A Thousand Meals for UP Tacloban Benefit Concert

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) in the University of the Philippines Diliman will be launching a campaign dubbed as “A Thousand Meals for UP Tacloban” through a benefit concert on January 30, 2014 at the UP Diliman Amphitheater.

“A Thousand Meals for UP Tacloban” campaign aims to address the needs of UP Tacloban students and staff who were devastated by Typhoon Yolanda last November 8, 2013. This activity is in response to the call to continuously and consistently support the survivors after the initial phase of relief operations last year. In fact, the survivors need more support and assistance of all members of the community at this time.

Primarily, this event is a fund-raising drive to provide meals to UP Tacloban students and staff. It is also a venue to raise the level of awareness of the community regarding the issues and concerns after the disaster and the challenges ahead.

Escol-Tara: Reliving Manila's Once Fabled Premier Street

Wazzup Pilipinas!

This coming Sunday, January 26, Heritage Conservation Society - Youth (HCS-Y) will be conducting a special, FREE walking tour in Escolta, Manila dubbed as "Escol-Tara: Reliving Manila's Once Fabled Premier Street".

The tour will feature the heritage buildings in the historic site in order to promote the conservation of Escolta. Joining the tour will be a team from China Central Television (CCTV) which will feature Escolta in one of their shows. This will be aired worldwide.

The HCS-Y is the youth arm of the Heritage Conservation Society (HCS). They aim to involve the Filipino youth in the appreciation and preservation of built heritage as an intrinsic part of our national and cultural identity. They advocate adaptive reuse as an alternative to demolishing old heritage sites. The organization focuses on educating other young people towards heritage awareness and preservation through advocacy projects, workshops, talks and art initiatives.

It's "Complicated" at the Lopez Museum and Library

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"It's Complicated", a phrase popularized by social media, has become the catch all for all undefined and problematic relationships typical of the post-modern world. Seeing parallels between these and the complex relationship of the Philippines with its colonial pasts, the Lopez Museum and Library, in partnership with Tin-aw Art Gallery, opens its first exhibit for the year, Complicated on February 21, 2014 featuring commissioned works by guest artists Mike Adrao, Leslie de Chavez, and Ea Torrado, juxtaposed with works by Juan Luna, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Juvenal Sanso, Bencab, Ang Kiukok, Jerry Elizalde Navarro and other artworks from the Lopez Museum collection.

Mike Adrao's charcoal on paper works collectively titled "Colony" comprise of intricately ornamented, larger-than-life anthropomorphic pillars and delicately drawn insects whose patterns were researched from the Lopez Library collection. Representing various forms of colonization our country has undergone, his works reference the interplay of our living culture and those of the colonizers that have reached our shores. Several of these pieces were selected for the curated "platform exhibits" representing Southeast Asian art trajectories in the recently concluded Art Stage 2014 in Singapore.

Leslie de Chavez presents several installations and paintings that focus on colonization, not just as the context of our history, but as an ongoing process in which we are very much a part of. Known for his acerbic cultural commentary, his works take a critical stance that aims to jolt audiences to reflexivity, awareness, and realization. One work in particular is created in reaction to the museum's collection of Per Pacem et Libertatem (For Peace and Liberty) studies.