Words and Images Benilde Open Design + Art
Editing The Kanto team
Last November 2023, the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde celebrated its 35th year with the launch of Benilde Open Design and Art 2024. Artists, architects, technologists, engineers, industrial designers, craftsmen, illustrators, textile designers, animators, playwrights, composers, poets, filmmakers, cinematographers, lighting designers, fashion designers, chefs, and other creative practitioners were invited to submit their proposals.
With the theme “Curious,” the initiative searches for unrealized projects with interests and curiosities “found across the concerns of sustainability and movement, craft and technology, and the digital and virtual worlds.”
“As humans, we are hardwired to be curious. It is an instinct that goes past design and invention, past creativity and information. Curiosity is part of our evolutionary DNA, part of how we as a species have survived; it is the stimulus for our desire to learn and discover,” says Benilde Open Design + Art. “The curious are the ones who ask the questions and are the ones who take the next steps to find out how things can be done.”
Three hundred twenty-four proposals were received from creative practitioners and Benilde students. All proposals were screened by a selection committee of distinguished practitioners from various local and international creative industries including Jonathan Gander, Head of the School of Creative Industries LASALLE College of the Arts; curator and arts advocate Alexie Glass-Kantor, Executive Director of Artspace, Sydney; Mara Hermano, Vice President for Institutional Research and Planning in Boston College and founding Vice President of Integrated Planning at the Rhode Island School of Design; Paul Pfeiffer, internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artist; Erwin Romulo, multi-awarded Filipino writer, editor, music producer, and composer, and creative consultant; and Pauline Suaco-Juan, former Executive Director of CITEM (Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions) Philippines.
Ten (10) proposals were selected for the Benilde Open category, with each project receiving Php 300,000 for it to be realized. A special mention also received full funding from a private donor in the same amount. For the Best of Benilde or student category, seventeen (17) projects were selected, receiving full curatorial support.
“We want to give Ruhina (left) and Padirna (right) Philippine silk thread strong enough to handle the loom tension needed for tapestry weaving and a variety of colors so that they have the freedom to weave the wonderful kambut Siyabits,” Lim adds.
Benilde Open selected proposals
- Tropikalye by Nice Buenaventura and Costantino Zicarelli
- Nightingales by RJ Fernandez
- Stakeholding: Chapter 1, A Developing Tabletop Game by Lyra Garcellano
- RE-MOVE: Unraveling truths behind the spectacle of indigenous exposition through the contemporary performance lens by Aaron Kaiser Garcia
- Exploring the Use of Philippine Silk in Tausug Pisyabit Weaving by Rambie Lim
Above, L to R: Mikayla Teodoro and Benjor Catindig, Gabe Mercado, Nice Buenaventura and Constantino Zicarelli, Issay Rodriguez. Below, L to R: Lyra Garcellano biopic, Michael Vea, RJ Fernandez, and Rambie Lim in Sulu.
- Unraveling Baguio’s Inner Tapestry: A Psychogeographical Exploration Through Sensory Encounters by Gabe Mercado
- Maria, Maria by Lala Monserrat in collaboration with Russ Ligtas, Geric Cruz and Jazel Kristin
- Cosmic Garden by Issay Rodriguez
- Developing Puppetry in the Philippines by Mikayla Teodoro
- CURIOUS: Spotlight on Filipino Sign Language (FSL) Literature by Michael Vea
The special mention project by Errol Balcos is Baluy Manghagdaway, a functional installation art created in collaboration with the Umayamnon Community of Barangay Mandahican, Lambagan, and Mandaing Municipality of Cabanglasan.
Best of Benilde selected proposals
- Designing Space for Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Ryan Jacobson’s “Can you Survive Dracula” by Louisa Ray Cagaligen
- The Local Identity by Xandrix Antaso Corpuz Jr
- Ang Paglipad ng Saranggola sa Aplaya by Danielle Cusi
- Hugo: A Smart Pillow for Self-Regulation by Asia Entico
- Hustlers by Gela Mae C. Gamil
- Everglow Art Retreats by Veronica Landig
- Biyahe: Design of a Board Game for Visual Impaired Filipinos by Pia Maghirang
- PXXXXXXPORN.JPEG by Earl John Marquez
- Sinulid 2023: Renascence by Earl John Marquez, Rexcel Cariaga and Dars Juson
- Project Noir by Camille Jay Pinton
- Gender Reveal by Brian Ilustrisimo Razon
- STUDEN.SITE (Student Residences Website) by Jonas Roque
Above, L to R: Akira Watanabe, Louisa Ray Cagaligen, Bryan Razon, Pia Maghirang. Below, L to R: Jonas Roque, Danielle Cusi, Earl John Marquez, Gela Mae Gamil.
- Surreal Portraits by Akira Watanabe
- PROJECT C.H.A.R.L.I.E (Computerized Hotel Assessment Responder and Learning Intelligence Engine) by Liezel Ann Nierves, Glaeor Magne Dominguez, Mariana Julian Bernal with faculty mentor Alejandro Hector Reyes
- Ballpark (Benilde All-Purpose Parking) by Jonas Fabian Roque, Shane Mariel Figuerra, Charles Cedric Quianzon, John Patrick Pascua, Maria Abigail Uson
- Layag by Jasmine Fiona Tan, Sofia Anjelik Barrion, Ynes Sofia Manguerra
- The Kid in Me by Jasmila Clarisse San, Mary Julianne Capistrano, Mary Joy Velarde, Alfred Alavar and Nicus Villaluna
Public programs
Exhibitions of the selected proposals open to the public on May 23, 2024, and will run until June 30, 2024 at several spaces in De La Salle College of Saint Benilde – Design + Arts Campus, and Hub for Innovation. This will comprise weekly guided tours that are free to the public; talks and activities on puppetry, psychogeography, performance, fashion, and board games by Benilde Open grantees and Best of Benilde students; and a line-up of workshops on printmaking, prosthetics, intellectual property and lesson plan design with exhibitions by the Benilde faculty.
As part of the launch of Benilde Open Design + Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) Manila opens “Heidi Bucher: and pull yesterday into today,” the oeuvre of renowned Swiss artist Heidi Bucher (1926-1993).
Left: Heidi Bucher, Documentation of Bodyshell in Venice Beach, California, 1972. Right: Heidi Bucher, Heute fliesst das Wasser aus dem Krug (The water flows out of the pitcher today), 1986. Latex, textile, wood, glue, and mother-of-pearl pigment, approximately 39.37 x 46.06 x 48.43 inches
Bucher’s initial fascination with the interplay between art and fashion was highlighted in her genderless body sculptures Bodyshells and Bodywrappings, which emerged in California in the early 1970s. A conversation on the Swiss artist featuring her sons, Indigo and Mayo will be happening. There will also be a series of performances by the Bachelor in Performing Arts, Major in Dance program students wearing the Bodyshells and Bodywrappings.
“Fireside chats are scheduled on creative courage, grant proposal writing, women in design and architecture, and creative industry unicorns,” adds DLS-CSB.
The full schedule of the activities will be announced on Benilde Open Design + Art’s social media platforms. •
Benilde Open Design + Art is presented in synergy with De La Salle University and the Embassy of Switzerland. Other exhibition partners are Friend of Benilde Open Design + Art, Philippine Airlines, Malayan Insurance, Uratex, Lopez Memorial Museum, and POWER MAC Center.
