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UP Diliman Arts and Culture Festival 2018

In consonance with the Philippine National Arts Month, UP Diliman celebrated the Filipino body as a creative realm and a locus of  scholarly discourse through the UP Diliman Arts and Culture Festival 2018 themed “Kat(h)awan: Bodies, Society, Culture.” 

The three-month festival sought to explore our understanding of the Filipino body – what it is, how it is perceived and shaped by art, culture and society; and manipulated by social engineering and advertising. It opened in February with 12 major events comprised of performances, conferences, installation exhibits and film showings. 

For this year’s festival, the UP Diliman Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts collaborated with international academic and cultural institutions, the University of Amsterdam, the Asian Theatre Working Group, the International Federation for Theatre Research and Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office. 


OMNIBUS POSTER

OMNIBUS PROGRAM


Karanasan ng Katawan: Seremonya ng Pagbubukas
Taludturan: Poetry of the Body
(Com)modified Bodies in the Philippines
The Chemical Youth Project
Sweet Medicine
International Federation for Theatre Research Conference
Ang Dalagita’y ‘Sang Bagay na Di-Buo
The Exemplars: Amada and Other Dances
Katawan sa Pinilakang Tabing
Himigsikan 2018
Lawas (Site-Specific Installation Exhibit)


Lawas (Site-Specific Installation Exhibit)

11 April - 4 May
Sunken Garden, Lagoon & Sculpture Garden Area


Read article from the University of the Philippines Website

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Three site-specific art installations located at the uphill area beside the former Faculty Center, the UP Lagoon and the edge of the Sculpture Garden beside the Vargas Museum, respectively. 

Lawas or “body” in Visayan Language examines representations of the body and shifting modes of perception. It is curated by UP Department of Art Studies faculty Tessa Maria Guazon and Cecilia de La Paz in partnership with the University of Amsterdam. 


Himigsikan 2018

16 Marso | 6PM
University Theater Canopy


A yearly concert in an open area; comes from the words “himig” (melody or tune) and “himagsikan” (revolution).  

In celebration of womanhood and its historical triumphs, the Tres Marias took center stage in this year’s Himigsikan. Tres Marias consists of three artists considered legends in Original Pinoy Music (OPM) - Bayang Barrios, Cookie Chua and Lolita Carbon. 

Katawan sa Pinilakang Tabing

14 and 21 March
UP Film Institute


A film screening that showcases Filipino movies that incorporate discourses about and experiences of the body in the Philippine context. The movies are created by award-winning directors who are also alumni of the University of the Philippines. 

Macho Dancer (1988)
14 March | 2:30PM

Direction: Lino Brocka
Screenplay: Amado Lacuesta and Ricardo Lee
Producer: Boy C. De Guia

Curacha: Ang Babaeng Walang Pahinga (1998)
14 March | 5PM

Direction: Chito S. Rono
Screenplay: Ricardo Lee and Chito S. Rono
Producer: Lily Monteverde



Pila Balde (1999)
14 March | 7:30PM

Direction: Jeffrey Jeturian
Screenplay: Armando Lao
Producer: Lily Monteverde

Tuhog (2001)
21 March | 2:30PM

Direction: Jeffrey Jeturian
Screenplay: Armando Lao
Producer: Lily Monteverde

Ang Babae sa Bubungang Lata (1998)
21 March | 5PM

Direction: Mario O’ Hara
Screenplay: Mario O’ Hara based on a 1968 play by Agapito M. Joaquin
Producer: Joey Gosiengfiao 

Temptation Island (1980)
21 March | 7:30PM 

Direction: Joey Gosiengfiao
Screenplay: Toto Belano
Producer: Lily Monteverde

The Exemplars: Amada and Other Dances

23 February | 6PM
University Theater


Amada is based on the short story “Summer Solstice,” also known as “Tatarin,” by National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin. Set in Catholic, Hispanic 19th century Manila, traditional male dominance is shaken by the Tatarin, a native festival where women suddenly reign supreme, shattering the established Hispanic molds and patterns.

