https://nicebuenaventura.com Nice Buenaventura Sun, 29 Jan 2023 17:00:43 +0000 https://nicebuenaventura.com en https://nicebuenaventura.com/Tropikalye-old Wed, 26 Aug 2020 06:27:39 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/Tropikalye-old PROJECTS Tropikalye: Accidental Intersections of Aesthetics and the Everyday in Tropical and Postcolonial Philippines 2018— Tropikalye is an artist-initiated mutual co-learning resource on contemporary Philippine aesthetics. Like today, content is and will be collected on a voluntary submission basis from the people who use it, and editable whenever necessary. Relevant content is defined as images or texts that describe objects and phenomena with aesthetic value found in the day-to-day, preferably on the street. “Street” (or kalye, from the Spanish calle) is used to distinguish from things that belong in indigenous territories and spaces that are maintained by institutions and individuals of a certain stature—these things are already taken care of. Tk’s focus lies in curiosities not necessarily found outdoors but within the context of the vernacular. The artists and other cultural actors behind Tk do not claim to be authorities on the subject. Instead, they see their roles as note-takers of observations made together with the community. ︎︎︎Visit the community index︎︎︎Visit the website (beta) For submissions: tropikalye@gmail.com&nbsp; <img width="3264" height="4896" width_o="3264" height_o="4896" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d8e326eb620a65839397c5294e6db33afdb38666eebb1fd3c8e6239ef7250096/DSCF2880.jpg" data-mid="80874057" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d8e326eb620a65839397c5294e6db33afdb38666eebb1fd3c8e6239ef7250096/DSCF2880.jpg" /> Line drying before the rain in Marikina City. Often makeshift, the line (or&nbsp;sampayan) is a common sight all throughout the archipelago. Many Filipinos prefer the cost-effective and disinfecting brightness of the tropical sun over tumble dry.&nbsp;#tkparaparaanPhoto by Paulo Balmes II The Tropikalye index is organised according to trend, which is hashtagged for ease of navigation. An example is para-paraan, a phenomenon wherein clever problem solving is achieved with modest resources. <img width="1800" height="1350" width_o="1800" height_o="1350" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0f2e2f7c3e80a0871b455e49aeb021c095810f95a59137a94e4e53731550652c/Tropikalye-PCHF.jpg" data-mid="80874054" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0f2e2f7c3e80a0871b455e49aeb021c095810f95a59137a94e4e53731550652c/Tropikalye-PCHF.jpg" /> In 2019, the online index was extended to a physical space through A Public Collection of the Hidden but Familiar. https://nicebuenaventura.com/Dormilon Thu, 27 Aug 2020 07:47:21 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/Dormilon PROJECTS Dormilón Media and Arts Technology Centre Queen Mary, University of London 2019 Dormilón is a natural and digital media installation featuring plant matter with computer-controlled motion and sound. With its interaction design modelled after the botanical reflex of a plant of the same name (M. pudica), plant sensing—the electrical and chemical signalling capacity of plant life—is made observable via technology. Questions about agency also arise, especially as to whether it is truly possessed by the plant or merely lent to it by artistic intentionality and electronics. Dormilón was a prototype for Boolean Garden.&nbsp;With special thanks to Jon Pigrem, Paolo Rodriguez, Omar Papandayan, Yya Antiporda and Sara Wigglesworth. <img width="1200" height="900" width_o="1200" height_o="900" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/430fbb225be838316c1a83bc6fad4ea4d2016e71f4b9610b798378aa00d862a7/dormilones1x.jpg" data-mid="80997759" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/430fbb225be838316c1a83bc6fad4ea4d2016e71f4b9610b798378aa00d862a7/dormilones1x.jpg" /> https://nicebuenaventura.com/Mammal Sun, 29 Jan 2023 17:00:43 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/Mammal PROJECTS Mammal Rimbun Dahan Kuang, Malaysia 19 Dec 2022 — 21 Jan 2023 <img width="3064" height="2270" width_o="3064" height_o="2270" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/99ab154f345d1369cd5350807e1f4130733c0cc0d7023f176d245ca1251e1f3a/6_Mammal-ink-drawing_2.jpg" data-mid="166619519" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/99ab154f345d1369cd5350807e1f4130733c0cc0d7023f176d245ca1251e1f3a/6_Mammal-ink-drawing_2.jpg" /> ︎︎︎Arts