Bigkis is the act of binding. In Tagalog, the word can refer to something used to bind or encircle, as well as a bundle formed by tying several separate elements together. Figuratively, it can also mean a bond, union, or unity. The meanings move from the physical act of joining things together to the connection […]
‘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
Two sketches of Singapore connect BluPrint Editor in Chief Paulo G. Alcazaren’s personal and professional history with Shared Ground: ArchitectureArchitectureThe art and science of designing and constructing buildings, structures, and spaces that are functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing. It encompasses the planning, design, materials, and techniques used to createGo to Architecture Glossary of Care, Culture, […]
In a way, designers are the modern-day soothsayers and prophets. They design for the future, predicting how a room, a house, a building or a whole city will be used by people. They foresee how users will interact with a space, conjure exact shades of colors to elicit specific behavior and arrange furniture to build […]
Art and furniture are often selected separately, yet their relationship can shape how a room looks and feels. The collaboration between Hooga and Galerie Joaquin explores how these elements can work together, bringing contemporary artworks into furnished residential settings at Hooga’s showroom in Uptown Mall, Bonifacio Global City. For Hooga, which curates furniture, lighting, and […]
How can better-planned cities create the conditions for more creative, livable, and resilient urban environments? “Makati Urban Recipes for a City’s Survival,” a colloquium held at the Ayala Museum on September 15, brought together architects and practitioners from the fields of urbanism and the creative economy to discuss how design, planning, and collaboration can address […]
The fourth Manila Interior DesignInterior DesignThe discipline of planning and shaping interior spaces for function, comfort, safety, and beauty. It covers layout, lighting, materials, finishes, furniture, and color, and in the Philippines is a licensedGo to Interior Design Glossary Summit (MIDS) brought together more than 300 delegates for four days of conversations, exhibitions, and design […]
Read the issues.
Collect the volumes.
Recommended Video
Tap to Unmute
Unmute
0:00
0:00