3rd Kamias Triennial
Sawsawan: Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen
Location: Venues across Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Dates: February 7-22, 2020
Curators: Allison Collins, Patrick Cruz, Su-Ying Lee
Artists: Lesley-Anne Cao (PH), Fabiola Carranza (CA/CR/USA), Marcos Castro (MX), Raven Chacon (USA), Gabi Dao (CA), Elisa Ferrari (CA/IT), Fastwurms (CA), Carolina Fusilier (AR/MX), Cristóbal Gracia (MX), Maharlika (Catalina Africa, Zeus Bascon, Tanya Villanueva) (PH), Miko Revereza (PH), Issay Rodriguez (PH), Scott Rogers (CA/UK), Sarah Rose (NZ/UK), Carolina Magis Weinberg (MX), Prras! collective (Nelly César & Tamara Ibarra) with Colectivo Amasijo (Martina Manterola Serra & Cecilia Castro) (MX), Jacobo Zambrano (VE)
Contributors: Rosemarie Roque (PH), Grrrl Gang Manila
Stride Gallery/M:ST, Calgary, Artist-in-Residence: Stephanie Comilang (CA/DE)
Website: https://www.kamiasspecialprojects.com/
Contact: kamiasspecialprojects@gmail.com
From February 7-22, 2020, the 3rd iteration of the Kamias Triennial (KT3) titled “Sawsawan: Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen” will gather a group of international artists to participate in exhibitions, performances, screenings, discussions and more. All events are free and open to the public. A schedule of events will be announced in January 2020.
Although the word ‘triennial’ simply means an occurrence of once every three years, it has become synonymous with institutionalized, powerful art-world events. Against such expectations, Kamias takes place in a “developing” country favouring a domestic scale, artist-run culture, accessible events and participants selected for their potential to gather together to generate new possibilities. The project is situated to consider the notion of globalization as a now-established norm, yet one where uneven national relationships often gives authority to topics defined in the West. Since the Kamias Triennial was founded by Canadian-Filipino artist Patrick Cruz in 2014, the event has continued to take place in the dedicated Kamias Special Projects space (KSP), adjacent to the Cruz family home, and across partner venues in Quezon City, Metro Manila. The domestic-cum-public location of the KSP space has remained the heart of the Kamias Triennial signifying deep roots and attentiveness to human scale and scope.
The title of KT3, “Sawsawan: Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen” refers to sawsawan (dipping sauce) that Filipino cultural writer Doreen G. Fernandez considered representative of a cultural ethos of sharing labour, authorship and power. “Dirty kitchen” is the name for the outdoor kitchen where the foundational, but sometimes messy task of cooking is done. It is an extension of the home where nourishment takes place and friends and family gather. The title is a metaphoric underscoring of practices that resist colonialism and a stated expression of our foundational value, the domestic as a figurative and literal space. It foregrounds our intention to gather where we can engage in messy, complex and nourishing conversations generated by the many voices of our artists and audiences. We arrive at the ancestral kitchen, the KSP project space to consider the 3rd Triennial’s movements of reverse migration across the Global South—Mexico to the Philippines and across the north-south divide from Canadian and European contexts to a shared space to engage related concerns of context.
The Kamias Triennial positions the domestic scale, both architecturally and as an ethos, as a space for contributing to contemporary cultural production where being, thinking and making together carry the same weight as exhibiting and viewing. The Triennial is produced by the Kamias Special Projects Collective--our acronym KSP references a Tagalog language abbreviation, which translates as “kulang sa pansin” meaning lack of attention. This deliberate citation refers to the nuanced, but urgent and pressing need to spend time with the overlooked problems and challenges that we face as cultural producers and consumers. As implied by the state of “lacking attention”, rather than turning our attention towards replicating the mainstream art-world we are attentive to creative and intellectual work realized through lateral dialogues across cultures, open-ended community practices, and experimental curatorial strategies on an intimate scale.
Thank you to our Kamias Triennial partner venues: Green Papaya, Load Na Dito, Los Otros, Project 20, University of the Philippines Film Institute, Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival.
