Bellas Artes Projects

16/07/2022

It is with a heavy heart to announce that BAP will be closing permanently.

Thank you for attending our events and participating in our programs. We will miss you and hold memories of our gatherings dearly. 💖

📸:
1. “Carlos Amorales: Prelude,” inaugural exhibition at BAP Outpost, February 10-March 20, 2017.
2. BAP Talk with Paul Pfeiffer, September 4, 2018.
3. Listening Session with Kontra-GaPi, January 23, 2018. 4. At “Chapel” by Not Vital. Art Weekend in Bataan, March 3-4, 2018. Photo by Myra Ho.
5. Opening of “Fairest of the Fair,” May 7, 2019. Photo by Myra Ho.
6. BAP Children’s Workshop: Basic Body Casting with Efren Madlangsakay, September 23, 2018. 
7. Las Casas Artisans visit to BAP Outpost, September 6, 2018.
8. Eskwela with Tuan Andrew Nguyen, June 19, 2019.
9. School Tour with Cian Dayrit at Casa Quiapo, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, Bagac, Bataan. June 2018.

26/03/2022

Today!

24/03/2022

We're pleased to welcome BAP Residents
Fernanda Eugenio and Gustavo Ciríaco for a week long residency in Manila!! They are two Brazilian artists based in Lisbon, Portugal, with backgrounds in dance, anthropology, and site-specific projects. Both have been collaborating since 2009, leading an intensive path of works and research around the public space.

Join us this Saturday, March 26 4-6PM at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Quezon City where they will present City Lab as part of the ongoing series STEAMING CITIES.

STEAMING CITIES is a nomadic, site-specific laboratory in which the the artists attempt to capture the uncapturable, the ephemeral that constitutes a city’s present and most elusive but characteristics features: the emanations—or vapors💨—of its everyday life. Editions have been activated in Lisbon, New York City, and Ho Chi Minh. 🇵🇹🇺🇸🇻🇳

📝Limited capacity, please register in the link in bio or at
bit.ly/SteamingCities.

Gustavo and Fernanda's residency is made possible by .

1st &2nd 📸 by Gustavo
3rd 📸 by Jon Olarte

16/03/2021

Our next on-line workshop is with the London-based Filipino artist Pio Abad, who will be sharing with us his methodologies, current research, and what he's been up to, including an insight to books, podcasts, and other exciting references to his work.

In this sharing session, Abad will present his recent project and ongoing research methodology involving primarily museum archives and auction catalogues. This specific project reflects on the miscalculated concept of "end of history" and examines informal relationships, even friendships, between authoritarian states during and after the Cold War, in order to create a cartography of neoliberal fantasy.

This workshop is free of charge and opened to participants of all ages and backgrounds. Those interested in subjects around "historical memory" are encouraged to apply. Participants will also share a recent or future project proposal with the group for constructive feedback led by Abad. Limited slots available, application link in bio.

📝Apply here: bit.ly/Pio-Abad

12/03/2021

✨Coming up!✨ We're back with an upcoming workshop ahead, details will be announced next week. 🔔

29/12/2020

Mmmmmmm... Mmmmedalla! What do you dream of?

I dream of a day when from the capitals of the world, London Paris New York Madrid Rome, I shall release missile-sculptures... to fly—at nine times the speed of sound in Peking... bent, crushed like a soldier's boot after an explosion—on an airport in Ecuador... in splinters—on the fields of Omaha... A few—to cross interstellar space... accumulating as they wing along, asteroids, meteorites, magnetic fields, interstellar germs... of a new life... on their way from our galaxy to the Spiral Nebula...
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

from Mmmmmmm...
Manifesto
(a fragment)
David Medalla
London, 1965

Photo by

30/09/2020

Stemming from their BAP residency in Bataan, the Manila Zoo crew continues to explore various formats for performing 'on stage' in the midst of the pandemic and lockdowns.

