Public art that makes you part of the painting or story
There’s a tendency to think that wherever commercial spaces dominate, public space for art must be sacrificed. Ayala Land, Inc. and Ayala Malls want to dispel this notion, and their commitment to 11 public installations during this year’s 10 Days of Art, including Art Fair Philippines, makes a good case that art and commerce can co-exist just fine.
At Circuit Makati, they invited Filipino artists Olivia d’Aboville and Jefrë Manuel-Figueras (known simply as “Jefrë”) to unveil their two public installations last Thursday, and it shows how art can be more than just a quick IG pic or curious afterthought; d’Aboville’s “Wonderland of Lights” uses thousands of recycled plastic bottles to create a Nena Saguil-inspired field of LED-lit dandelions that she encourages people to get up-close with, and even touch; meanwhile, Fil-Am artist Jefrë has installed 14 of his vacuum-formed plastic “Talking Heads,” illuminated from within by LED lights bearing words in several languages, a commentary on isolation and connection during COVID.
These are not your usual glance-and-pass-by art displays. Part of it is Circuit Makati’s positioning as an “art hub” with several stage theaters (Samsung Performing Arts Center, Power Mac Center Spotlight Black Box) as well as the upcoming Project Tempo art museum. It turns out that, historically, the property where Circuit now stands has some art pedigree: before it was even a racetrack (or a sprawling mall), it housed one of Asia’s biggest cabaret theaters, according to Ayala Malls head of marketing Mae Dichupa. “That’s the history of this place, and it seems to jive with having art performances and visual arts continuing that kind of history.”
Ayala Land Inc. product development manager Misha Quimpo adds, “We have this great asset that connects several art pieces and art venues, and we wanted to capitalize on that, adding more pieces and more activities around this month.” Yes, Art Month is when art is always top of mind in the Makati area, because it’s everywhere.
“Circuit is a space that we consider to be kind of a melting pot of culture,” adds Dichupa, noting the production houses and galleries nearby.
Outside the entrance to Samsung Performing Arts Center is Art Walk, where a smaller display of d’Aboville’s lighted dandelions leads us through the organic flow of Circuit towards an open area where about a hundred tall structures crafted from some 13,000 recycled plastic bottles (“I was able to get truckloads of them from Soler Casino,” the artist mentions) are configured for viewing from many angles: on the ground, it feels like a futuristic field of flowers; above, from the surrounding condo apartments, “Wonderland of Lights” is meant to suggest the interlaced circles of abstract painter Saguil. D’Aboville was supported in the project by Art House founder Carlo Pineda, who embraced the work’s sustainability. “It’s really site-specific, adapting to the venue,” d’Aboville says. “It’s along a walkway, so you don’t want to disturb the people, you want flow, but you still want people to be able to interact with the installation.”
Jefrë’s piece also works with light, encasing 14 different vertical words inside the translucent plastic heads floating in the cool, air-conditioned side room at the second level of Art Walk. Music plays, and the neon “affirmations” melt into several different languages. Jefrë collaborated with exhibition technician Ian Gines for this smaller-scale version of the “Talking Heads” (“Usually it’s 30 to 40 heads,” he notes, “but here we could only fit 14”).
The “Talking Heads” concept is versatile. People tend to interact, standing beneath the heads for selfies, or staging impromptu dance moves. For US-born Jefrë, based in Miami and Orlando, it started with a sort of “light bulb in the head” idea. “It’s neon-style, but done in LEDs, to kind of give a look as if you’re walking down Chinatown or some place in Bangkok.” He ties this with the politics of COVID — how it tended to divide (or “diversify,” as he puts it) opinions. “I wanted to remind people that even though we all have different opinions and views and thoughts that you see in our heads, we’re all the same, and that’s why that single element of the head cast was all the same throughout. But we’re all still the same people.”
Another thing the two installations have in common is larger-than-life scale, which is typical for Jefrë, who’s now working with Virgin CEO Richard Branson to create an underwater LED sculpture that’s 40 feet tall. D’Aboville usually works in smaller scale (“My sculptures are small, my artworks can fit in a house”), but Jefrë notes that her scale is amplified by having hundreds of lit dandelions arrayed horizontally, “So it’s still about being immersive.”
What both artists want Circuit Makati visitors to take away is a different approach to viewing art: “Both of our installations are things where people can walk through and be part of, versus walking by, so you’re immersed in it. And that’s what public art is like: being in the painting or in the story.”
D’Aboville notes that art also transforms some people’s trash into treasure. “For me, the light really transforms the material. We regard this bottle as trash once you finish drinking it. But once it’s lit, it transforms into something that’s almost expensive looking.”
Dichupa shares a philosophy on art installations given by another local artist, Reggie Yuson, “who was telling us that the way we should approach art is that it would become natural for the people, for the community that lives here, to be with art. So it becomes integrated. They learn: ‘This is what art is, what art can be. Maybe I can also do art like this.’ And it’s really getting this community used to art.”
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Olivia d’Aboville’s “Wonderland of Lights” and Jefrë’s “Talking Heads” were displayed at Art Walk, Circuit Makati until Feb. 23 for 10 Days of Art.
