Orange Project, Bacolod City

September 13 – November 8, 2024

Elmer Borlongan | Plet Bolipata | Leslie De Chavez | Charlie Co

Alfredo Esquillo | Manny Garibay | Renato Habulan | Mark Justiniani | Joy Mallari

Agos Studio | Eskinita Art Farm | Linangan Art Residency | Orange Project

Pasilyo Press | Project Space Pilipinas | Tungtung Alon Art Foundation

Gathering as Event: Stories of the Community

Pagtilipon-tipon (pagtitipon, gathering) as a central notion and action by which this exhibition becomes meaningful and cohesive, looks at, and therefore presents a way of seeing, the essential tools and values that bind people together in specific events. Event as a matter of phenomena, dwells on the workings of the extraordinary as opposed to the mundane, defined by the usual flow of everyday. This powerful point of encounter, redefines what is imaginable and within existential possibilities, becomes a point of both convergence and divergence.

The simultaneity of junction and departure is what this show expresses and deeply ponders on, as something that coincides with the attempt to enrich and redefine certain aspects of contemporary art-making. Yes, it is a celebration and a reflection on the importance of narrative in the many ways that human life has been and have become, making this gathering not only a coming together but also a harvesting, of discoveries and rediscoveries in the essence of art-in-community. As a real event, it is a dialogue on the strong hold of the market and the institutions in the definition of what art is: this gathering presents a space for the reclamation of the artists’ power to honor cultural responsibilities in establishing who they are in their words, and what they do in their practice. This moment marks a turning point – an awareness – in its exercise of freedom and agency.

As much as there is intention prior to the occasion, that informs a deep why beneath the feet from where one stands, the sight from the position of a resolve becomes a dream of the here and now, throbbing and pulsating with strong what-ifs. The present opens up a horizon of choices from where the future breathes. Even if perspectives become overcast due to the limitations of thought, that the finer view may need resuscitation, the vision from the vantage of the heart is crystal clear. It can be distant at times, but it cannot not be seen.