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MCG ART VISIT - ILHAM GALLERY
APRIL 19, 2023
‘DREAM OF THE DAY’
Curated by Patrick Flores
On April 19th, a group of us Art enthusiasts traversed the maze-like parking lot of Menara Ilham to meet at their gift shop, dreaming of a delicious Art filled tour of the exhibition entitled ‘DREAM OF THE DAY’.
We were greeted by a young docent named Blue. Sure enough that’s how our initial 20 minutes were spent…feeling blue, as we strained to hear the soft spoken intern talk about one of Ilham’s largest and most ambitious exhibitions to date. Some shuffling and complaining later a mike appeared like a magic genie and our wish for a wonderful morning was granted. |
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‘DREAM OF THE DAY’ is an evocation of a current condition and at the same time a kind of plea or a call to action. It aims to create a place where the viewer can dare to dream… for is this not the impulse that draws us to exhibitions?
‘DREAM OF THE DAY’ is curated by renowned Filipino curator, critic and scholar Patrick D.Flores. His inspiration is based on a poetic manifesto by fellow Filipino David Medalla, an artist who rose to fame in the 1960’s for his long-lasting influence on the global contemporary arts scene. |
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MMMMMMM...Manifesto (a fragment) |
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Medalla’s work, as well as those of 38 other artists from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Australia, Egypt, Hong Kong and Malaysia, is included in this bold and unusual exhibition, that explores a range of media, genres and sensibilities, from surrealism and slow cinema to experimental video and feminist paintings.
At a later conversation with Gallery director Rahel Joseph, she expressed:
“The inclusion of trans performance and queer photography in the exhibition was important to us, especially in light of a growing conservatism and intolerance in the country. Like Manrique’s social-realist painting of a man emancipated, we hope for a new day where every community in our society can be openly represented in all of our public spaces.
The works in this exhibition are divided into 9 sections.
1. Present Call to Future Action 2. Struggle of the Subject 3. Exceeding Natural Expectations 4. Around Surrealism, Beyond Reality 5. Imaginations and Urgencies of the Everyday 6. Worldly/Otherworldly 7. Objects of Desire, Sites of Contact 8. Visions of Becoming 9. Reconceiving Origin
Present Call to Future Action
The first zone of the exhibition presents two works that are the exhibition’s backbone. David Medalla’s MMMMMMM… Manifesto (a fragment), from where the exhibition borrows its title, in conversation with Al Manrique’s emancipatory vision of social realism where the barbed wires have been breached and the limits undone. To dream of a day when our hopes and dreams have already been realized. |
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A work from the late Filipino art pioneer Al Manrique titled 'Salubong Sa Bagong Umaga' (oil on canvas, 1983) |
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Struggle of the Subject
The works of Jess Ayco, Alfonso Ossorio, Van Leo, and Lionel Wendt present the body subjected to experimentation, largely through photography, or in the case of Ossorio, daily drawing exercises revisioning the self. |
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Exceeding Natural Expectations
The third zone regards the works of Veejay Villafranca, Alex Niño, Nurrachamat Widyasena (Mas Ito), and Henry Francia as explorations of the supernatural. This can be evident in Villafranca’s work on psychic surgery and bare-hand healing that moves beyond the protocols of Western medicine. |
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Here’s Mas Ito’s appropriation of a historical government space agency established during the regime of Indonesian president Sukarno, where the artist expands the discussion beyond the limits of our planetary imaginations, onto the breadth of space and the cosmos. Note: the Shark head on the spacesuit, the instant noodle packet in the ‘essential’ flight supply box and the imaginary Garuda wing logo on the top left of the poster.
Around Surrealism, Beyond Reality
The largest section of works by diverse artists, Surrealism here is reimagined as a Southeast version in the works of Kiettisak Chanonnart, Prateep Kochabua, Ivan Sagito, Manuel Ocampo, I GAK Murniasih, Nena Saguil, I Ketut Budiana, Pratuang Emjaroen, Lucia Hartini, Galo Ocampo, Chalermchai Kositpipat, Charlie Co, Gotot Prakosa. Chanonnart imagines interiors populated by humanoid forms with insect heads. Kochabua and Sagito, offer us naturalist inflections, from moss to menagerie. Nena Saguil provides cosmological abstractions while in her powerful feminist works, Murniasih breaks the traditional mold and reclaims the erotics of the female body. |
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Imaginations and Urgencies of the Everyday
This zone presents the works of Orawan Arunrak, Sharon Chin, and Gotot Prakosa. In Orawan, mundane objects found in second-hand shops and thrift stores wondrously map out the artist’s lifeworld. Sharon Chin’s works are extensions of her activist work towards climate justice. A selection of short films by Prakosa, acts as a swivel between this and the previous zone. |
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Worldly/Otherworldly
Hidden behind a dark curtain the most prominent works in this section are a series of photographs by Kelvin Atmadibrata. Self-portraits of his swinging manhood with acorns attached, to allude to a reconsideration of time via the pendulum. NO PHOTOS ALLOWED
Objects of Desire, Sites of Contact
This zone shows the work of Wimo Ambala Bayang, Allan Balisi, and Truong Cong Tung. In Balisi’s hands a cord and some keys are presented as grasping objects related to labor and disparity. Wimo’s work introduces sites that are made more intriguing through manipulation and interventions into natural landscapes. One of Tung’s videos is a search for an unidentified object, an object of desire, in the increasingly changing Vietnamese political landscape. |
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Visions of Becoming
Eiffel Chong, Pradeep Thalawatta, Nor, Dale Erispe all allude to landscapes of arrival. Chong’s photographs show sky, sea, and shore flattened to slightly differentiated blues and humans that are dwarfed by the scale of their world. Nor's heart wrenching video work is an imagination. Imagining her own transgender wedding in great detail. A dream of the seeming banality of trans existence. |
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Reconceiving Origin
The last zone looks at mythological creatures, aliens, machines, and other worlds. From Tan Zi Hao, Maung Day, and Club Ate, genealogies are recast and reconceived through the work of memory, poetry, mythology, gossip, and even archaeological fiction. Most impactful is a video by Club Ate that deploys queer and trans mythological imaginations to reweave the world that we have inherited. |
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To sum it up…
After walking twice through the gallery one realized that It is not an easy journey. The biggest criticism is the language. Art is overshadowed by the complex explanations and unnecessary use of words that keep you turning to a dictionary. Yet once you learn to not let that annoy you, ‘Dream Of The Day’ is a notable exhibition that employs an imaginative and expansive curatorial intelligence. To truly experience the essence of Ilham’s latest undertaking, one must walk through and walk through it twice again. Reading the fine print with magnified glasses, shattering the rose-colored myth of the conventional and familiar Southeast Asia. Here the artists raise their voice, break the shackles and expose their private thoughts and dreams as much as their private parts in full frontal glory for all to see and comment upon. The exhibition runs till 14th May. If you missed viewing it, it's worth reading up. Till the next Art extravaganza….dream away!!!
Reviewed by Deepika Gupta Photos courtesy Leslie Muri & Deepika Gupta
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