Residency for SEA Artists Aside from making work about the work allowed by simultaneous childcare, as well as immersing oneself in the expansive garden (forest, really) that is Rimbun Dahan, a detailed plan for my residency was not in place. Looking back, this may have been a purposeful action (or non-action) in that I let the needs of my infant daughter shape my productivity — a conscious attempt at welcoming slowness. As it would always turn out for me, the exercise became an embodied reflection on labour, particularly the invisible labour of care that is too often assumed by women. This reflection would also provide me with a loop of a concept about the time in which we live: in profit being contingent on productivity, capitalism and care cannot be farther apart*. <img width="2799" height="2799" width_o="2799" height_o="2799" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/43ef3c7f4ce353dfd9b90e0397b6e83e1faaeba54e501252f76cee2bfea696fb/IMG_6389-2.jpg" data-mid="166587965" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/43ef3c7f4ce353dfd9b90e0397b6e83e1faaeba54e501252f76cee2bfea696fb/IMG_6389-2.jpg" /> <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9b6c043067fd3e5c443823b4cb758e9d8d8c58de9c1613702a22f95c464e7f5f/IMG_6888.jpg" data-mid="166587330" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9b6c043067fd3e5c443823b4cb758e9d8d8c58de9c1613702a22f95c464e7f5f/IMG_6888.jpg" /> <img width="1265" height="1582" width_o="1265" height_o="1582" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/59e7b5559d82e23952df9d35cbf8d042657fb8253bade2a6e501bd38a2d13b6b/IMG_5977.jpg" data-mid="166587331" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/59e7b5559d82e23952df9d35cbf8d042657fb8253bade2a6e501bd38a2d13b6b/IMG_5977.jpg" /> In the kitchen (not the studio), the tension would be momentarily resolved. There, the work took care of itself while I took care of Laia. I found myself trying my hand at making natural inks, leaving pot after pot of plant material foraged from the grounds to cook for hours at a time, only stirring occasionally. Out of the ten different plants I cooked, seven gave me sufficient and effective yield**. To my surprise, I learned that natural green pigment is hard to come by, and that colour changes not only across time but also physical states (one magenta ink from a small, red, fleshy, pitless fruit dries blue-green). Dazzling as the aliveness of the inks were, I still caught myself describing them as unstable in my notes. I quickly realised how the language of commodification, wherein consistency is king, is a kind of default. There might be more unlearning to do than learning. Meanwhile, in the studio, my partner mounted sheets of manila paper on a wall, for Laia to draw on and entertain herself with while I worked. Before long, I noticed that there were accidental closed shapes in her doodles. As I filled them in using her crayons, it occurred to me that closed shapes are formed by two ends meeting or touching, and, more crucially, how touching is very mammalian. I have been thinking a lot about touch lately, ever since coming across the counterintuitive and anti-touch regimens of sleep training infants. Going through the motions of my internal conflict, I decided to catalogue Laia’s closed shapes. No sooner had the inks finished curing than I figured, with some creativity, that I could write ‘mammal’ with her shapes, and test the inks at the same time by doing so. In the end, what I had to show for my time at Rimbun Dahan were works (or non-works (or fun-works)) that represent a range of productivity without having to compromise one’s ability to parent***. Although very outwardly different from the controlled and monochromatic image- and object-making I am used to, the mammal series, from the ink drawings to the existential colour chart, may just be the most meaningful project I have started so far. My paradigm is shifting and collapsing unto itself: the personal is professional, and they should not be far apart. <img width="2904" height="3631" width_o="2904" height_o="3631" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8656db9efda4c9653dd61a54722d2dc0f84fc81e9a731b5c3b9d3228bdefccf5/IMG_6422.jpg" data-mid="166585142" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8656db9efda4c9653dd61a54722d2dc0f84fc81e9a731b5c3b9d3228bdefccf5/IMG_6422.jpg" /> *I first heard about capitalism being the antithesis of care from Georgina Johnson, editor of The Slow Grind, via Atmos Magazine — incidentally, on the day of my open studio. **This is to flag another example of how the language of commodification slips into my vocabulary. ***Acknowledgment and gratitude are due the institutions and individuals that create spaces wherein artistic practice is not sacrificed at the altar of maternal joy: for this time, Rimbun Dahan and Costantino Zicarelli. <img width="2311" height="2312" width_o="2311" height_o="2312" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c00005a6db64edc637ee24932c6bcbcdf714796bc9ae38f95088b78e99416fb5/10_Portrait-of-the-artists.jpg" data-mid="166518364" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c00005a6db64edc637ee24932c6bcbcdf714796bc9ae38f95088b78e99416fb5/10_Portrait-of-the-artists.jpg" /> <img width="2911" height="2911" width_o="2911" height_o="2911" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1b592548a5ae84dadab1badeba5602e185157b57bc3afaca052f8fe74389ef83/2_Plant-material-and-assistant.jpg" data-mid="166518373" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1b592548a5ae84dadab1badeba5602e185157b57bc3afaca052f8fe74389ef83/2_Plant-material-and-assistant.jpg" /> <img width="2888" height="2311" width_o="2888" height_o="2311" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b1b9ec8c3c0b85713ce3699056ad535005d0c4cb8e51a562097a7d8ed14f72cb/3_Amber-ink-from-tree-beside-Rumah-Balai.jpg" data-mid="166518370" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b1b9ec8c3c0b85713ce3699056ad535005d0c4cb8e51a562097a7d8ed14f72cb/3_Amber-ink-from-tree-beside-Rumah-Balai.jpg" /> <img width="3896" height="2922" width_o="3896" height_o="2922" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/35d5ddcc5753e351df392dce5063874b98308751248322a1b147ec679728619c/1_Natural-inks-from-RD-plants.jpg" data-mid="166518372" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/35d5ddcc5753e351df392dce5063874b98308751248322a1b147ec679728619c/1_Natural-inks-from-RD-plants.jpg" /> <img width="1681" height="1261" width_o="1681" height_o="1261" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a23c98f9f7df058cca22ee785d956eb687536afa3b8fdf4d39998192b83bed29/3_Magenta-ink-from-fallen-fruitx.jpg" data-mid="166518366" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a23c98f9f7df058cca22ee785d956eb687536afa3b8fdf4d39998192b83bed29/3_Magenta-ink-from-fallen-fruitx.jpg" /> <img width="3790" height="2839" width_o="3790" height_o="2839" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/008ae3deb67a0731790927ca3c6ef637e052433c631df9965cb3f1cbe9e3b09d/4_Studio-view_Baby-ready.jpg" data-mid="166518362" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/008ae3deb67a0731790927ca3c6ef637e052433c631df9965cb3f1cbe9e3b09d/4_Studio-view_Baby-ready.jpg" /> <img width="3752" height="2796" width_o="3752" height_o="2796" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f641b49b148e969929cc2a6fe25bd1ab51269803c15613233a1b5e440663e1c9/6_Mammal-ink-drawing_All.jpg" data-mid="166518371" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f641b49b148e969929cc2a6fe25bd1ab51269803c15613233a1b5e440663e1c9/6_Mammal-ink-drawing_All.jpg" /> <img width="3862" height="2897" width_o="3862" height_o="2897" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/91d6946c85b1cfd1bb097f6671b1e6aed63e966c35c4c68b127b6955601058c2/8_Inkmaking-notes-and-washes.jpg" data-mid="166518363" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/91d6946c85b1cfd1bb097f6671b1e6aed63e966c35c4c68b127b6955601058c2/8_Inkmaking-notes-and-washes.jpg" /> <img width="3064" height="2042" width_o="3064" height_o="2042" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/acb42e61c5d5464fb4ef0759bace23ad89119c3a17bd7fe274a02f65cb5c4cfc/7_Other-closed-shape-compositions.png" data-mid="166518368" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/acb42e61c5d5464fb4ef0759bace23ad89119c3a17bd7fe274a02f65cb5c4cfc/7_Other-closed-shape-compositions.png" /> <img width="3048" height="2258" width_o="3048" height_o="2258" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/36f77ccf2fd8883b3db7f2f185ea512a290a3f9983f8654dc5bf0c8fae6efba9/6_Mammal-ink-drawing_1.jpg" data-mid="166518369" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/36f77ccf2fd8883b3db7f2f185ea512a290a3f9983f8654dc5bf0c8fae6efba9/6_Mammal-ink-drawing_1.jpg" /> <img