Opening reception on 19 January, 4pm
with a performance by Elemento

Sandata ni Aze, 2010, sound assemblage

The Vargas Museum begins its 2012 calendar with the exhibition Sandata by Lirio Salvador on 19 January 2012 at 4 in the afternoon. The exhibition will include old and recent works interpreted as ‘weapons of sound constructions’ by an artist working with sound, performance, and assemblage. It will open with a performance by Elemento, an experimental sound group founded by Salvador.

Salvador utilizes everyday and industrial materials such as bowls, bicycle gears, stainless steel pipes, utensils, and discards to form musical instruments. Wanting to own a guitar, he improvised his first stringed instrument when he was a teenager with meager resources. This innovation has become part of his life-long artistic process. Carefully composing these elements to craft pieces that are both decorative and modern, the artist distills the notion of the everyday by reconstructing seemingly banal objects into new forms, translating their meanings.  Sensitive to the visual, auditory, and tactile aspects, Salvador and the collective Elemento opens up possibilities for contemporary artistic expressions through the generation of experimental music with these instruments, including those produced with home-made synthesizers and amplifiers.

Sandata will run until 25 February 2012. For more information, please contact the Vargas at +632 928-19-27, +63 981-85-00 loc. 4024, +63 928-19-25 (fax) or e-mail vargasmuseum@gmail.com.

Lirio Salvador in a sound performance

Lirio Salvador* was born in 1968. He graduated with a degree in Fine Arts at the Technological University of the Philippines. From 2006, his works have been shown in international art fairs such as Pulse Los Angeles, Scope Basel, Switzerland, India Art Summit, Hong Kong International Art Fair, Beijing Art Fair, Bridge Art Fair New York, Dubai Art Fair among many others. In 2011, Salvador was given a grant by the Asian Cultural Council (ACC). Elemento has performed in a number of art spaces in Manila. In 2011, the collective performed in the Art Science Museum, Singapore.

*Last December 30, 2011, Lirio Salvador met an accident near Espasyo Siningdikato, a gallery he owns and manages in Dasmariñas, Cavite. Currently, a Help Lirio Salvador campaign is ongoing while the artist is recovering in the hospital’s intensive care unit. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

All the best for the season and the coming year!

Interested parties may drop off their books at the front desk and look for Mr. John Abalos. During Christmas break (December 17, 2011 – January 2, 2012), you may leave your package at the guard stationed in the museum building.

For more information, please call 928-1927, 981-8500 local 4024 or send an e-mail to vargasmuseum@gmail.com. The official website may be viewed at http://vargasmuseum.upd.edu.ph

TIME AND PLACE OF INCIDENT concentrates on the killings of media journalists in the Philippines, with the country being considered as one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists. Dalena’s show involves documentation footage taken by her and volunteers at the grave sites of these journalists as well as shots showing selected places of their assassination.The exhibition runs until 10 December 2011 at Vargas Museum, Roxas Avenue, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City, open Tuesday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm (closed 30 November). There is a short waiting period to view the show. For directions to Vargas Museum, click here: http://vargasmuseum.wordpress.com/visiting-the-museum/where-we-are/

Dalena’s exhibition is also the fourth offering of End Frame Video Art Project 3, a project of the non-profit organization Visual Pond. Throughout the Philippine video art festival, artists stage a solo show presenting new video work in various venues from 2011 to 2012. For more information, visit http://www.visualpond.org and for further inquiries, email visualpond@gmail.com or call +63.917.5357955.

The talk is sponsored by the GeiserMaclang marketing communication company with refreshments from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. The show is made possible by Visual Pond and Vargas Museum and the exhibition’s co-presenters: the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communications and Department of Art Studies, the GeiserMaclang marketing communication company, the Ateneo Art Gallery and the individuals Carlo Gabuco and Gym Lumbera.

Visual Pond’s End Frame Video Art Project 3: Present, the 2011-2012 Philippine video art festival, together with Vargas Museum, presents Kiri Dalena’s solo exhibition, Time and Place of Incident. The show opens at the basement of Vargas Museum on 18 November 2011, Friday, at 4 pm and runs until 10 December. An artist talk will be held at 2:30 pm on 1 December, Thursday.

Time and Place of Incident concentrates on the killings of media journalists in the Philippines, with the country being considered as the world’s second most dangerous place for journalists after Iraq. Dalena’s show involves documentation footage taken by her and volunteers at the grave sites of these journalists as well as shots showing selected places of their assassination. Believing video to be a powerful medium in conveying loss and injustice, the exhibition features Dalena’s stills and videos beaming through multiple projections in the given venue of the museum.

