展览城市： 香港
展览时间： 2008-09-05~2008-10-06
展览地点： 奥沙观塘 
 

    「——混凝土与金属的断肢、铁线及生命的残骸、异教的无线电波、星际间的吟诵;悲痛的信号、衰老台式巴士的墓地，非饮用水及神秘肉类罐头的无休止轮侯。这一刻充塞着像卫星坠落一样的奇怪音乐。一种海及其翻腾燥动之空泛概念。」

　　—翻译自Lourd De Veyra, "The Pancreas Is Deceitful Above All Things (20 Fragments for The Apocalypse)"

　　FUTURAMANILA是一个23位菲籍当代艺术家所组成的群展。合办机构是一个通过推广艺术家营运空间和于菲律宾和海外举办交流驻场计划为目标的协会。这些展览艺术家不论在本土和海外展示的作品中，都具有一种相通的菲律宾集体身份。随同这一点，由于他们跨文化身份的关係，更加强了展览为提供一个结集各种创意观点的讨论平台之核心目的。

　　是次展览透过提供综合的意念图谱，使展品产生一种令人对菲律宾的过去，现在和即将发生之未来的构想。菲律宾自殖民地时代到21世纪以来，于生存，适应和讽刺的保育基础上，一直被错综复杂的人物和时间所包围着。

　　FUTURAMANILA灵感来自菲律宾的首都，展览描绘了一个广大发展中的第三国家之社会城市的图画，显示了好比剑上双刃的情景：一方面是全球化影响下的改变，另一面是国家容纳这些社会和媒体相互影响下的变化，以及在一般语境下人们每日的互动。这许多方面的转变都影响到那些同时居住在本地及国外的菲律宾人，他们都分享着同一个渴求：在这种大环境下，国家作为一个整体，也作为人民个人的归属，应该能于斗争中分别出来及指示明光。

　　这次展览收集了艺术家从各自的环境层面吸取的大量观点。他们间接地通过艺术的探索，不论是从社会或个人的情况出发，来对个别独有的和杂样的问题作出研究。他们除了处理环境的迁移，情感的重接，文化源头的回溯等项目外，同时就衝破免陷于对国家、传统、社会压力和规範那纠缠不清的罗网而作出沉思。这是一个讽刺的高潮，最终会引导出如何能开展出未来的思索，但更重要的是，这也会揭示了该国潜藏和扭曲了的严酷现实。

　　参展艺术家:

　　Mike Arcega, Felix Bacolor, Victor Balanon, Yason Banal, Bea Camacho,

　　Mariano Ching, Louie Cordero, Jed Escueta, Nona Garcia, Robert Gutierrez,

　　Jordin Isip, Romeo Lee, Cocoy Lumbao, Kaloy Olavides, Gina Osterloh,

　　Gary-Ross Pastrana, Stanley Ruiz, Kreskin Sugay, Stephanie Syjuco,

　　Maria Taniguchi, Mac Valdezco, Jenifer K. Wofford, and Alvin Zafra

Louie Cordero, Having Reached Climax at Age 28…I am a Zombie

 
Mariano Ching, Gouge Away, Acrylic on Canvas, Triptych, 152 cm x 366 cm, 2008

 
Jenifer K. Wofford, Floater Nurse II, Ink Drawings on Painted Paper, 56 cm x 38 cm, 2006

 FUTURAMANILA
    "— Broken bones of concrete & metal, wreckage of wires & lives, heretic radio frequency, astral chants, distress signals, graveyards of decrepit Taiwanese buses, interminable lines for non-potable water & mysterious canned meat. This moment is saturated in strange music, like the sound of falling satellites. A vague notion of the sea & its varying permutations of violence. " -Lourd De Veyra, "The Pancreas Is Deceitful Above All Things (20 Fragments for The Apocalypse)"

    FUTURAMANILA is a group exhibition comprised of 23 contemporary Filipino artists brought together by an association created through artist-run spaces and exchange residency
programs and who practice both in the Philippines and abroad. These artists who exhibit their works locally and internationally all possess a mutual connection with the collective Filipino identity. Along with this, their cross-cultural relations reinforce the core of the exhibit, providing a discussion drawn from various creative viewpoints.