width="3257" height="2443" width_o="3257" height_o="2443" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c47bb67a30225344fdeb2571052d89631920d06cb58152f44301c03f415ba7fb/9_Existential-pigments.jpg" data-mid="166518365" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c47bb67a30225344fdeb2571052d89631920d06cb58152f44301c03f415ba7fb/9_Existential-pigments.jpg" /> <img width="3500" height="2334" width_o="3500" height_o="2334" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a503c50a564bd0f691e465aa731caf89cdf2c69eb4006165108cbc8c05950e6f/5_Cataloguing-Laia-s-closed-shapes-copy.png" data-mid="166518374" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a503c50a564bd0f691e465aa731caf89cdf2c69eb4006165108cbc8c05950e6f/5_Cataloguing-Laia-s-closed-shapes-copy.png" /> https://nicebuenaventura.com/B-a-B-E-L-I Wed, 02 Sep 2020 12:52:17 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/B-a-B-E-L-I EXHIBITIONS B.a.B.E.L. (Building a Better Edifice Leisurely) Curatorial Underground Gallery 2015 Nice Buenaventura draws lines at random, converging into regular polygons. The two-dimensional then stretches into space, leaving her an assortment of wooden prisms. The conceit here is that the works begin their existence as blanks, essentially paperweights. That the art-making lies in the transformation of these proxy canvases is a wager that Buenaventura and Underground Gallery are making with Building a Better Edifice Leisurely, an exhibition by 20+ artists of varied practices. Foregoing the opportunity to impose a thematic constraint with regard to the work, it is a structural limitation that ties the exhibition together: the aforementioned wooden blanks must be utilized like so: 1) All four blocks must be present in the artwork 2) Additions to and subtractions from the individual blocks do not render their shapes unrecognizable 3) Maintaining the assembly feature of the blocks is optional Thus achieved is the coherent pitting of a collagist’s work against a photographer’s, a making-sense out of a conceptual artist’s vision as it meets a hyperrealist’s attempt at sculpture. Instead of a predictable addition to each artist’s oeuvre, the pieces then become: A bizarro interpolation of what might have been, had, say, Luis Santos decided to work with geometric wood; A portent of what might be, in the off chance that Don Djerassi Dalmacio decides to pursue sculpture; A minimalist detour for Yasmin Sison; (&amp; What Would Nilo Ilarde Do?) etc, etc, etc. It is B.A.B.E.L.’s unusual constraint that makes what would otherwise be yet another group show an event of note, an off-the-cuff game of exquisite corpse of sorts, a tabletop fill-in-the-blanks narrative.— Owel Alvero Works in order of appearance: Nilo Ilarde, Nice Buenaventura, Juan Alcazaren, Felix Bacolor and Hubert San Juan Photo: Czar Kristoff <img width="1193" height="707" width_o="1193" height_o="707" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b4e3c1f3a2c79b04632bca7ef4c6da4959ec9b17afff983b2721313ae40142ab/BaBEL-Installation-View-3.jpg" data-mid="81603139" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b4e3c1f3a2c79b04632bca7ef4c6da4959ec9b17afff983b2721313ae40142ab/BaBEL-Installation-View-3.jpg" /><img width="3456" height="5184" width_o="3456" height_o="5184" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/64343550728bdaec23c05342a0cf333c43c4c83508b4a299c37ea2c77e000f6f/IMG_2407_.jpg" data-mid="81603514" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/64343550728bdaec23c05342a0cf333c43c4c83508b4a299c37ea2c77e000f6f/IMG_2407_.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="3000" width_o="2000" height_o="3000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/45fcc66de2f93fb6f27c5e30276785b61b37f9a4e6d3b6c9e1ebb4a310363b5d/IMG_2493_.jpg" data-mid="81603515" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/45fcc66de2f93fb6f27c5e30276785b61b37f9a4e6d3b6c9e1ebb4a310363b5d/IMG_2493_.