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Art & Culture

Florante at Laura as ‘cuadro historico’

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...

Man is no cactus in Arlo Deguzman’s play ‘Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan’

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...

EXPOLIARIVM: The expatriate life of Juan Luna’s famous painting

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...

There’s a light that never goes out for Filipinos—thanks to art

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...

‘AI is following my feelings, my soul!’: Margarita Marquis’s musically misguided Moudifa should worry us

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...

Hymen, oh Hyménée!: Juan Luna’s love in a time of lunacy

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...

Random Pickings

Heber Bartolome sculpture unveiled at Erehwon

A life-sized sculpture of folk rock icon Heber Bartolome silently playing his guitar sits at the center stage of the open-air venue, Behn Cervantes...

History Takes Center Stage at MOA as TBA Studios Unveils Quezon

The day opened inside IKEA Philippines, where unsuspecting shoppers suddenly became part of a live historical reenactment. Dressed in full period costume, Jericho Rosales—portraying...

She looms a beauty: The power of weaving and femininity in ‘A Loom of Stories’

Seven artists led the female-charged 37th edition of the Of Art and Wine exhibit in the form of loom and weaving If one would lightly...

Savage mind: Divergence and convergence

“I am the place in which something has occurred.”—Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Savage Mind It was a maverick idea, though not primitive, but on the whole...