This includes Eisa Jocson, Joshua Serafin, Russ Ligtas, Bunny Cadag, and Cathrine Go who previously hosted workshops for ESKWELA where they were able to experiment with new ideas and moves with all the participants.

A livestream format was presented in the recently concluded exhibition "My Body Holds Its Shape" at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong.

Xue Tan, curator of My Body Holds Its Shape at Tai Kwun Contemporary in Hong Kong, speaks with Eisa Jocson about Zoo, from the artist’s ‘Happyland’ series.

24/09/2020

Congratulations to Susan Stryker ( )who is now the new Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair in Women's Leadership at the Mills College in California, the leading school for trans studies. Stryker will be hosting the campus' Trans Studies Speaker Series.

Last June, BAP invited Susan Stryker as ESKWELA course leader for "Q***r Filipiniana", discussing about the embodiment and image-making of mid-20th century transgender Christine Jorgensen, and her appearance in the 1962 Filipino feature film, Kaming mga Talyada (We Who Are Sexy).

For more information, visit https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/23/fighting-the-new-culture-wars-mills-college-hires-pioneering-transgender-historian-and-activist/

23/09/2020

If you missed last week's ESKWELA talk with Gantala Press and UGATLahi Artist Collective you can now watch it here: https://vimeo.com/459798071

This video is an edited version given that during the live event we were invaded by trolls who attempted to disrupt the presentation of Gantala Press in a show of aggressive malice. This was not an isolated case as other feminist organizations in the Philippines have also experienced similar online bullying.

BAP denounces these acts of misogyny and attempts to undermine our right to peacefully assemble on-line. As a platform for artists, educators, and creative producers, we are dedicated to amplifying voices of storytellers and truth seekers. We stand in solidarity with those speaking and fighting against injustice and tyrannical state-forces.

21/09/2020

Forty-eight years ago on this day, Martial Law was declared in the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos. We will the thousands of innocent lives imprisoned and murdered by extrajudicial killings, and the billions plundered from the Filipino people.

Today, authoritarian laws enacted by President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration continue to threaten our democracy: the militarized pandemic response, the passage of anti-terror bill, shutting down one of the largest broadcasting networks, and the rising number of human rights violation, including the “war on drugs” and military counter-insurgency operations.



Image: "Wall of Damnation" effigy by UGATLahi on the occasion of the 46th Anniversary of the Declaration of Martial Law, September 21, 2018.

11/09/2020

On the occasion of International Day of Human Rights in 2016, UGATLahi, in collaboration with CARMMA (Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law), BAYAN (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan/ New Patriotic Alliance) and KARAPATAN (Rights: Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights) united to call justice for victims of Marcos’ dictatorial regime and to continue the struggle against state fascism amid growing count of human rights violations under the Duterte administration. Since President Duterte took office in June, there had been over 6,000 people killed in the war on drugs that year alone. Duterte’s ties with the Marcoses also complied for the burial of the late dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayan (Heroes’ Cemetery), having had occurred a month prior.

This 12-feet high and 30-feet long effigy bears the face of Ferdinand Marcos and represents the political resurrection and rehabilitation of the Marcoses and continuing state fascism under the current administration, which include extrajudicial killings, the non-release of political prisoners, and continuing military counter-insurgency operations.

We do not celebrate the birthdays of murderers and reserve the commemoration of holidays for true heroes, not tyrants.

🎥 Marcos Effigy December 10, 2016, courtesy UGATLahi Artist Collective.

10/09/2020

UGATLahi (Ugnayan at Galihan ng mga Artistang Tanod ng Lahi) is an artist collective with a common goal of expressing a powerful visual resistance to confront the overwhelming corruption and oppressive social order. Since the early 1990s, the group has collaborated with various advocacy groups in producing images and expressions of protest through performance and installation art, including effigies that were made to burn in mass mobilizations. These public demonstrations are most notably held during the annual State of the Union address.

To learn more about UGATLahi's effigies, register to next week's Live Talk here:
bit.ly/BurningEffigiesPrintingVoices