The Kamias Triennial wishes to acknowledge support from:
The 3rd iteration of the Triennial (KT3) titled “Sawsawan:Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen” will take place from February 7-22, 2020 and will be co-curated by the Kamias Special Projects (KSP) Collective: Patrick Cruz, Allison Collins(Vancouver) and Su-Ying Lee (Toronto). KT3 will include Canadian, Filipino and Mexican artists participating in exhibitions, performances, screenings and more in several venues--our main site and dedicated gallery, the Kamias Special Projects space and at artist-run project partners spaces Green Papaya Projects, Project 20, Los Otros and Load Na Dito. We have also partnered with the Film Institute, University of the Philippines to host a screening. The title “Sawsawan: Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen” refers to sawsawan (dipping sauce) that Filipino cultural writer Doreen G. Fernandez considered representative of a cultural ethos of sharing labour, authorship and power. “Dirty kitchen” is the name for the outdoor kitchen where the foundational, but sometimes messy, task of cooking is done. It is an extension of the home where nourishment takes-place and friends and family gather. The title is a metaphoric underscoring of practices that resist colonialism and a stated expression of our foundational value, the domestic as an ethos and a literal and figurative space. It forefronts our intention to gather where we can engage in messy, complex and nourishing conversations generated by the many voices of our artists and audiences. We return to the ancestral kitchen, the KSP project space to consider the 3 rd Triennial’s movements of reverse migration—the Global South of Mexico to the Global South of the Philippines and from North America to the “3 rd world” and related concerns of contextual problems.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 30, 2020
3rd Kamias Triennial
Sawsawan: Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen
Location: Venues across Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Dates: February 7-22, 2020
Curators: Allison Collins, Patrick Cruz, Su-Ying Lee
Artists: Lesley-Anne Cao (PH), Fabiola Carranza (CA/CR/USA), Marcos Castro (MX), Raven Chacon (USA), Gabi Dao (CA), Elisa Ferrari (CA/IT), FASTWÜRMS (CA), Carolina Fusilier (AR/MX), Cristóbal Gracia (MX), Maharlika (Catalina Africa, Zeus Bascon, Tanya Villanueva) (PH), Miko Revereza (PH), Issay Rodriguez (PH), Scott Rogers (CA/UK), Sarah Rose (NZ/UK), Carolina Magis Weinberg (MX), Prras! collective (Nelly César & Tamara Ibarra) with Colectivo Amasijo (Martina Manterola Serra & Cecilia Castro) (MX), Jacobo Zambrano (VE)
Contributors: Rosemarie Roque (PH), Grrrl Gang Manila, Stride Gallery/MST, Calgary,
Artist-in-Residence: Stephanie Comilang (CA/DE)
Website: https://www.kamiasspecialprojects.com/
Contact: kamiasspecialprojects@gmail.com
EVENTS ANNOUNCEMENT
The curators of the 3rd Kamias Triennial (KT3), titled “Sawsawan: Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen”, are pleased to announce our events schedule:
FEB 7 Opening performance and party Free and open to the public, light food and refreshments
Date: Friday, February 7, 2020
Time: 6pm preview begins; 6:45pm performance
Location: Kamias Special Projects, 124 K-8th, East Kamias, Quezon City, Philippines
Description: An exhibition preview and opening party including:
#turtle_kin_in-kind, A performance by duo FASTWÜRMS, known for collective making and social exchange projects will take place to mark the opening of the exhibition.
Our Place in the Struggle: A reader on Philippine Feminisms presented by Grrrl Gang Manila will be available at the event. The reader, commissioned by the Kamias Triennial is part of our Context Series--a three component series that provides socio-political context about the Philippines. Our Place in the Struggle addresses the state for women in the Philippines. Areas discussed include women’s agency over their own bodies and relationships, the Safe Spaces Act, feminist organiztions and the #BantayBastos campaign that aims to address misogyny and gender-related violence in Philippine society by holding public figures accountable. Limited hard copies of the reader will be available at the opening and events until they run out. A pdf version will be available online at https://www.kamiasspecialprojects.com/, https://www.facebook.com/grrrlgangmanila/ and https://www.su-yinglee.com/
FEB 8 Screening of two documentaries on the Philippines Guest curated by Rosemarie Roque
Date: Saturday, February 8, 2020
(A second screening will take place on Monday, February 10th at 2pm, same location)
Time: 2pm-5pm. This is a relaxed screening. We encourage people to leave and return quietly if they need to take breaks.