A winner of the Ateneo Art Awards in 2009, Dalena works as an artist and documentary filmmaker. She has made a number of politically charged exhibitions and documentaries. Majority of her sculptures and installations address acts of state violence and injustice that continue to plague the Philippines despite several regime changes. She studied B.S. Human Ecology at the University of the Philippines Los Baños and learned filmmaking at the Mowelfund Film Institute. She had her first solo exhibition in 2007 at Mag:net while this Vargas Museum exhibition forms her fifth.

Dalena’s Time and Place of Incident is also the fourth offering of End Frame Video Art Project 3, a project of the non-profit organization Visual Pond. Throughout the Philippine video art festival, artists stage a solo show presenting new video work in various venues from 2011 to 2012. Curated by Clarissa Chikiamco, the theme of the third edition, Present, refers to the current project’s focus on the video art practices of selected Philippine contemporary artists. Dalena’s exhibition follows the End Frame 3 shows of Tad Ermitaño, Manny Montelibano and Chitz Ramirez. End Frame 3 continues to 2012 with exhibitions of Kaloy Olavides, Maria Taniguchi and Yason Banal.

Time and Place of Incident is made possible by the exhibition’s co-presenters: the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communications and Department of Art Studies, the Geiser-Maclang marketing company, the Ateneo Art Gallery and the individuals Carlo Gabuco and Gym Lumbera.

The show will be viewable throughout its run between Tuesday-Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm, with appointments of at least 10 minutes in advance highly recommended. The appointment may be set by calling Vargas Museum with telephone number (632) 9281927 or email a day in advance to vargasmuseum@gmail.com. Those without an appointment may view the show after a short waiting period. Vargas Museum is located on Roxas Avenue at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, There will also be a satellite exhibition, Requiem, at the lobby of Plaridel Hall at the UP College of Mass Communications, Ylanan Road, Diliman, Quezon City, from 17 – 29 November 2011. For inquiries on Visual Pond projects and End Frame 3, visit http://www.visualpond.org or call Rica Estrada at +63917-8170198 or email visualpond@gmail.com. # # #

Participating artists are: Danielle Adair (USA); Magda Biernat (USA); EG Crichton (USA); Noel Soler Cuizon (Philippines); Phyllis Evans, David Freeman and Leila Hernandez (USA); Hannah Israel (Philippines/USA); Karen Marshall (USA); Frances Nicole Manzanero (Philippines); Christian “Bong” Ramilo (Australia) and Christina Quisumbing Ramilo (Philippines), Melissa Ramos (Philippines/Australia)  Alwin Reamillo and Juliet Lea (Philippines/Australia), Angelika Rinnhofer (USA), Martin Sims (Australia) and Joo Woo (USA).

NTD@Vargas is one of a series of three exhibitions. The other exhibit venues are: Yuchengco Museum, 16 November to 29 January 2012; and BLANC Compound, 18 October to 12 November 2011. Each venue has a different set of artists, altogether totaling more than 50. Artists were selected from more than 100 submissions who responded to the Call for Proposals sent out in 2010 by a board of organizers and curators composed of Flaudette May Datuin, head curator and project leader(Department of Art Studies, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines), Josephine Turalba (Dean, School of Fine Arts and Design, Philippine Women’s University) and Precious Leano (Executive Director, Filipino Visual Arts and Design Rights Organization or FILVADRO).

Each venue is headed by a team of curators, as follows: Vargas Museum, Leo Abaya (faculty, University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts and visual artist) and Tessa Maria Guazon (faculty, University of the Philippines Department of Art Studies); Yuchengco Museum by Claro Ramirez, Jr. (visual artist and artistic director for exhibitions and new media projects, lopez museum, faculty, international baccalaureate program, Southville international school), and Sharon Mapa Arriola (faculty, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts); and Blanc Compound, Karen Ocampo Flores Karen Ocampo Flores (Faculty, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, School of Design and Arts; Faculty, Asia Pacific College, School of Multimedia Arts) and Precious Leano.

The exhibitions are take-off points for guided tours, an essay writing contest, forums, training workshops and other education programs.

For schedules and updates, please visit: http://nothing2declare2011.wordpress.com/

Unsold books will be put up for sale again next year.

The Vargas Book Sale will be held at the Vargas Museum west wing porch from 4 November to 15 November 2011, 9am to 5pm.

Interested parties may drop off their books until 5pm of 3 November 2011, Thursday. Please look for Mr. John Abalos of the Vargas Front Desk.

For more information, please call 928-19-27, 981-85-00 loc. 4024 or e-mail vargasmuseum@gmail.com. The official website may be viewed  at http://vargasmuseum.upd.edu.ph.

The exhibit is on view at Vargas Museum until October 31, 2011.