Support Systems of Philippine Art & Contemporary Techniques

Support Systems of Philippine Art

• National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)

  • Government’s overall policy-making, coordinating, and grants-giving body for arts and culture.
  • Executes the policies it formulates, ensuring nationwide implementation (Dumandan, 2019).
  • Significance:
  • Central node that links regional initiatives, museums, schools, and festivals.
  • Provides funding, scholarships, and heritage-site conservation grants.
  • Ethically upholds cultural diversity, indigenous knowledge, and freedom of artistic expression.

• Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP)

  • Mission: “Leading institution for arts and culture… promoting artistic excellence and nurturing the broadest publics to participate in art making and appreciation.”
  • Functions: manages theatres, galleries, archives, resident companies (e.g., Ballet Philippines, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra).
  • Real-world impact: CCP festivals (e.g., Pasinaya) democratize access; its outreach caravans bring metropolitan productions to provinces.

• National Museum of the Philippines

  • Educational, scientific, cultural institution.
  • Acquires, documents, preserves, exhibits, and fosters scholarly study of art, specimens, artifacts reflective of Filipino heritage and natural history.
  • Houses: National Museum of Fine Arts, Anthropology, Natural History, Planetarium.
  • Practical implications: provides provenance certification—critical for curators, art dealers, and researchers.

• Metropolitan Museum of the Philippines (The M)

  • One of the country’s major museums; amplifies Filipino artistic and cultural heritage in both historical and contemporary global contexts.
  • Known for bilingual labels, inclusive education programs, and partnerships with international institutions.

• BenCab Museum (Baguio)

  • Permanent collection of National Artist Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera.
  • Houses multiple galleries (Cordillera, Erotica, Contemporary) + an eco-trail and farm.
  • Committed to art promotion and to preservation of Cordilleran environment, culture, and traditions—showing art-ecology synergy.

• Art Fair Philippines

  • Premier platform for exhibiting and selling modern & contemporary Philippine visual art.
  • Held annually in a multi-level car-park converted into white cubes—symbolic of adaptive reuse.
  • Generates collector patronage, educates new buyers, and offers talks (ArtFairPH/Projects, ArtFairPH/Talks).

• ManilART

  • The Philippines’ premier international art fair (est. 2009).
  • Showcases contemporary visual arts; positions Manila on the Asian art-fair map.
  • Emphasizes audience development through VIP previews, docent tours, and digital booths.

• Finale Art File

  • Premier gallery institution; started as Finale Art Gallery (late 1980s).
  • Nurtures mid-career to established artists; hosts “Project Rooms” for experimental exhibitions.
  • Plays market-maker role by placing works in auctions and museum collections.

• Kublai Art Gallery & Davao Contemporary Art Gallery

  • Showcases works of Mindanao’s famed artist Kublai Ponce-Millan and peers.
  • Celebrates unique cultural expressions of Davao; bridges Mindanao art to national consciousness.
  • Example installations: giant durian sculptures at People’s Park.

• Thirteen Artists Awards (TAA)

  • Administered by CCP; recognizes 13 emerging artists roughly every three years.
  • Origin (1970): to mark turnings in Philippine contemporary art, updating its “modernizing potential.”
  • Selection criteria: radical formal invention, engagement with social forces, fresh artistic language.
  • Alumni impact: a who’s-who list (e.g., Roberto Chabet, Poklong Anading) often leads to biennale inclusion.

Techniques Used in Contemporary Arts (Philippine Context)

“Tractional” / Traditional-into-Contemporary Hybrids

• Puni (Bulacan)

  • Leaf-frond folding (Malayan origin).
  • Contemporary adaption: synthetic straw folding or recycled foil ribbons for festival décor.

• Singkaban (Malolos, Bulacan)

  • Decorated bamboo arch used as ceremonial town entrance.
  • Today: modular CNC-cut bamboo frames for civic parades; LED-lit singkaban installations.

• Saniculas (Pampanga)

  • Stamped cookies bearing image of San Nicolás de Tolentino, patron-healer.
  • Artists re-interpret stamps as 3-D printed molds; concept of edible iconography appears in pop-up exhibits.

Contemporary Applications

• Straw Folding

  • Uses rolled wax-coated paper cylinders; re-envisions Puni through industrial materials.
  • Environmental angle: up-cycling straw waste.

