“The Parallels of Reconstruction <=> Deconstruction; possibly” is an interactive, ephemeral paper installation retelling the possibilities of experience and ideas continuously taking shape and refocusing what preservation and/or transformation could be.
Installed along the spiral stairs of First United Building (FUB), its presence is a peek into fragility, resilience, and something time-bound bridging people, space, and material through a quiet tension of peripheral limitations, intuitive manipulation of a seemingly delicate yet resilient materiality of paper interacting within the spatial architectural folds of the heritage site.
Its longevity is based on the interaction of people as it (un)folds, a balancing act between the polarities about fear of uncertainties and the yearning to be transformed – in stillness and in motion.
Octagonal running stitch inspired by the Art Deco Heritage Site, specifically The Dome (6th floor)
Play of light and shadows amongst the paper panels from natural lighting
Curator Dayang Yraola:
Conducting a media art project in a heritage space begs to challenge status quo:
What's NEW media art's business in an OLD place?
I say it was not only for novelty of venue. Instead it is a factor to complicate one's creative process, to make it an exercise for criticality.
FUB, Escolta's heritage status was bestowed based on its HISTORY— its resilience to keeping its place and presence over the century. History is a record of what transpired, or at least, a version of it, since it has been said that histories are written by victors— implying a battle, a sort of violence (no matter how benign) between forces.
(AN)OTHER here pertains:
to the NOW instead of then;
to the ARTiST instead of historian;
and to the ART instead of narrative.
What history of FUB/ Escolta would be told if it is told in the now, by artists, through their (new media) artworks? Will there be a new story? Or would it be an old story simply told by a voice from another generation.
This exhibit is a proposal for a history by others, and maybe, hopefully, another history of a familiar one.
Conducting a media art project in a heritage space begs to challenge status quo:
What's NEW media art's business in an OLD place?
I say it was not only for novelty of venue. Instead it is a factor to complicate one's creative process, to make it an exercise for criticality.
FUB, Escolta's heritage status was bestowed based on its HISTORY— its resilience to keeping its place and presence over the century. History is a record of what transpired, or at least, a version of it, since it has been said that histories are written by victors— implying a battle, a sort of violence (no matter how benign) between forces.
(AN)OTHER here pertains:
to the NOW instead of then;
to the ARTiST instead of historian;
and to the ART instead of narrative.
What history of FUB/ Escolta would be told if it is told in the now, by artists, through their (new media) artworks? Will there be a new story? Or would it be an old story simply told by a voice from another generation.
This exhibit is a proposal for a history by others, and maybe, hopefully, another history of a familiar one.
Read more about what's unfolding in my studio on my Substack page. Thanks!