Location: Videotheque, University of the Philippines, Diliman campus, 2/F Ishmael Bernal Gallery, Osmeña Ave (Back entrance of Main Theatre)
Description: Each film will be preceded by a short introduction by Rosemarie Roque. A fifteen minute intermission will follow the first film. The program will be followed by a short Q & A with Rosemarie Roque. This program is part of our Context Series. A three component series that provides socio-political context about the Philippines.
Thrilla in Manila: De Filipijnen onder staat van beleg (Dutch, English, and Filipino, 44 min.) A TV documentary by André Truyman broadcasted by KRO (Dutch TV) on 1 May 1976, less than four years after Marcos declared Martial Law in the Philippines. It is a documentary about the shrill contrasts between rich and poor in Manila under the reign of President Ferdinand Marcos and entirely in the American sphere of influence. The copy of the documentary and permission to screen are obtained from the Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision and KRO.
Beyond the Walls of Prison: (English and Filipino, 1987, 60 min.) This is an AsiaVisions film essay on life within and beyond the prison walls of the Marcos dictatorship. Features interviews with former political detainees who all expressed their desire to be reintegrated into the mainstream of society, while keeping alive their commitment to social transformation. The film is part of the AsiaVisions Audio Visual Collection under the custodianship of IBON Foundation.
FEB 12 TWO EVENTS AT PROJECT 20
EVENT 1
Prras! Collective & Colectivo Amasijo: NAJ FLAG! Collective Feminist Flag Making, Seeking a feminist community for riding into the future together!
Free and open to those who identify as women, trans, gender non-binary
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Time: 5-8pm
Location: Project 20, 20 Maginhawa, Diliman, Lungsod Quezon, 1101 Kalakhang
Description: Prras! Collective and Colectivo Amasijo invite women identifying, trans and gender non-binary people to co-create a Naj Flag. Naj is a *Mayan word that holds several meanings including “destiny” and “house”. The flag, created by a diverse group of participants will be an element of the Nao Naj performance, which will take place on a boat on February 15th (see Nao Naj! details below).
Supplied: Needles, thread, glue
Bring: Fabric, any decorative items that can be attached (yarn, lace, pins etc.)
*Mayas are the historical keepers of the land that is now known as southern Mexico and Northern Central America including Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Yucatán Peninsula and El Salvador. Mayas continue to live in those and other regions today, and many speak the Mayan languages. Nao Naj is in-part informed by the Mayans' deep knowledge of mathematics, architecture, astrology, astronomy and methodologies of keeping the balance of life on earth that has been developing since ancient times.
EVENT 2
The Mexican Husband
Free and open to the public
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Time: 8:30pm
Location: Project 20, 20 Maginhawa, Diliman, Lungsod Quezon, 1101 Kalakhang
Description: A staged reading of a new play by Southern California-based artist and writer Fabiola Carranza, The Mexican Husband. An adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's one-act play The Jewish Wife (1937), Carranza’s version takes place during an undocumented artist’s last night with his lover in a Los Angeles ridden with exclusionary immigration policies, border walls and enduring prejudices. The Mexican Husband transposes the story of a wife escaping the early onset of Nazi rule for an audience well adjusted to changes in the social structure of marriage and gender while still incapable of reckoning with immigration control and artistic neurosis. A critique of the buried insidious racism of complacency and a call to arms.
