Two art installations were unveiled on the same day at the UP 茄子视频app (UPD) College of Architecture (CA) as part of the UPD Arts and Culture Festival 2024 and the President鈥檚 Committee on Culture and the Arts鈥 (PCCA) Day of Remembrance.
The CA first launched the HOM(e)AY ng Pangarap: HOMage to the UP Dreams of palAY farming families (HOM(e)AY), a land art installation.
Maria Vio Bianca C. Fernandez, program coordinator of the bachelor of landscape architecture program, said the installation 鈥渋s a testament to the resilience of Filipino migrant rice farmers鈥 who face significant challenges in providing education for their children including the dream of attending institutions like UPD.鈥
As part of the HOM(e)AY launch, the UP Filipiniana Dance Group performed a ritual dance celebrating the hard work of migrant farm rice workers. HOM(e)AY was presented by the CA Environmental Landscape Studio Laboratory (ELSL), in partnership with the Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts.
Following the HOM(e)AY launch was the official launch of the Space (LAb) x: Space x (Landscape + Architecture + Laboratory) x Experiences Project (Space Lab x), a CA project undertaken with a grant from the PCCA.
Nappy L. Navarra, head of the ELSL, said Space Lab x 鈥渃an be divided into three groupings or clusters of meaning.鈥
Navarra said the first part is the space. According to him, 鈥渟pace is the main product of architects and landscape architects.鈥
The second part is the 鈥淟Ab鈥 and the third is the 鈥渪鈥.
鈥淭he LAb is spelled with L, A, and b to emphasize the role of landscape architects in creating spaces. It also represents the ELSL. The x stands for their readiness to collaborate with other disciplines, other professions, other units and colleges, and with the UP System and UPD administration and offices,鈥 he said.
He added that the art installation, which is the centerpiece of the Space Lab x, is 鈥渋nspired by the concept of artificial nature鈥攁 human made or simulated environment that mimics natural element or ecosystem.鈥
鈥淭his installation adopts a critical perspective that examines the troubled connection between humans and nature, the constituent鈥檚contestations between culture and nature, formality and informality in buildings and in ourhabitations, and the technologies that we can see all around us, be it mechanical, analog, or digital,鈥 Navarra said.
In describing the installation features, he said the natural elements were deliberately made to look artificial.
鈥淭he landforms were made of cardboards and artificial turf, the trees were made of bamboos to look like manufactured structure, the metal sheets and Mylar simulate the reflective surface of water, and bamboo sticks represent the digital wires and cables,鈥 Navarra explained.
The art installation was built by second-year CA landscape architecture students. A highlight of the launch was Space Lab x鈥檚 lighting.
鈥淎ll these permeate the walls of the CA, leading to the depository of knowledge,鈥 Navarra said.
The two exhibit launchings were part of the CA event dusk/dawn: Space LAb x Lighting Event and HOM(e)AY Launch (dusk/dawn: Space Lab x and HOM(e)AY) on April 26 at the CA Library and Courtyard, Building 2.
dusk/dawn: Space Lab x and HOM(e)AY also featured a back-to-back talk by William T. Ti Jr., founder and chief executive officer of WTA Architecture and Design Studio, and Leonido M. Gines Jr., director of CA Office of the Extension Program.
Ti鈥檚 lecture focused on his ideas and works on social architecture, and on the way people try to change social spaces in the Philippines. Gines, on the other hand, talked about the idea of the sublime in architecture, the impact of thinking and imagining, and the contemplative process of design.
- Share: