The Manila’Bang Show 2024 happened between November 14 to 17 at SPACE at OneAyala. The new venue gives artists and galleries an opportunity to showcase their art at the heart of the Makati Central Business District. With that in mind, BluPrint takes you on the ground of its opening day. Many galleries came out in […]
‘Eclipse: a Forecast’: Light and Darkness of the Urban Landscapes
Annie Pacaña’s Eclipse: a Forecast, or simply Eclipse, pursues patterns in our urbanized daily life through playing with light and sound.
Currently showing at Gravity Art Space until April 27, Pacaña’s work here plays a lot with the imagery of the city and the idea of existing constantly in existential darkness. The work uses light as a fulcrum point of the concept, a way to showcase how humanity exists in conversation with these elements—how humanity brings light and darkness with them in their day-to-day life.
“I use the images of the city as material and metaphor for life that breathes thru wires, and thrives in mobility, and enchanted connections,” Pacaña wrote.
Creating a Landscape of Moving Images
Some of the works that Pacaña showcases in Eclipse is wondrous in how it reinterprets the criss-crossing stability of the urban landscape. She photographs materials we see everyday, things that bring us light in many ways, and layers them on top of each other.
Paglisan, for example, portrays the information superhighway in its most physical infrastructure. It contains wires on a post superimposed on each other, while the background contains what appears to be an underpass, the city upside down underneath it.
It gives this feeling of the interconnectedness of city life, how we build our lives towards bringing each other together, whether through our roadways or our densely packed cities or even the internet.
Her other exhibited work, Live Wire, plays with kaleidoscopic visions and patterns, essentially as a representation of our online presence. It’s certainly more abstract than Paglisan, but it portrays the same sense of connectivity that exists in our modern society.
Other works play with the idea of reflection and light even more than superimposing images on top of each other. There’s one work in the corner of the dark room, Talinghaga, which utilizes mirrors to create a dazzling display of light in the walls. It feels almost surreal to watch, an acknowledgement of the vivid city lights and the restlessness it gives its inhabitants.
Finding Light Once Again
The centerpiece of the exhibit, however, is the dance film Baile, where a dancer moves in the shadow of Pacaña’s art installation Angles of Reflection. The choreography was done by Una Bighani while the film itself was scored by Joee Mejias.
The film gives life to the idea of what an eclipse means, how it’s always about multiple bodies colliding and blocking out the light they emanate, a tangle of multiple things going through and by each other. Pacaña acknowledges that the fact that it was a collaboration creates deeper meaning to her theme of “eclipse.”
“I acknowledge shared creativity through collaborations with other artists as beautiful entanglements that nurture my art practice and well-being,” she wrote. “It is a dance of light and shadow with precise timing that transpires and transforms into serenity.”
Eclipse feels otherworldly in how it tackles our urban spaces. It whizzes through the spectacle of the concrete and stone, and grounds itself on how we live with others. Pacaña portrays humanity in bigger, broader structures, and how that affects who we are, and who we become to others.
Related reading: World’s Most Twisted Tower, ‘Dance of Light’ Has Been Unveiled in China
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Every year, the holiday season brings a flurry of new decor trends. While it’s fun to experiment with the latest styles, sometimes it can be a little taxing and confusing keeping up with them. But the good news is that you don’t need to follow every trend to create a stunning Yuletide aesthetic. Here are […]
The ICA Art Fair happened from November 21 to 23 at W High Street in Bonifacio Global City (BGC). This inaugural art fair was organized as a charity event for the benefit of the ICA Alumni Association Scholarship Foundation. “This one-of-a-kind charity event will feature a curated selection of leading contemporary artists, displaying works across […]
Swiss architect and designer Aurel Aebi, co-founder of atelier oï alongside Armand Louis and Patrick Reymond, brings a tactile, storytelling approach to design. Visiting Manila for the Louis Vuitton Savoir Rêver exhibition, Aebi shared insights into their philosophy and process, demonstrating how everyday objects can transform into elegant, functional art pieces. At atelier oï’s studio […]
This 2024, we’ve seen a lot of emerging design ideas, taking inspiration from fashion, music, psychology, and philosophy, that changed the way we perceive interior spaces. And now that we’re approaching the Yuletide season, you might want to break away from your usual way of decorating and try something fresh and out of the ordinary. […]
Download this month's BLUPRINT magazine digital copy from:
Subscribe via [email protected]