FEB 13 ATCHARA
Free and open to the public
Date: Thursday, February 13, 2020
Time: 9pm - late
Location: Green Papaya Art Projects, 41B T. Gener, Kamuning, Quezon City
Description: An evening of fermented noises and moving sounds to engender communal listening, endurance and impression over three sonic performances by Raven Chacon, Elisa Ferrari/Christian Vistan/Gabi Dao and with local artist Miko Revereza. Originally from the Navajo Nation, Raven Chacon is a composer of chamber music, a performer of experimental noise music, and an installation artist. This performance will be comprised of field recordings Chacon took at the 2016 Standing Rock encampment, integrating these sounds of gathering, prayer, rest, and quiet protest with electronics and tape machines. Elisa Ferrari will perform with Gabi Dao and Christian Vistan, three artists living in Vancouver, unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories. Together they are presenting a new performance as part of lilithlithlithlithlith-a project that considers the complex interrelations of land use, power infrastructures and daily life. Using custom-made garments for electromagnetic sensing, the trio plays with inaudible energies to reorient shared incidental moments. Recently repatriated to the Philippines after growing up in the USA, filmmaker Miko Revereza will present Folds: A live cinema performance with live sound by Former Boy. The opacity of layered images using footage of sites travelled are folded into each other to bridge geographies through video.
FEB 15 TWO EVENTS AT ESCOLTA FERRY TERMINAL & LOS OTROS
EVENT 1
Nao Naj! A question about the destiny of humanity
Performance, boat ride and picnic with Prras! Collective & Colectivo Amasijo
All are welcome to ride into the feminist future!
Date: Saturday, February 15, 2020
Time: 12:10pm Meet at Hulo Ferry terminal (20 mins before departure), tickets will be distributed to the first 20 audience members
12:30pm Board ferry, performance with food aboard the ferry
1:30pm Arrive at Escolta ferry terminal. We will continue together to the location where the performance will be completed
1:40pm: End
Cost: Free ferry ticket for the first 20 people to reserve on the Facebook event; ferry ticket purchase 50 Pesos for later arrivals; free food aboard the ferry as part of the performance
Description: Nao Naj! is feminist lead boat trip that proposes a return to cosmogonic thought as a methodology for bonding nature, community practices, feminism and machines in contemporary times. Nao Naj! acknowledges the mestizo histories of Mexico and the Philippines and critiques the events of colonization and capitalism as they relate to the events of the Manila Galleon (Spanish: Galeón de Manila; Filipino: Kalakalang Galyon ng Maynila at Acapulco),which is both the name of Spanish ships and a trade route between Manila and Acapulco that lasted for 250 years (1565 to 1815). This speculative feminist re-writing gives visibility to the strong relationship between care and food. Food and acts of cooking are positioned as a means to strengthen relationships, a system of feminine knowledge that sustains our ecosystem, our culture and ourselves.
*The performance will be documented and and maybe shown as part of this or future exhibitions.
**See the above description of NAJ FLAG! for information about the use of the Mayan word “naj.”
EVENT 2
Kiri Dalena and others: Screening and Discussion
*The films in this program contain explicit images of violence and socio-political unrest. These images may be traumatic and triggering. You are encouraged to take breaks during films if needed. There will be a space provided for this.
Free and open to the public, light food and refreshments available
Date: Saturday February 15, 2020
Time: 8pm doors open, screening shortly after
Location: Los Otros, 59 Mahabagin, Diliman, Lungsod Quezon, Kalakhang
This program is part of our Context Series. A three component series that provides socio-political context about the Philippines.
Description: A selection of short films by Kiri Dalena and an excerpt from Echo of Bullets, a documentary by Southern Tagalog Exposure.
Maria, 2019 7 min
A work in progress, taken from Dalena’s unpublished work as an interviewer for the Human Rights Watch organization "License to Kill"
Gikan sa Ngitngit nga Kinailadman (From the Dark Depths), 23 mins, 2017
Interweaving dream-like underwater scenes with analog and digital footage from the artist’s own documentation of political unrest, Gikan Sa Ngitngit Nga Kinailadman is a defiant expression of loss and mourning, unarticulated and accumulated through time.
Requiem for M, 2010 6 min 53 sec
Drawn from the aftermath of the Maguindanao massacre in which multiple journalists were killed, Requiem for M captures scenes from the funerals and the site of the massacre and played the footage in reverse, in the wistful and wilfull yearning to turn back time and undo the tragedy that has occurred.
