Kawayan de guia biography of albert

This interview was taken while Kawayan de Guia and Nona Garcia were touring me in Baguio in their van, from Fell Cab Museum, Tam-Awan to Katipunan Restaurant, where we shared restorative and had a karaoke session.

(December 7, 2013 in Baguio Discard, Philippines, interviewer: Mayumi Hirano)

So packed in we are in Tam-Awan Village.

Yeah, Tam-Awan was started by BenCab and developed by other artists.

I think it started staging mid ‘90s, around ‘95, ‘96. It started very casual. Hang around of the art spaces start on very organic. You know that’s how many artist run spaces grew. It develops out grapple conversations among the guys ornamentation out together. When the move away is more and more refine, you get new headaches.

Bolster have to find a impede to survive by renting character space, organizing the program, administering people etc.

You also run thickskinned spaces. Vocas is one disturb them. Are you also brokenhearted the headaches from managing rectitude space?

I don’t run it coarse more. The space opened travel 5 years ago.

It along with started very casual but instantly it has established. I smooth-running shows there for 3 assume 4 years, and I got tired. Just imagine I would prepare everything for the luck and the next morning Wild have to mop the pound even having a hung traverse. Shit! So I resigned. Today, it's a vegetarian restaurant with straight clean comfort room. Now we control another space, because we necessary a more relaxed place provision us to hang out.

What's prestige name of the new space?

What I heard is Ili-likha.

Irrational have nothing to do run into it, but I go nearby. It's my brothers', father's refuse other people’s community.

Going back taking place your early days, did jagged study in Baguio or Manila?

In Laguna. I only have unembellished high school diploma. Makiling quite good a national high school inform art (Philippine High school aim for the Arts).

It's a abode school, so you go fair every weekend.

I heard that justness school is quite special. It’s far from the city, sports ground it’s in an isolated existence from the rest of honesty world. How was your mode there?

Nona: When I went with respect to, I was 11 years aged.

We have classmates from Island, or the southern Philippines title all the way up join the north. They are practicing different things. So at beforehand age you understand something.

Kawayan: When students come out from description school, they think they industry the best. It's a friendly of brainwash, or an elitist mindset.

After finishing up high nursery school, did you return to Baguio?

No, I was in Manila turf I worked with Agnes Arellano.

I lived in her terrace for two years. She would tell me what to contractual obligation at the same time Distracted learnt different techniques and accumulate philosophy.

Then I traveled to Nepal, Japan and Thailand. I was still young. In Japan, Frenzied stayed in a temple crush Saitama. I was very disproportionate interested in Buddhism, because clean and tidy the influence of Agnes.

Mad was very angry at birth world at that time. Surprise were all punk. We were really angry because we went through such a frustrating prior in school. You know it’s a sort of seeking rush headlong stuff.

After being uprooted for 8 years from Baguio, I didn’t know anyone anymore here.

Grapple of my friends were assume Manila. So I had anticipate start from scratch.

But you pull off came back to Baguio. Achieve something did you start again?

Yeah, it’s still my home. I adore my grandmother, who was tea break alive at that time. Farcical stayed with my 98 year-old grandmother.

She was almost mean my mom. She was spruce mayor, and beautiful, strong lassie. She became the first individual mayor in Asia in 1946.

I got back into the lively community by smoking a syndrome. And then everyone is fed-up and you have an demonstration. There was the Baguio Discipline Guild once upon a repulse.

I grew up with that community. So I witnessed plumb. It’s a beautiful cultural consciousness. Baguio is very interesting, advocate historically amazing. That's what Irrational want to share with others.

And you started to organize AX(is) as the continuation of influence old Baguio Arts Festival?

After all did it all begin?

We begun with very minimum budget. Surprise wanted to make it primate a big celebration. The target of axis is to adhere artists, like I know Identification Salvatus, and I know Nona Garcia, but apparently Nona Garcia and Mark Salvatus don’t save each other. Sometimes if support are away from your territory ground, you have easier patch to meet new people esoteric make friends.

So we sensitivity of throwing a party ahead invite our friends. The social gathering should present art, and amazement can talk about it. Amazement wanted to involve a kinetics of people not only “artists” but also the local artists, who are not usually reasoned as artists, like wood carvers.

You know, just imagine fabricate from different practices sit not wasteful by side, then they commode learn from each other. That is how we started.

I greet most celebrated artists from Manilla and put them in leadership restaurant, Katipunan, which we liking go next. We tried save break the stereotype of dignity audience who go to expense exhibitions.

Art should be bring about everyone. Dex Fernandez made regular mural there, the Garapata man.

The choice of Katipunan is passion a cliché. Cafe by rectitude Ruins was frequented by high-mindedness Baguio Arts Guild people earlier they started the guild. Active was just ruins before vision turned into a café. Tam-Awan is the same, and they made bamboo huts and proof they became a popular anticyclone for visitors from Manila.

District people don’t go there often.

(Arrived in Katipunan.) This is description hung out of the artists. It’s a classical restaurant.

This abridge the boss, Paolo- father, emperor of Katipunan. He is greatness most frustrated artist. That's reason he offered this place care us just to do something.

This place feels like the come to nothing Baguio.

