[spectre] DMF2001 - Manila, Philippines

Wed, 24 Oct 2001 23:40:13 +0200

[an interesting report from manila ...; abroeck]
from: "Curating digital art - www.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/crumb/"

DMF2001 is the second time the Corredor Gallery at the University of the
Philippines has had to accommodate a new media exhibition that required use
of computers, internet connection, webcams, forum space, workshops, and
viewing of wall-bound works (first time was last year's DMF2K). This year
we added live streaming video, screening of artists videos (VHS and VCD)
and web-based works. The whole process has been an uphill climb and a
learning experience for everyone.

I am currently documenting the events, writing a report and getting more
feedback from those who attended DMF2001. The posts here at Crumb has been
very enlightening and useful in our efforts to create spaces and
opportunities for new media works to become more accessible (and
appreciable/understandable) to a wider audience.

If you would like to receive a DMF2001 Catalog, please backchannel send
your snail mail address to fats@up.edu.ph

Thanks and warm regards,
Fatima Lasay

---
DMF2001: Borderless Art
By Fatima Lasay
http://digitalmedia.upd.edu.ph/art_not_war.html

MANILA, Philippines - As the United States launched the air attacks October
7 in Afghanistan, I had just welcomed three foreign guests at the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for the Digital Media Festival 2001
(DMF2001). I greeted Japanese film and video artist Takahiko Iimura and his
art coordinator Kazuyo Yasuda at the Philippine Airlines Centennial Airport
Terminal and fineArt forum's (fAf) editor-in-chief Nisar Keshvani from
Singapore at the NAIA Terminal 1. As I saw their faces for the first time,
I affirmed that art (and not war) is borderless.

Our first stop was my mother's home to meet with members of my family, then
a quick visit to the Festival venue, the Corredor Gallery of the University
of the Philippines College of Fine Arts (UPCFA). As Kazuyo handed me prints
of Taka's installation video and CD-ROM works to be mounted in the gallery,
and as Taka sat before the iMac and started clicking on the mouse, I grew
to believe more in the calming and unifying power of being passionate of a
gift that bridges cultures.

Monday October 8, DMF2001 opened with ribbon-cutting ceremonies headed by
UP Diliman Chancellor Emerlinda Roman with UPCFA Dean Virginia B. Dandan,
Taka, Nisar and myself. Artists' Talks with Jim Ayson, Ben Razon, Al
Manrique and Lionel Valdellon followed, covering  topics from digital
photography, digital art to electronic music. Tuesday's highlights were
fineArt forum's Travelling Screening Program, Nisar's lecture, Taka's
video, film and work on CD-ROM, lunch with the college executive board, a
workshop-demo on non-linear video editing, and a night at the UP Film
Center to see "The Harp of Burma" and meet with the Japanese ambassador to
the Philippines.

Wednesday, Ronnie Millevo conducted the DMF2001 Flash workshop, and we
moved on to Manila for the Metropolitan Museum, the Cultural Center of the
Philippines and the GSIS Museum. We passed by the US Embassy and saw the
protest rally, experienced heavy traffic, saw the slum areas, the street
children, the high rise buildings, the shopping malls; we had Starbucks
coffee, Chinese food, local buffet dinner, Lebanese lunch; while in the
morning papers it's always the war offshore, the conflict down south,
anthrax, the political and economic crisis. It is easy to feel how swiftly
and mindlessly the world moves around us and it is even easier to become
trapped into its roundabout journey, to sit hypnotized as if in front of
the screen watching a (very bad) movie. Then some of us snap out of that
trance and live in a borderless world that respects and actively bridges
cultures with the purpose of making life better through art.

Thursday and Friday of DMF2001 were devoted to videos - outstanding videos
by mostly young artists from all across the globe. We screened Multimedia
Art Asia Pacific's "Oil Friction" and "Excess" videos from China and
Australia; a second look at fAf's one-hour program from Malaysia, New
Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Philippines, France, Taiwan and USA; we also
looked at artists' videos sent in from Romania, Greece, USA, and Australia.
Throughout the Thursday screenings in the dimmed Corredor Gallery, the
movement and scenes in Margaret Roberts' "Cook East Cook West" installation
video seemed constantly to serve as our window to the fast moving outside
world.

The screenings, especially the fAf Screening Program which focused on rich
cultural digital content, reinvigorated enthusiasm in video art at the
University and encouraged many young video artists to pursue excellence in
their work. With technical assistance from Computer Devices Corporation, I
am currently working on a modernization plan for the video art elective
course with Prof. Benjie Cabangis, aiming to acquire funding for new and
better equipment for digital video editing in UPCFA. We all have our
fingers crossed.

Also throughout the event, computers served artists' CD-ROMs and websites
from Brazil, Argentina, Germany, USA, Estonia, Australia, Hong Kong,
Philippines, Romania, Slovenia, Thailand, Canada and Japan. Experimental
and electronic music from Japan and Gavin Prior's Lachrymal of Ireland
played in the background.

Audience favorites include Australian Michelle Glaser, Andrew Hutchison and
Marie-Louise Xavier's CD-ROM-based interactive narrative "Juvenate" which
transformed the hand's movement on the mouse into a healing touch on the
screen images. German Wilfried Agricola de Cologne's "Moving Picture
Collection" also sparked special interest particularly the
piece"Divisionistic Approach"; and Brazilian Wilton Azevedo's "Interpoesia"
(with Philadelpho Menezes) introduced the new reading and authorship
involved in interpoetry while Palm Poetry Reading, the UPCFA students'
entry to the 2nd Interpoetry Exhibition in Brazil, also presented in
DMF2001, actively participated in the exchange of new ideas in the digital
poetry genre. The portrait and the music in French Gustavo Kortsarz's
"Vanarsky / Toporgraphie" digital video also brought eyes and ears to
attention.

The CD-ROM based works and Taka's migration from film and video to CD-ROM
(spanning over 35 years of dedicated work from analog to digital media)
also served as challenge and inspiration to a number of video and
filmmakers here. The possibilities of creating interactive work from film
and video content provided the catalyst for getting more artists involved
in interactive and digital technologies.

In DMF2001, we had also worked closely with the UP Computer Center through
their director Prof. Roel Ocampo and the Diliman Network (DilNet) which
provided fast and uninterrupted internet connection and live streaming video.

I am currently "de-stressing" myself, writing emails and postcards to all
who helped in DMF2001, preparing to send out catalogs to all the artists
involved in the event, putting the event aftermath little by little into
the DMF2001 website. All the stress and hard work has been worth it and art
has proven again to be a weapon for peace never comparable nor to be traded
for bombs or a lackadaisical weekend watching CNN. And we move on to
DMF2002 ...

DMF2001 was made possible through the generous support of the Office of the
Chancellor University of the Philippines Diliman, the Office of Initiatives
in Culture and the Arts (OICA), the UP College of Fine Arts and the
University of the Philippines Computer Center and DilNet.

---
Opening Day photos
http://digitalmedia.upd.edu.ph/8oct_1.html

Artists' Sessions with Jim Ayson, Al Manrique, Ben Razon, Lionel Valdellon
http://digitalmedia.upd.edu.ph/talks1.html

Opening Day photos taken by Ben Razon
http://digitalmedia.upd.edu.ph/dmf_pics1.html

fineArt forum screening and Forum by Nisar Keshvani and Takahiko Iimura
http://digitalmedia.upd.edu.ph/dmf2001_1.html

Fats Lasay | http://www.hoydigiteer.org/ - Art | Technology | Culture
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