Push Admin

Voltes V and the search for the city's soul: Inside Manila Biennale 2018

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA - Ultraman&#x27;s snake eyes glowed, his knife hand ready to slice American forces in half, as the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Manila in one of the deadliest battles of World War II.</p><p>Street art group KOLOWN&#x27;s fictional takes on history are scattered around Intramuros, the site of the first ever Manila Biennale, which seeks to bring back the &quot;soul&quot; of a city overshadowed by the capital&#x27;s giant malls and condominium towers.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_ultraman.jpg"/><figcaption>KOLOWN&#x27;s &quot;Parallels&quot; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018.<em> ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Intramuros is the perfect setting for the Biennale, which ponders the Philippines&#x27; struggle for a national identity following three colonial masters. During the Pacific War, much of its structures were leveled to the ground and Manila was declared an &quot;open city.&quot;</p><p>At the Mission House, a few steps from the Manila Cathedral, a trio of television screens with English, Spanish and Japanese programs in inverted colors surround viewers in Jet Melencio&#x27;s &quot;Enemy Broadcast.&quot;</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_enemy.jpg"/><figcaption>Jet Melencio&#x27;s &#x27;Enemy Broadcast&#x27; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. <em>ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Black-and-white images of footbridges, parks and buildings are played on hyperlapse on three giant screens in Vic Balanon&#x27;s &quot;Chimera,&quot; a hypnotic take on the daily grind in the city.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_chimera.jpg"/><figcaption>Vic Balanon&#x27;s &quot;Chimera&quot; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. <em>ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Elinora Ebillo&#x27;s &quot;WatAwat&quot; takes inspiration from the tenacity of Gregoria de Jesus, the wife of revolutionary leader Andres Bonifacio, and projects the evolution of the Philippine flag on tapestry that hang from the ceiling.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_watawat.jpg"/><figcaption>Elinora Ebillo&#x27;s &quot;WatAwat&quot; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. <em>ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Pete Jimenez&#x27;s &quot;Hindi Kevlar&quot; pays tribute to the bravery of the Filipino soldier, though ill-equipped at times, through an installation of bullet-pierced and rust-eaten helmets.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_hindi.jpg"/><figcaption>Pete Jimenez&#x27;s &quot;Hindi Kevlar&quot; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018.<em> ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The unfinished interiors of the Mission House serves as the canvass for Roberto Chabet&#x27;s &quot;Onethingafteranother,&quot; an installation of GI sheets and halogen lights.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_one.jpg"/><figcaption>Roberto Chabet&#x27;s &quot;Onethingafteranother&quot; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. Mark Demayo, <em>ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Tarpaulins from KOLOWN&#x27;s &quot;Parallels,&quot; disguised as markets and strewn across the walled city, are a commentary on the spread of fake news.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_voltes.jpg"/><figcaption>KOLOWN&#x27;s &quot;Parallels&quot; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. <em>ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Kawayan de Guia revives &quot;Lady Liberty,&quot; a replica of the New York landmark using scrap materials. First shown in Baguio as a question on American dominance in the Philippines, the piece finds a new context in the Manila Biennale.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_liberty.jpg"/><figcaption>Kawayan de Guia&#x27;s &quot;Lady Liberty&quot; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Eerie whispers from the sound installation &quot;Masamang loob&quot; by Gail Vicente, Maria Vicente and Tanya Villanueva&#x27;s bounce on the walls of one of Fort Santiago&#x27;s dungeons.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_dungeon.jpg"/><figcaption>&quot;Masamang Loob&quot; by Gail Vicente, Maria Vicente and Tanya Villanueva as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Maria Cruz&#x27;s &quot;Trans&quot; uses the &quot;lona&quot; that is staple of cemetery shades to create an extension to the Postigo De La Nuestra Senora Del Soledad to emphasize &quot;solitary crossing.&quot;</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_trans.jpg"/><figcaption>Maria Cruz&#x27;s &quot;Trans&quot; as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>A &quot;Parallels&quot; marker, which tells of the rebuilding of Voltes V&#x27;s laser sword during the Battle of Manila, leads the public to Filmmaker Kiri Dalena&#x27;s light installation.</p><p>Dalena quotes from a Bertolt Brecht poem in what war survivors could have asked themselves as they thought about what laid ahead.</p><p>&quot;In the dark times, will there also be singing. yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.&quot;</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/02/05/020518_dark.jpg"/><figcaption>Kiri Dalena&#x27;s light installation as shown during Manila Biennale 2018. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>The Manila Biennale opened on Feb. 3 and will run until March 5. Visit their <a href="https://manilabiennale.ph/"><strong>official website</strong></a> or the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ManilaBiennale/"><strong>Facebook page</strong></a> for schedules and ticket information.</p>

<p>The first-ever Manila Biennale ponders the Philippines' struggle for a national identity following three colonial masters as told through the devastation wrought by World War II on Intramuros.</p>

The first-ever Manila Biennale ponders the Philippines' struggle for a national identity following three colonial masters as told through the devastation wrought by World War II on Intramuros.