The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA) of the University of the Philippines Diliman, will be participating in the “Time Space Existence” Exhibit at the Palazzo Mora in Venice, Italy organized by the Global Art Affairs Foundation, from 7 June to 23 November 2014.
The participation marks the first time that the Philippines, through an institutional delegation, joins the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale, intended to pave the way for the country to participate officially in the next Biennale in 2016.
The Palazzo Mora exhibit is a Collateral Event of the 2014 International Architecture Biennale curated by Rem Koolhaas, along the theme “Fundamentals.”
The delegation tasked to produce the exhibit are José Danilo A. Silvestre, Delegation Head/Architectural Curator, and Gerard Rey A. Lico, Deputy Delegation Head/Architectural History and Heritage Curator. They will be assisted by Rubén D.F. Defeo as Artistic Director and Reynaldo L. Concepción as Graphics Designer.
All four are faculty members of the University. Silvestre and Lico come from the College of Architecture (CA), while Defeo and Concepción are from the College of Fine Arts. They are scheduled to leave for Venice on May 29, 2014.
The NCCA/OICA Exhibit includes architectural proposals and responses to the recent Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda calamity which struck Tacloban City, Leyte, Samar and other Philippines islands in the Visayan region on 8 November 2013. The exhibit explores Architecture in its manifestations through Time, Space and Existence, and in its fundamental elements as it responds to the threats that beset today’s civilization.
Works by Silvestre and Lico form the nucleus of the exhibit, along with select works of their students at the CA.
The Philippine participation is made possible through a grant from Senator Loren Legarda, the Metrobank Foundation, and the kind assistance of the Global Art Affairs Foundation, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the NCCA.