Echo of Bullets, 2003 short excerpt of 48 min
After a year and 10 months in power, the Macapagal – Arroyo regime has committed 967 cases of human rights violations in the Southern Tagalog Region. “Alingawngaw ng mga Punglo” discusses the grim human rights situation in the region. It seeks to let the voices of the victims be heard: their anguished cry for justice and call for lasting peace.
FEB 16 TWO EVENTS AT KAMIAS SPECIAL PROJECTS
EVENT 1
FLEX Talks, hosted by Load Na Dito
Free and open to the public
Date: Sunday, February 16, 2020
Time: 2pm
Location: Kamias Special Projects, 124 K-8th, East Kamias, Quezon City
Description: A Conversation * Game * Workshop led by Load Na Dito (Mayumi Hirano and Mark Salvatus), this event will gather 10 participants in a roundtable of presentations and conversation. Participants to be announced.
EVENT 2
KAT ESTACIO
Free and open to the public
Date: Sunday, February 16, 2020
Time: 4pm
Location: Kamias Special Projects, 124 K-8th, East Kamias, Quezon City
Description: Kat Estacio is a Toronto-based creative working in music, sound, analog collage, print media layout design, and projection design. She is also a founding member of Pantayo, a lo-fi R&B gong punk band. Her aural explorations blend drifty experimental synth tones with the soft percussive timbre of kulintang, a departure from the more rhythmic stylings of the larger outfit she shares in Pantayo. A strange hypnotic world unfolds that is both starkly daunting and deeply inviting. A sinister and brooding trip, modern and traditional listeners are pulled into a new terrain, and there is nowhere to hide.
FEB 22 PANEL DISCUSSION + FEEDBACK FORUM + CLOSING:
After everything has been dipped
Date: Feb 22
Time: 2 PM
Location: Project 20, 20 Maginhawa, Diliman, Lungsod Quezon, 1101 Kalakhang
Description: Participants include:
Desiree Nault - M:ST (Calgary, Canada)
Areum Kim - Stride Gallery (Calgary, Canada)
Pong Yananissorn - Charoen Contemporaries (Bangkok, Thailand)
Andy Butler - West Space (Melbourne, Australia)
Tian Zhang - Pari (Sydney, Australia)
Moderated by Patrick Cruz, Allison Collins and Su-Ying Lee
AFTER PARTY @ TODAY X FUTURE featuring DJ Xtina & Miko Revereza & Catrick Pruz
Date: Saturday, February 22, 2020
Time: 10pm - 3:30 AM
Location: Today x Future
OTHER EVENT DETAILS TO COME:
Performance by Jacobo Zambrano
Workshop by Issay Rodriguez
Check our Facebook page and website for details
https://www.facebook.com/kamiaskamiaskamias/
https://www.kamiasspecialprojects.com/
The title of KT3, “Sawsawan: Conversations in the Dirty Kitchen” refers to sawsawan (dipping sauce) that Filipino cultural writer Doreen G. Fernandez considered representative of a cultural ethos of sharing labour, authorship and power. “Dirty kitchen” is the name for the outdoor kitchen where the foundational, but sometimes messy task of cooking is done. It is an extension of the home where nourishment takes place and friends and family gather. The title is a metaphoric underscoring of practices that resist colonialism and a stated expression of our foundational value, the domestic as a figurative and literal space.
The Kamias Triennial positions the domestic scale, both architecturally and as an ethos, as a space for contributing to contemporary cultural production where being, thinking and making together carry the same weight as exhibiting and viewing. The Triennial is produced by the Kamias Special Projects Collective--our acronym KSP references a Tagalog language abbreviation, which translates as “kulang sa pansin” meaning lack of attention. As implied by the state of “lacking attention”, rather than turning our attention towards replicating the mainstream art-world we are attentive to creative and intellectual work realized through lateral dialogues across cultures, open-ended community practices, and experimental curatorial strategies on an intimate scale.
Thank you to our Kamias Triennial partners: Green Papaya Art Projects, Load Na Dito, Los Otros, Project 20, University of the Philippines Film Institute, Mountain Standard Time Performative Art Festival.
The Kamias Triennial wishes to acknowledge support from:
C Magazine
Canada Council for the Arts