Tuesday, December 2, 2014–January 28, 2015
Japan Foundation, Manila (JFM) and the University of the Philippines’ Jorge B. Vargas Museum (UPVM) are pleased to announce, “Forces at Work,” a group exhibition envisioned by young, emerging curators from the Philippines and Japan. This group exhibition is presented as part of the Japan Foundation’s Run & Learn: New Curatorial Constellations project with the next generation of curators from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Japan.
“Forces at Work” comprises curatorial projects from participants of the Curatorial Development Program, initiated by UPVM and JFM biennially since 2009. This year’s program included curatorial workshops by Patrick Flores of the Vargas Museum and Mami Kataoka of the Mori Art Museum. Aimed at developing and enhancing contemporary art curation in Asia, the program received proposals from the Philippines and abroad, and from an impressive pool of applicants four curators were selected: Con Cabrera, Merv Espina, Ricky Francisco, and Mayumi Hirano.
Together with their counterparts in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, these four curators were invited to a short-term residency in Japan, visiting cultural institutions, museums, galleries, and independent artist run spaces in Yokohama, Nagoya, Kanazawa, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Tokyo. With guidance from Ms. Kataoka, Yukie Kamiya of the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, and Yasuko Furuichi of the Japan Foundation, the curators further developed their proposals before returning to their respective countries to prepare for their exhibits.
With “Forces at Work,” the curators’ projects address the myriad forces shaping social life: Cabrera traces oppression and protest as substructure for new works; Espina explores the art market as site of political economies; Francisco focuses on catastrophe and the poetic responses to it; Hirano delves into the process of negotiation between local beliefs and scientific knowledge. A
s a whole, the exhibit explores the tensions between these competing forces; formidable and unrelenting, they form not only the foundations of society but also our own realities.
Understanding that we are subjects of and subjected to these forces, the four curators have developed an exhibition program beyond the walls of the museum to invite the public to participate. These external events include artist’s talks, roundtable discussions, and workshops throughout the exhibition run.
The Vargas Museum is located at the University of the Philippines, Diliman in Quezon City. It is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9:00am – 5:00pm. Visit www.jfmo.org.ph or e-mail mocampo@jfmo.org.ph for more details.
Download: ForcesAtWork PR and Calendar of Events