THESE ARE SIMPLER TIMES...

Here is a really interesting talk by John Maeda, the new president of my alma mater, RISD (well, not so new). He talks about simplicity vis-a-vis complexity, mentorship, and the relationship between technology and design. Pretty engrossing stuff, a really interesting ride. He totally confirms my theory that one can change the way things look by changing the way you look at things.

I wish that he was our president when I was in RISD back in the mid-nineties. Perhaps my work would have a much less organic feel and be more technology savvy (two attributes of my work that I still have issues about). But I had no choice, I was a product of my zeitgeist and that zeitgeist made fun of people who used Photoshop and Illustrator. It was a completely different world back then. Multi-media was a bad word. Saying that you were taking "interdisciplinary studies" was tantamount to claiming you were taking a major in Voodoo. The pursuit of "pure art" was the most important thing to learn. Painting should be painting, sculpture should be sculpture, industrial design should remain exclusively in the realm of industrial design. Never should the worlds meet.

During those days, I had to create the spaces for my art since it wasn't really being taken seriously by my professors in the painting department (except for my mentor Al Wunderlich and his friend, MIT artist in residence Joe Davis). I would hold performances in empty lots (above in the garden with the hanging blue cloth) and sneakily "move" into an abandoned church choir loft/bar called The Tap room to build installations and hold performances within them (shots of my thesis performance above, "Walang Pamagat"). I really felt like my collaborators and I were at war with a conservative establishment. We had to really fight to be taken seriously when integrating the visual arts with any other medium like performance, installation, and technology. I'm so glad to see things are changing in an extreme way in RISD with the coming of John Maeda. I'm glad to see the cross-pollination of artistic media finally being given support.

Just a week ago, I met up with some old friends from RISD in Montreal (above, Vanessa Yanow, owner and co-director of The Long Haul art space and studios in Montreal and Ben Graham, who runs sustainable architecture firm, Nature Design Build in Vermont,) and we discussed what a different world it is for artists today. Right now, multi-media is not only one of the most common methods of artistic expression but it actually is fast becoming the norm. Fashion designers are working with computers, scientists are becoming sculptors, former med students are taking photographs. It's all about blurring the lines between art and science and between art and art. It seems to be a brave new world nowadays. I wonder what RISD kids in the post John Maeda world will create.

Oh and if you are wondering about the strange poses, we're mimicking the paintings behind us. Such art dorks.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

DEMORGEN. DELOVELY. DEBBIE.

A shout out to writer/blogger Debbie Pappyn and DeMorgen Magazine in Belgium for the mention in their article on Manila. Once again, Cubao X and Sofitel make the grade. Great pictures, great layout and great angle. I don't speak Flemish but it's easy to tell that MALLS were NOT really featured. Everyone take note. Log on here to read the article on page thirty of the MAGAZINE (supplement), not the paper itself.

My Canadian sabbatical is winding down. Just hit Vancouver. Truth be told, I'm ready to go home.

IT'S TIME TO LIGHT THE LIGHTS...

Stage is set. Opening night jitters.

Press arrives. Hey there Harriet! She is the sister of www.oldmanilawalks.com


Crowd starts trickling in. We would fill the entire garage. The crowd would be mostly Filipino-Canadians and the foreigners who love them. But there was also a whole bunch of walk-ins, a smattering of hipsters, and of course, some wonderful wonderful sponsors and donors.

All rise for the national anthem.

Act I. All seems to be going well.

Act II. U.S. Imperialist Monster/Dog is on the left underneath the video projection.

Intermission.

Act III. Sorry for the blurry shot. But it gives a rough idea about the real ambience of the show. This is the only shot that didn't use flash.

Finale. Act IV.

The ecstatic team behind the Toronto Premier of "If These Walls Could Talk" : (L-R) Daniel "Ding Dong" Lee, April Aliermo, Caroline Mangosing, Me, Isa Palanca, Jeff Garcia, and Len Cervantes.

