. ni pera para sa pagtransport ng work, kargo pa rin ng artist. tapos ang sagot lang nila palagi ay dahil gobyerno kasi sila - duh?!



naku pasensya na para na akong naglitanya ng jadedness ko - kulang lang siguro ako sa tulog pero sana makapunta ka sa mga shows namin. Ayus!



L.

08.28.06_L's Article

Hey L,

Panalo yung article mo. I was really impressed, i enjoyed reading it so much. I heard may event last saturday sa FP some 70 artists ba? I missed it though. Anudun ka ba? Okay yung parallelism na ginawa mo about the Art Walk and Cubao X. Never thought of it though before I read you paper pero I think its something interesting to explore. I have a question though. About GP, I'm just wondering I notice yung favorability mo sa practice ng GP.

Do you think that there is the word 'maturity' is significant to mention over the success of GP? They've been running for apparently 6 years the longest running space among the ones you mentioned and the people primary running them are ...well to a certain extent has already attained a certain level of maturity already as artists. San kaya sa tingin mo naging tama ang GP to have run that long and have attained the success they already have?


Ako ulit,
Joy

Ayme Occular

Who's this Sontag woman anyway?

I didn't get to sleep from last night since I had to finish my report for my 240 class today. I reported on Susan Sontag's essay, Against Interpretation. I've been working on that report since Monday. Actually, I began working on the report since a week ago. But I only got to finally finish it this morning. Its not because I've been working on it too hard. I probably just have a thing for running after things. My mind is usually more effective under pressure. One has to admit, when its only 2 hours away from your deadline and you're only half way through with what you're supposed to do. The mind cannot help but intervene. "Finish the damn thing. Or else."

I pulled it off though. Thank god! Demi was a sunshine, "You somehow pull it off anyway," as we were texting this morning before class and as I was cramming away to finish my report and as the bright morning light imposes its own inconvenience for me today. Well, I guess I do pull it off most of the time but it's always better to really have enough time for studying and researching-if one goes around to actually doing it with ample time at hand.

Who's this Sontag woman anyway?

Susan Sontag was a blast! I was actually more interested in her than her essay. Well, her essay is...how should I put it. Well, let's go on to that later.

Sontag was born of a Jewish American couple, Jack Rosenblatt and Mildred Jacobsen. Jack was a fur trader in China but died of tuberculosis when Sontag was only five years old. From there, both her and her sister, Judith stayed with their grandmother at Tucson, Arizona while her mother finds another husband. Her mother came back to fetch them when she was 14 with their new stepfather, Nathan Sontag. The sisters took on their stepfather's last name from there and moved to LA where Sontag studied her high school education. Sontag didn't seem to like childhood nor her mother very much. In an interview, she would openly say, "my mother was a selfish young woman," and would talk of childhood as "a waste of time."

Sontag was a brilliant student. She began her BA at the University of California, Berkley at the age of 15. (To think that at this age, I can only think about how cute David Aguirre of Razorback is. That was then though, he's not that cute anymore. ) She didn't finish at Berkley since she married Philip Reiff (28), a sociologist instructor in her sophomore year after a ten-day courtship. (She was 17 at this point.) They moved to Chicago, that's why she had to finish her college degree at the University of Chicago and had her son David. A run-away bride with the groom. Its more of a "come, let's run away, groom" thing.

From there, she went on to study her MA in English Literature, Philosophy and Theology at the not so famous Harvard University and then her PhD, (dig this) in 4 years to be exact. (Shit, I can't even finish this damn report in two days!) From there, she got a scholarship at St. Anne's College, Oxford but decided that she was too good for St. Anne's so she moved to Paris and studied at the University of Paris. Paris or the French thought and aesthetics for that matter will be greatly influencing her mold for the works that she will be producing soon enough. Even after Paris, she would spent half of each year there throughout her life.

Sontag was "fabulous" intellectual. She always made her way by saying the right things and attracting people's attention both from the popular culture and the intellectuals of NY. She has a way with formulating apocarypthic statements that will haunt you for the rest of your life. Her writings caused tensions from left to right. Gaining applause from the popular bourgesie and stirring tensions among the intellectuals. She knows how to say things-juxtapose words and pose for a photograph.

To be continued...

Ilocanization

This will be my "going back to my roots" week... I'm not sure if that's the right thing to say though since I was born and raised in Manila and don't know much of anything that makes me Ilocano except for my father being Ilocano and my skin. I have the dark Ilocano skin.

Well, it's time to find out.

I'm trying to learn how to speak Ilocano. At some point, I knew how to speak Ilocano when I was probably, seven, eight years old. It slipped away too easily since Papa refuses to speak to me in Ilocano. I guess I'm realizing how important it is to have these kind of things in your backpack when travelling. It comes in so much handy. I know I asked him several times before. I can't remember when exactly and I don't remember how he responded. I think he's just too lazy. There's something about him that doesn't want to go back home. Not go back. Go back. But really go back.

Everyone is speaking in Ilocano in front of me now and I don't understand a damn thing. I'm inclined to going back to my book and reading English instead. Yeah, I know...the only way to learn a language is first by listening (like any language...) I'm finding that my innate impatience is making this a bit difficult.


I'll be back in Manila soon and I still don't have any idea what I will be exhibiting on June. Shit! Oh well, wanna finish my book first and make sure Mamang is okay. Then I'll think about other things.

MartOne Mall
Satiago City, Isabela

Si Mamang, si Arundhati at ang Peryahan sa Appari

Internet Cafe @ MartOne Mall
Santiago City, Isabela

It's usually slow in places like these anyway. Mamang is going to have her operation 1pm today. I like being here. I suddenly realized that I enjoy spending time with Mamang and hearing her stories of their life in the barrio. Mostly, if we are not having our random conversations about relatives and the weather, we either sleep or eat. If there's nothingelse to do, I would read. Right now, I have Arundhati Roy to occupy me. I love her! It's like reading a long poem! Besides, that I've never read a book with an Indian setting. The book is just about events in a bourgousie Indian family, their oddities and ironies to the typical Indian society. It's supposed to be boring though if you just look at it as just series of events but I love the way Roy wrote it.

I would love to stay here some more and look at the perya that Papa has been talking about. He said that he has a cousin in Appari inviting him for the fiesta. The fiesta is going to be on Sunday though. I love fiestas! Lots of food (that I can't eat.) But I love it anyway. There is so much movement! So much spirit! People go out of their houses and make an effort to see or to be seen.

I hope I could ask Uncle Jojo to take me there. Papa wouldn't go. Uncle J. said, it's nice there because our relatives' house is just near the beach and the waves are not as strong as it usually is, since its only May. The shore in Appari is supposed to be parallel to the South China Sea already. Lot said she wants to come too and finally experience Appari. She finally wants to see the the name behind the Eat Bulaga song. A place supposed to be unreachable to most people in the Philippine islands. I wouldn't mind doing the same either. I've been hearing that song eversince I started watching TV.

Papa said that the Perya their is also different. It's not like the usual ones you see in Manila. There are still Live Chicken-eating shows, and balancing acts and trapeze shows! Whaa! They have the old-school type. Many people say that these types of Peryas are only seen in the far flung barrios now since most cities all over the Philippines have been invaded by either SM or Robinson's. I hope I could at least go to see the Perya. I'll never maybe I could see material that I could use there.