Interrogating Art Competitions
Interrogating Art Competitions
Coordinated by De la Salle – College of St. Benilde
(c/o Elvert de la Cruz Bañares)
23 March 2007, 3:30-7:00 pm,
De La Salle – College of St. Benilde, Manila
Download Transcript of the Kuro (PDF)
HIGHLIGHTS
The final Kuro Forum was held in conjunction with the Awarding Ceremonies of the WebSining 2007 Digital Arts Competition. Held in partnership with the DLS College of St. Benilde, which houses one of the top Multimedia Arts programs in the country, the Forum sought to interrogate the very concept of art competitions (one of which the WebSining Project has also been sponsoring). It sought to look at the ultimate relevance of such competitions in promoting art-making, and also tried to surface the various issues and problems such competitions, engender.
In keeping with the theme of Websining 2007: “Contesting Traditions”, the organizers wanted to problematize how art competitions promote (or hinder) the development of arts and culture in the country.
Preliminaries
Welcome Remarks were delivered by Prof. Ram Nolasco, as host of the event. Prof. Nolasco is the Chair of the Multimedia Arts Department of DLS-CSB’s School for Design and Arts. He stressed how their role as an education institution in multimedia and web digital arts can enhance the Filipino creativity and fill a niche in the region.
Dr. Felipe de Leon Jr then gave a solidarity message. Dr. de Leon is a Commissioner of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) Sub-Commission on the Arts. He situated the relatively new medium of multimedia in our own Filipino culture and its parallels with traditional arts. He emphasized the participatory and communal nature of artistic creation, and how the artist can reestablish control over the creative process. He then congratulated the project organizers, which he said created new opportunities with arts, culture and technology.
Cris Rollo, the head of the NCCA National Committee on Visual Arts and part of the Project Team then gave the audience a general orientation to WebSining as well as to the Kuro Forums. He thanked the speakers and resource persons of the various Kuro forums, as well as partners such as DLS-CSB. He also acknowledged the Project Team and organizers, and also the participants who submitted entries to the competition, and the judges. He also explained the vision behind the theme of WebSining. “Contesting Traditions” is breaking new ground in art making—from the notion of who the artists are, to the notion of art space. He stressed that we were building a new community of digital arts practitioners.
He then introduced an Audio Visual Presentation of the Project which explained the main aspects of WebSining 2007.
The programme then shifted to the panel discussion itself, and co-Project Director Geejay Arriola introduced the guest panelists, who were supposed to tackle the topic “Interrogating Art Competitions” in a talk-show format to be “hosted”/moderated by Mr. Sid Hildawa, who is the Head, Visual, Literary and Multi-Media Arts Department of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
Panelists included:
Raquel Oyek-Daya, Public Relations Officer of the Art Association of the Philippines, which holds the longest-running visual arts competition in the country since 1948)
Elvert Bañares, the Director of the Eksperimento Film Festival who is also an independent filmmaker and multi-media artist, and also a multi-media arts teacher at CSB.
Aileen Legazpi-Ramirez , Curator at Lopez Museum and who teaches Art Studies at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. She also has been a judge in various art competitions, including the recent Ateneo de Manila Art Awards.
Ibarra “Bombing” Gutierrez, President and CEO of Media G8Way Corporation, which has organized and managed the Philippine Web Awards for the past ten years.
All panelists were asked to give an introduction to the various festivals and competitions they help run. They were also queried on their various experience of controversies in the course of the competition, or on instances when no winner was declared, etc. The panel gave very candid answers about the problems faced in running such competitions, and also what they felt were the achievements of these events.
An Open Forum then ensued with the audience asking questions and giving their own opinions during a highly interactive session.
It was noted that art competitions are still a contested space with many issues still unresolved, but it seems to have its niche and could play a role in promoting arts and culture. However, it should be seen as just one platform among many where such promotion and affirmation of artists can take place. All agreed that we should continue with the discussion on these issues in the future.
At about 5:30 pm, Sid and Geejay closed the Kuro Forum and the programme for the Awarding Ceremonies of the Digital Arts competition then commenced.