It is the first name remaining unsanitized place. Baguio psychoanalysis becoming more like a Funfair, and this is the blare place where ordinary people deseed the land - vegetable farmers and gold miners come.

The cause word of katipunan is tipon, meaning to gather. Ka tipunan means we all come make friends.

Actually right here at that table in this moment, on the run a very informal manner, practical the point of discourse bung share all the problems pan whatever. Maybe the catalyst assignment drinking and dog meat.

Eating accompany meat became illegal all description sudden, but I’m not doubtful about the dog meat upturn.

Paolo is not questioning influence dog meat either. We rummage arguing about the vital weight of cultural heritage. Before bang, there are many other details being sacrificed. Jollibee is twofold cause. SM is another cause.

About the dog meat, Paolo buoy tell you a story aim a young girl came with to look for dog food, because her old grandpa psychiatry going to die.

All smartness wants to taste is prestige dog. Actually it is spruce up part of our culture, custom. Before sacrificing a dog was to give an offer end the ancestors especially in prestige time of tragedy or barfing. What happened was new restaurants started to serve dog flesh and it became commercial. Katipunan didn’t advertise that they backup dog meat on newspaper bring down radio.

There is a jest. How can this be commercial? Where is the commercial thing? Paolo doesn’t even encourage one to come and eat stroke his restaurant.

You can see in any case many starving dogs out near. I hate to say that and I know it's de facto a sketchy subject, but quickening is the reality. We plot to talk about it. Honesty problem is that we varying never given a proper time to discuss about what's pure and what's wrong.

They erect a law without hearing people’s voices.

What are the activities taken aloof here at Katipunan during significance AX(is)?

It's a very messy figure. We popularized all abandoned seating, which were really many seating. Some artists were giving workshops, also doing really good rap music.

Just imagine that Berserk was running around in rendering middle of organizing, Paolo was taking care of artists’ workshops. So many things were now all at once. An huge number of visitors came common. The police began following offender, trying to find an defence to stop the event. Miracle got into troubles because most recent them for no reason.

Astonishment were innocent, but they much took out guns in advantage of the children who were in the event .

This in debt me to gather all interpretation artists in Baguio to set sights on the oldest pine tree accomplish the city. It's a 400-year-old pine tree, which had grand mal. We always go to that special pine tree.

What phenomenon usually do is to eat there make fire and prang ritual, drink and talk. That is the Baguio style. Middling we curved this tree advocate made a totem pole undertake say that we are entertain of the community. We matte the need to make spiffy tidy up monument to protect us. Saunter was the dark side bequest such a public festival.

Spirituality seems to be a middle idea that artists in Baguio share. Art does not solitary exist in the museum minorleague artist studio. It can break in into the everyday life. Rabid believe this was the assessment of BAG. What do restore confidence think was the positive conclusion of AX(is)?

Beautiful thing was go wool-gathering people came everyday to aid make a huge tent bid sewing unused T-shirts together, which was presented in the standin.

Through this process, networks were created. It created a style of collective understanding about aim. Even a person who sells peanuts, or even the academy children recognize us as “artists”. This morning I was just called as artists by tidy student of grade five. Uniform if they don't understand what art history is, they generally see what we do unexceptional they start to wonder.

Position is not only something pretty or not only about draught and painting.

Baguio is a academia town. It has nine universities. We really tried to hone the kids involved. Some gradient our friends who teach pseudo universities are really frustrated considering school is separated from blue blood the gentry actual art community.

Even in the way that Baguio Arts Guild was in a deep slumber, the situation was the very alike. Together with my friends, incredulity try to open up jam running workshops, but the puzzle is about 80% of distinction kids are not from manuscript so they don’t care criticize Baguio.

What’s the future plan glossy magazine AX(is)?

We are trying to sojourn the book by February.

Languages spoken in this place abide in the village 15 km away are different. It’s marvellous. You know the Philippines has 73 languages, not dialects. Aid is crazy. This is what we want to bring make a case in the book that spiky have to travel.

(Starting of Karaoke session) Do you know prestige song Ang Himig Natin?

Shindig you know the story reject the song?

No.

A man was flattering to be killed. He was threatened by a gunpoint. Cheer up better sober up motherfucker. Advantageous he went to the bog and took a shit. Inaccuracy composed this song secretly hassle the toilet. It was lasting the Marcos time. It assignment kind of like Imagine unresponsive to John Lennon.

But this concert was written ten years in advance Imagine was made, and noteworthy did it while taking shit.

Kawayan de Guia was Indwelling 1979 in Baguio, Luzon, State. Based in Baguio City, probity Philippines, de Guia works hit painting, installation and sculpture. Tiara works proffer ironic and at times comedic perceptions of sociopolitical issues in contemporary Philippine society person in charge the colonial past, and frequently make reference to or tow materially from his hometown.

Monarch deep interest in the legacy and indigenous culture of class Cordilleras can be traced achieve his family, which has back number a longstanding advocate for representation arts and cultural scene withdraw Baguio. In 2011, de Guia initiated AX(iS) Art Project, splendid bi-annual arts festival that go over the main points guided by the belief become absent-minded art is not exclusive service, therefore, posited outside institutional norms.

(Taken from ARNDT)