So it's a done deal. "If This Walls Could Talk" is now a stage show. Email me at celdrantours@hotmail.com if you wanna discuss how to haul it over to your side of the world.

Over and out.

LET'S PUT ON A SHOW...

The flyers have been printed (above) and the billboard has been hauled out onto the street (below). Time to get the stage set for the show. We only have a little bit more than 24 hours till Friday and Opening Night so allow me to introduce you to the guys who helped me out.

I am constantly in awe of the work ethic of Filipinos who live abroad. Any employer who claims that Filipinos are lazy and incapable of thinking out of the box is obviously an employer who was not capable of bringing out the best in them. Throw a Filipino into a level playing field and provide job satisfaction and you will be amazed about what a disciplined and creative workforce can be had. And that is all that I have been seeing from the good folks at Kapisanan.

But first of all, allow me to introduce you to the artists who collaborated with me in getting it all done properly and on time. Above, collaborators Jan Avendano (above) April Aliermo, and her boyfriend Daniel "DingDong" Lee (middle) hard at work on the collaged "U.S. Imperialist Dog/Monster" for Act II. Jeff Garcia (pictured scowling with me in the bottom photo) would provide the installation/art work for the finale of the show. Jan and Jeff are part of the Halohalo collective (www,halohalo.ca). Read more about their crazycool work by clicking on previous link.

Preparing the set for Rajah Soliman/Spanish Colonial Period segment of the tour (Act I). Note the brilliant Nipa hut on the left side of photo (done through scrap paper and bamboo sticks. I brought the flag and the large photos from Manila. The place would also be sprayed with Sampaguita scent to complete the multi sensory effect of being in The Philippines.

Technical check for video projections on the wall. This element, which I put together myself, would be integral in providing the show's "suspension of disbelief". Instead of using "real" architecture, I would use snapshots of Intramuros, complemented by historical photographs and illustrations to move the story along.

Technical check up on the flyes/garage door that would hoist the image of the Filipina Circus Girl in order to reveal the collaged background behind it. This would be the transition from Act II (American Colonial Period) into Act III (World War II). Once again, this would be April and Daniel's work.

Incredible detail of the "U.S. Imperialist Dog/Monster" for Act II (above). April and Daniel would xerox American Pop culture images and cut them out and paste them together. It would take them hours to do this. They slept at eight am just to finish the job. As I said. I have never seen people work harder. Note: I didn't come up with the monster idea. It was theirs. As Canadians, I'm sure they have their own issues about their southern neighbor.

Technical check up on the light cues (above and below).

Note the enlarged collaged backdrop. This was achieved by April and Daniel by blowing up a vintage photo of a bombed out Manila, having them broken up into grids, printed out through Adobe Illustrator on multiple pieces of bond paper, and pasting them in order on the wall. Oh my god. These guys are brilliant. So much better than my original idea of having a montage of 1940's photos and portraits. Nevertheless, I think they humored me and we had the photos stuck onto the wall behind the Nipa Hut (below). Nobody really saw it but it did make the space look fuller. The stage would have seemed a bit empty without it.

Above, Jeff Garcia's piece from the Kilusan Show. I would use it as a backdrop for the Halo-Halo Segment of the show (Act IV). The head on the top of the installation lights up and it really adds a circus effect to the finale of the show. We would also serve halo-halos and drop confetti on folks as we do curtain call. Actually, I wanted to use Tiffany Naval's cue cards and Ilona Fiddy's Quiapo candle installation as part of the show, but unfortunately, it was removed abruptly during our ingress. Perhaps they thought I needed more space for my own stuff. Oh well. I guess I should have spoken up in time.

So once again, let's do a checklist. PR has been sent out (check). Flyers have been printed (check). Stage has been set (check).

I guess we're now all ready for opening night.

Next: Opening Night.

WHEE! WHEE! WHEE!

I can't complain. I have been here in Toronto for less than a month and already I was able to swing an interview on CBC 99.1 (Here and Now) to talk about my work and about Manila. It was a short, sweet, but primetime interview @ four pm (Thanks Tori Allen once again). I actually got a few people to come to the show just because they heard the broadcast.