    Offering a comprehensive spectrum of ideas, the exhibit allows the envisioning of the Philippines' past, present and imminent future. Since the colonial eras up to the 21st century, the country has harbored the intricacies of a people and time, grounded on a foundation of survival, adaptability and ironic preservation.

    Taking inspiration from the capital of the Philippines, FUTURAMANILA paints a picture of the developing Third World urban society, a manifestation of the double-edged sword of globalization and the changes the country goes through to accommodate these effects vis-à-vis society and the media, as well as a simple contextualization through everyday human interaction. With the many aspects that affect the Filipino people who reside both locally and abroad, there is a shared yearning to discern and shed light on the struggles in which the country, as a whole and as individuals, is immersed in.

    The exhibit gathers a myriad of perspectives that have absorbed facets of their corresponding surroundings. Indirectly exploited through artistic ventures, they involve themselves with distinct and sundry issues, whether drawing from a social or personal situation. They tackle reconnections, displacement, retrospection of cultural origins, as well as the contemplation on the need to step away and break free of the tangled trappings of the country, its traditions, societal pressures and norms. It is an ironic culmination that ultimately leads to the speculation of how the future may unfold, but more significantly, also reveals the stark reality of the country's cryptic and sinuous present.

    Opening on the 5th of September at the Osage Gallery in Kwun Tong, FUTURAMANILA also brings forth the contemporary Filipino music scene, the popular and innovative spoken-word, 8-man jazz band, Radioactive Sago Project. On this night, music and art will echo each other, displaying how Filipino creativity is spun and manifested in different artistic ways. Radioactive Sago Project is slated to do an additional performance in Osage Soho the following night, on 6th of September at 8 pm. A roundtable discussion Imagining Zero Hour, moderated by Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez, will also be held the same day withspeakers Yason Banal, Gary-Ross Pastrana, Alvin Zafra, Bea Camacho, Gina Osterloh (via webcam from the United States), Ronald Achacoso, and John Batten.

    Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez is a respected writer and curator and is presently a curatorial consultant at the Lopez Memorial Museum in the Philippines. Focusing on how intra- and cross-cultural exchange plays integral roles in the spheres of art scholarship and curatorial practice, she frequently publishes essays and articles on Philippine and Asian contemporary art in various magazines and publications.

    John Batten comments, broadcasts and writes on art, culture, heritage and policy issues for Hong Kong newspapers and overseas magazines. He has run his own gallery since 1997 and has been a regular visitor to the Philippines and its art scene since the early 1990s.

- END

About Osage Gallery

    Osage is an international gallery group with exhibition spaces in Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Shanghai. Osage represents some of the most outstanding artists in Asia and works closely with a variety of internationally respected curators, critics and art historians to present and promote exhibitions that address fundamental global issues.

About FUTURAMANILA

Exhibiting Artists:

    Mike Arcega, Felix Bacolor, Victor Balanon, Yason Banal, Bea Camacho, Mariano Ching, Louie Cordero, Jed Escueta, Nona Garcia, Robert Gutierrez, Jordin Isip, Romeo Lee, Cocoy Lumbao, Kaloy Olavides, Gina Osterloh, Gary-Ross Pastrana, Stanley Ruiz, Kreskin Sugay, Stephanie Syjuco, Maria Taniguchi, Mac Valdezco, Jenifer K. Wofford, and Alvin Zafra

Venue:Osage Kwun Tong

Address:5/F, Kian Dai Industrial Building, 73-75 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Exhibition Opens:5 September 2008 till 6 October 2008
Roundtable discussion:5 September 2008 (Friday) from 4 pm - 6 pm#p#分页标题#e#

Opening Reception and Refreshments:5 September 2008 (Friday) from 6 pm – 8 pm
Band performance by Radioactive Sago Project:5 September 2008 (Friday) at 8 pm
6 September 2008 (Saturday) at 8 pm at Osage Soho
(Osage Soho: 45 Caine Road, L/G Shop 1, Corner Old Bailey Street, Soho, Central, Hong Kong)
Tel:2793 4817

Enquiries
Ms. Phoebe Yim
Tel:2793 4817
Fax:3007 2988
Email:phoebeyim@osagegallery.com

Ms. Anne Chan
Tel:2793 4817
Fax:3007 2988
Email:annechan@osagegallery.com