Art & Culture

When I gave a lecture on Francisco Balagtas’ (1788–1862) Florante at Laura to graduate students in literature at the University of the Philippines, I opened by asking them to recall its full title.  Only a few could summon its opening lines; fewer still remembered...

The play delivers a gut-wrenching display of one’s sense of purpose, and the immense hardship required to escape the drab and punishing life overseas The arid Arabian desert is capable of drying nearly everything to death, with temperatures often reaching up to 55 degrees...

While examining the archives of the Biblioteca Nacional de España, I encountered an albumen photograph labelled “Sala de pintura y escultura at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris.” The image is attributed to Juan Laurent—one of the most important photographers working in late...

The celebration of the Philippines’ arts and culture is a celebration for all, regardless of one’s proclivities, so long as it stands to illuminate the citizen—and the nation—for good. What does a beauty queen of mixed heritage have anything to do with Philippine arts...

If Moudifa stands as a possible indication of what might come to Philippine theater, then the future of Filipino artistry will be as stale as this AI-generated musical What is true artistry? Ever since the boom of generative artificial intelligence (AI) a couple of...

Juan Luna’s ‘Hymen, oh Hyménée!’ drowns the public with overwhelming passion for the last time, 132 years later. From Oct. 7 to Oct. 16, the Ayala Museum held a special one-object exhibit. It was for a painting dubbed as “the holy grail of Philippine...