• Origami (Japanese influence)

  • ori (folding) + kami (paper).
  • Filipino artists fuse origami with textile, metal sheets, and even banana leaves to create hybrid sculptures.

• Bamboo Art

  • Processes: cleaning, cutting, peeling, splitting, stripping, weaving, incising, burning, carving, dyeing.
  • Seen in eco-pavilions and sound installations (bamboo chimes reacting to wind).

• Polvoron Molder as Art Object

  • Kitchen tool for shaping powdered sweets (polvoron) into perfect rounds/ovals.
  • Recontextualized as printmaking stamp, jewelry bezel, or conceptual readymade (found objects).

Other Locale-Based Crafts

• Pabalat (San Miguel, Bulacan)

  • Pastillas (milk candy) wrappers cut into intricate papel-picado-like designs.
  • Shifted from folk to popular art; templates now laser-cut for large installations.

• Taka (Paete, Laguna)

  • Paper-maché molded from hand-carved wooden negatives.
  • Contemporary: gigantic taka horses in public plazas, social-commentary masks.

• Pagbuburda (Taal, Batangas & Lumban, Laguna)

  • Renowned for fine, delicate hand embroidery on piña and jusi.
  • Fusion projects: embroidered QR codes, kinetic embroidery on sheer screens.

Allied Techniques & Materials

• Packaging Design – From minimalist kraft wraps to highly graphic, collectible boxes.
• Paper Maché – Layered paper + adhesive; favored for lightweight, eco sculptures.
• Stitching / Sewing – Basic element for textile art, soft sculpture, wearable art.
• Loom Bands (Rainbow Looms) – Plastic tool weaving rubber bands; metaphor for inter-ethnic networks in digital culture.

Common Techniques in Contemporary Art (Global & Local)

• Minimalism

  • Art movement that strips down to essentials—color fields, geometric forms, silence (in music).
  • Philippine reference: Roberto Chabet’s plywood works; Leeroy New’s monochrome latex installations.

• Found Objects (Objet Trouvé)

  • Reclaiming discarded items, conferring new meaning.
  • Eco-ethical dimension: comments on consumerism, waste management.
  • Example: Kawayan de Guia’s bullet-casing sculptures; Mark Salvatus’s urban debris assemblages.

• Large-Scale / Public Art

  • Monumental pieces designed for open spaces; encourages multi-perspective viewing.
  • Seen in Kublai Millan’s giant durian, Charlie Co’s Negros murals.
  • Civic value: placemaking, tourism magnet, community pride.

Classification of Art Forms According to Medium

Notes on overlaps:

• A mural (pictorial) can also be environmental if it transforms a city block.
• Performance poetry integrates musical cadence with narrative content.

Philosophical & Ethical Threads Across Topics

• Preservation vs. Innovation: Each support system balances conserving heritage with encouraging avant-garde practices (e.g., NCCA grants for indigenous weaving + digital art).
• Accessibility: CCP and art fairs aim to widen publics, yet ticket prices can exclude; hence community outreach is critical.
• Sustainability: Bamboo art, found-object practice, and recycled media respond to climate concerns and Philippine vulnerability to typhoons.
• Identity Construction: Techniques like Pabalat or Puni transform everyday rituals into symbols of Filipino ingenuity, countering homogenizing global trends.

Numerical / Statistical Tidbits (turned into equations for recall)

• Thirteen Artists Awards ≈ 13 \text{ awardees per cycle}
• ManilART founded 2009 → Active years (as of 2024) = 2024 - 2009 = 15 cycles (approx., allowing for pandemic pauses).
• Art Fair PH: visitor count in pre-pandemic year \approx 22{,}000 (feature article), stressing scale of public engagement.

Study Tips / Connections to Previous Lectures

• Relate NCCA functions to earlier lecture on “Cultural Policy & Nation-Building.”
• Map traditional crafts (Pabalat, Taka) to lecture on “Folk Art & Colonial Encounter,” noting syncretism.
• Use Minimalism vs. Baroque comparison from “Global Art Movements” to contextualize Filipino minimalists.
• For exams, practice matching institution to role (museum vs. grant agency) and technique to locale (e.g., Singkaban—Bulacan).

Quick-Reference Mnemonics

• “NCCA Sets Policies, CCP Sets Stage.”
• “3 M’s of Museums: National, Metropolitan, Mindanao (BenCab’s Mountain).”
• “PST” = Pabalat, Singkaban, Taka—classic folk surfaces.