MCAD presents A State in a State, an experimental documentary film by artist, filmmaker, and essayist Tekla Aslanishvili, at the Art District in Bacolod City from 23 September -23 October 2023. Tracing the construction, disruption, and fragmentation of railroads in the South Caucasus and Caspian regions, the 2022 single-channel film studies the tracks as the technical materialization of the fragile political borders that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It likewise explores how the iron foundations of connectivity can be used for exclusion and geopolitical sabotage.

Living and working in Berlin and Tbilisi, Aslanishvili’s works emerge at the intersection of infrastructural design, history, and geopolitics. Tekla Aslanishvili graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts in 2009 and holds an MFA from the Department of Experimental Film and New Media Art of Berlin University of the Arts. She is a fellow of the 2018–2019 Digital Earth, a nominee for the Ars-Viva Art Prize 2021, and a recipient of the Han NefkensFoundation-Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Award 2020

A State in a State was developed through an artistic-scientific collaboration with Dr. Evelina Gambino, Margaret Tyler Research Fellow in Geography at Girton College, University of Cambridge. It was produced by the Han Nefkens-Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2020 in cooperation with Art Jameel Dubai, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) Manila of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), NTU Center for Contemporary Art (CCA) Singapore, and WIELS Brussels. It was supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

A State in a State is an exhibition under MCAD Commons, conceptualised as a programmed space that is removed from the main gallery space of the museum. Conceived as a project to continue the expanding activities of the museum, MCAD Commons brings MCAD’s singular programming to a larger audience that allows for the engagement with creative development, ideas exchange, and support of the artistic process across the areas of research, art practice, and curatorial discourse. It will be on view at the Orange Project in Art District, Lopue’s Annex Building, Lacson Street, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental from Saturday, September 23, 2023 until Monday, October 23, 2023.

For more information, call 82305100 loc 3897 or send an email to mcad@benilde.edu.ph.