And now I find out that my picture (along with my super friend and Tesa's BFF, Lee (Poch) Chapman) came out in the website of Spacings Toronto Magazine. We were at the Toronto the Good party at The Distillery and our photo was taken by Filipino-Canadian snapster Rannie Turingan. See the article here and the full photo set here. I also had the pleasure of meeting Sean Micallef, (below) the man behind Spacing Toronto Magazine, Toronto the Good Party, and Murmur. I find his interests in creating a spirit for Toronto and using cellphones to tell stories about historical spots rather inspiring. Manila could use someone like him.

And on the more localized front, a couple of nights ago, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Brian Gorrell of the Pure Advocacy blog. Now we didn't talk about anyone bitchily let it be known (or at least not loudly). We just had a great time chatting & hanging out at the closing of Mateo Guez's show at Stephen Bulger Gallery on Queen Street. Brian and I have a lot in common it seems. We have tons of common friends, we both are very hyperactive and we both have an unexplainable passion for the Philippines. Watch the trailer of Mateo's soon to be released movie, "Off World" here.

Me trying to do my cool cat look with Brian. If I look thinner, it's only because I just finished biking 25 kilometers around all of Toronto that day. Oh, and my show, "If These Walls Could Talk" was also on the listings of BlogTO.

IT'S BEEN BUSY OVER HERE...

Ok. Here we go. Enough dilly dallying and scratching my ass. Time to put on a show. Timeframe of set up and rehearsals: five days (May 18 to 22). Performance date: May 22 Fri and May 23 Sat @ 8pm plus one matinee on May 23 at 3pm. Not to mention a collage workshop and artist's talk in between. Good thing I have lots of help and great collaborators from Kapisanan Philippine Center to assist. Below, April Aliermo and Daniel aka. Dingdong Lee helping load my one suitcase of props, costumes, and a bunch of art supplies into a cab to bring to the performance venue.

These guys work so hard. I really felt like a lazy burgeois slob next to them. They would eventually end up creating a nipa hut from scratch, rigging up the video system, and staying up until 8am one night just to finish a paper collage "American Imperialist Dog Monster" for the American Colonial period portion of the show. (It was their idea). Their backdrop for the World War II segment would also blow my mind. Their creativity and work ethic are truly inspiring.

The location: Rolly's Garage on Ossington Street. Click here:

A little tidbit about lower Ossington great area of Toronto. Once a sleepy neighborhoon full of immigrants, it's now in the midst of becoming an uber cool hipster wasteland full of galleries, bars, and restaurants. For booze, go to Sweaty Betty's (above) or Watusi. For food, go to Golden Turtle Vietnamese Pho on the corner of Argyle or The Reposado Portuguese Deli in front of it. Do not go to BMQ Hamburgers up the street. The owner is an ass so I will spread a rumor that they have rats.

But first, I have to do an interview on CBC radio 99.1 at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on John Street. Thanks Tori Allen for making it happen. So after dropping off the gear at Rolly's Garage, I leave Daniel and April to their own devices and head out towards the Canadian National (CN) Tower downtown.

But like a dog, I am distracted by lunch. Polish sausage. Bought at a street corner. With sauerkraut and a bottle of apple juice. C$3.50. Roughly Php150.00. Food is rather expensive in Canada. But it is fresh and plentiful. I guess it's expensive because they have winters and maybe their soil isn't as fertile as ours. I really think we need to have winter to instill a sense of urgency for Filipinos. Everyday is a nice warm day in The Philippines, perhaps that's why we procrastinate so much about things like fixing our economy and changing the constitution. Really, with the resources we have, poverty and hunger is inexcusable.

The waiting room. It all went by so quickly, that I forgot the name of the lady who interviewed me. Oops. My bad. I do have the interview itself though. I just now have to figure out how to load it online.

Next: Setting the stage.