Amada 

Choreography by Alice Reyes
Music by Lucrecia Kasilag
Set and Costume design by Katsch Katoy

Ang Sultan

Choreography by Gener Caringal 
Music by Lucrecia Kasilag 
Set Design by Monino Duque
Costume design by Arturo V. Cruz
Lights Design by Katsch Katoy (1973)

Minamahal, Sinasamba

Choreography by Bam Damian III
Music by Tito Arevalo, arranged by Ryan Cayabyab
Costume design by Hesus “Bobot” Lota (2005)

Moon

Choreography by Kun-Yang Lin 
Music by Dead Can Dance (1994) 

Ang Dalagita'y 'Sang Bagay na Di-Buo (Isang Adaptasyon ng Nobela ni Eimear McBride)

21 February - 11 March
Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, Palma Hall


A Dulaang UP stage play that tells the tragic story of a girl from childhood to adulthood. The play is told entirely from the nameless protagonist’s or the girl’s perspective. It is a testimony of a girl in her attempt to name herself, claim her own body and create her own existence.

The play was directed by Professor Jose Estrella from the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts. 

International Federation for Theatre Research Conference

21-23 February
GT Toyota Auditorium and Hall of Wisdom
Asian Center


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A conference that facilitates communication and exchange of ideas between scholars of theatre and performance research; it attempts to answer the general questions: what do we mean when we talk about bodies in Asian theatres and performances? What do we mean when we talk about Asian bodies in different performances outside the region? How does theatre affect the way we think about the bodies of Asians?

Conference speakers include academics from the University of California Berkeley, Kyoto University, University of California Santa Cruz, University of Melbourne, Osaka University, National University of Singapore, De La Salle University and UP. Also featured are National Artist for Dance Alice Reyes, and representatives from the Asian Dramaturgy Network and Performance Network Philippines.

The event is organized by the Asian Theatre Working Group, International Federation for Theatre Research and various UPD units.

Sweet Medicine

13 February | 6PM
Asian Center


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"Filmed by a local camera crew in Palawan the Philippines, this film follows the lives of those involved with First Vita Plus, a multilevel marketing company that sells a popular herbal medicine in the Philippines. While demonstrating its promised therapeutic values, this film also reveals the widely used herbal product to be problematic for those selling and using it in more ways than one.

This ethnographic documentary, produced by Anita Hardon and directed by Juul Op den Kamp, is a cinematic translation of Anita’s fieldwork in Palawan, the Philippines as part of her Chemical Youth project. It is the first cinematic translation of a four-year research by the ‘ChemicalYouth project and funded by European Research Council and shot with a local crew."

The showing is organized by the UP Department of Anthropology as part of UP Diliman Month. (Text from the UP Asian Center website)

The Chemical Youth Project

13 February | 3:30PM
Asian Center


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The Chemical Youth Project is a research collaboration between the UP Diliman Department of Anthropology and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on body sites and body technologies. The project aims to contribute to our understanding of the bodies, especially for young people, to allow them to talk and learn more about their own bodies. 

UPD Chancellor Michael L. Tan and Dr. Anita P. Hardon of (UvA) were the symposium’s keynote speakers. 

(Com)modified Bodies in the Philippines

13 - 28 February
Asian Center

9-30 March
Palma Hall Lobby


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An indoor installation exhibit on commodification of the body and body technologies, composed of five galleries and a floor plan resembling a maze. The five galleries are “Subconscious Substance”, “Named!,” “The History of the Beautiful in the Philippines,” “Cosmeticized!”, and “(Dis) Anatomized Bodies.” 

It is organized by UPD in partnership with the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

Taludturan: Poetry of the Body

1, 8, and 15 February | 3PM
Palma Hall Lobby
Melchor Hall Lobby
Shopping Center
College of Mass Communication Lobby

21 and 22 February | 1:30PM
Asian Center


The festival formally opened with a celebration of the body in Philippine pop culture, highlighting the A series of performances inquiring into encounters of the body vis-à-vis several concepts of beauty, love and desire, revolt and death. The performances are in tune with the festival’s theme which seeks to answer the question “What do we mean when we talk about bodies in Philippine Culture and Society?” 

Karanasan ng Katawan: Seremonya ng Pagbubukas

9 February | 6PM
UP Lagoon


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The festival formally opened with a celebration of the body in Philippine pop culture, highlighting the experience of the body as an object of pleasure and desire. Each performance was designed as a conversation, taking encounters of the masculine, queer, and feminine gazes in popular novelty songs and having spoken word performers respond.