In response to the global pandemic and our current socio-political condition, Kwago bookstore hosts “Bad connection or subtitles to silence”—a series of 20-minute art performances at Zoom featuring various artists and poets across Asia.
“To confront and examine how digital technology is affecting the ways we express, connect and live during this period of crisis and great change, we developed Bad Connection prompting a diverse group of artists to explore the online space as an exhibition platform different from the material world,” Kwago founder and co-curator of the event mentioned.
“Digital technology has warped our geographies and contexts, transcending borders and time zones. We’re excited to introduce the next artist that investigates this evolution while engaging the audience to make them part of the performance,” she added.
An attempt to create a critical and playful space to (mis)understand our relationships with our avatarized selves and digital environments, “Bad connection or subtitles to silence” don’t announce who’s performing each gathering to give room for surprise, serendipity and spontaneity in this algorithm-controlled world.
Co-curated by Kwago co-owners Czyka Tumaliuan and Roy Voragen, “Bad connection or subtitles to silence” has grown into a community and is now run with a team of young female artists, writers and designers: Dyem Carreon, Karishma Etong, Rai Hamid and Niña Sherizze de Sagun.
‘Bad Connection’, which began staging performances last May, is now in its sixth and final installment for the year. Opening the series was visual artist-musician Datu Arellano (Restored Connections) playing a whimsical tune from his self-invented instrument “Tahigami”, followed by Singapore-based artist Ila (Touch Myself) reading a poem which carries a list of instructions to reflect on during the pandemic, poet Nerisa del Carmen Guevara (Infinite Gestures: Reflections) mirrored our anxieties by bringing her elegy to Zoom. Exploring on the digital platform, Japanese new media artist Katsuki Nogami (Birthmark) did real-time edits of his performance on Youtube, putting a twist to what’s seemingly a tiled group photo. Just last month, mobile artistic research collective Load Na Dito Projects (20202020) held an auction expressing the changing landscape of the cultural ecology during the lockdown.
Apart from being a digital stage for artists, Bad Connection has become a community for everyone to contemplate and rise above the algorithm, as one of the artists stated.
In collaboration with the Japan Foundation, “Bad Connection” will also be releasing a publication and will be mounting an exhibition by year end. It will also hold an artists conference in February 2021.
The last online gathering is on October 16, 8:30pm. Event is free. Just bring a pen and paper. Follow the link to join Bad Connection/5: http://bit.ly/joinbadconnection5. Visit the Facebook event page for more details: http://bit.ly/BC5day_ . To have a glimpse of the past gatherings, visit Kwago’s Youtube page: bit.ly/kwagoTV.