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="3000" width_o="2000" height_o="3000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a75674fa12eed27a1b41f6985fb05adfd03334a463b3efb2640442d1d1688e68/IMG_2503_-copy.jpg" data-mid="81757335" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a75674fa12eed27a1b41f6985fb05adfd03334a463b3efb2640442d1d1688e68/IMG_2503_-copy.jpg" /> <img width="1936" height="2905" width_o="1936" height_o="2905" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/97cef8a56d4ae5c2f43dfcaf811a8b4d94ac0515f096b99cfce84ce533c40aef/IMG_2439_.jpg" data-mid="81757361" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/97cef8a56d4ae5c2f43dfcaf811a8b4d94ac0515f096b99cfce84ce533c40aef/IMG_2439_.jpg" /> <img width="2934" height="1955" width_o="2934" height_o="1955" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/65b68196c2a6a0c1ecbd2678263670fff0ad4d0e3a2afb52fc32848e0f26c768/IMG_2445_b.jpg" data-mid="81758775" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/65b68196c2a6a0c1ecbd2678263670fff0ad4d0e3a2afb52fc32848e0f26c768/IMG_2445_b.jpg" /> https://nicebuenaventura.com/B-a-B-E-L-II Wed, 19 Aug 2020 06:20:45 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/B-a-B-E-L-II EXHIBITIONS B.a.B.E.L. II (Leisurely Erasing Body after Body)Curated by Tania Smith c3 Contemporary Art Space Melbourne 2017 B.a.B.E.L II (Leisurely Erasing Body after Body) is exhibited as part of Proximity, an all-Filipino group exhibition at the Abbotsford Convent in Victoria, Australia, curated by Tania Smith. The work responds to the exhumation of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos: taken from his original grave and moved to the Heroes’ Cemetery in 2016 despite opposition from the public. Buenaventura’s installation of resin and toner prisms is a visual manifestation of this trajectory, protesting in support of the thousands who suffered and perished under his rule.Photo: Vivian Cooper Smith <img width="1333" height="888" width_o="1333" height_o="888" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f731b0f0b3f81478ac5d3309efaf30c0da42d5f3c21d4e0af6a7583a7195c88f/f6kVx1Uv0_o.jpg" data-mid="80276382" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f731b0f0b3f81478ac5d3309efaf30c0da42d5f3c21d4e0af6a7583a7195c88f/f6kVx1Uv0_o.jpg" /> <img width="1846" height="1231" width_o="1846" height_o="1231" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/28d1adbdd0810d5ec25b55236c1730a78b945019961e0bb74ed724802fc38358/f32-C3_Documentation_Mar17_139.jpg" data-mid="80276381" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/28d1adbdd0810d5ec25b55236c1730a78b945019961e0bb74ed724802fc38358/f32-C3_Documentation_Mar17_139.jpg" /> https://nicebuenaventura.com/Wave-Drawing-Nos-11-12 Tue, 18 Aug 2020 14:40:39 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/Wave-Drawing-Nos-11-12 EXHIBITIONS Wave Drawing Nos. 11—12 Artinformal 2017 The act of transcription does not reproduce, it represents. The transcript proposes but an interpretation of the material and immaterial factors that engender its origin. Translating the immaterial to the visible cannot be absolute as the initial conditions of production are in flux, manifesting through aberrations present in the document. The process itself is subject to a number of fluctuating variables, the method is rendered indeterminate, and the system is open(ed). No two points of origin are identical; minute differences in notation arise from the gaps and folds in the waves of time and energy that influence the unpredictable process of production. In Wave Drawing Nos. 11—12, Nice Buenaventura works with hand-drawn representations of the invisible currents that guide the simultaneous acts of production and documentation, emphasizing the presence of what is ostensibly absent. The central pieces are part of an ongoing series titled Wave Drawing, wherein vibrations caused by the movement of the artist’s drawing hand are recorded, the resulting graph of the gesture translated into a gradient in which a band’s darkness corresponds to the size of the wave. The end result is the documentation of the entirety of this process, which is itself a process of documentation. Buenaventura expounds upon this theme through a number of concomitant series: a set of nine grid drawings that resemble a calendar of nine weeks, depicting the disproportionate amount of time dedicated to the act of drawing, and an array of drawings from the cutting room floor arranged upon a pin board. Punctuating the space is an installation of green salt cast in the shapes of the negative spaces in the corners of the artist’s home, mirroring the ritual of placing mounds of salt in the corners of a structure to attract favorable conditions. Negative space becomes an object in space; the absent is made present. Wave Drawing Nos. 11—12 presents a collection of documents of and about documentation, exploring the links between the mundane and ritualistic, between the perceptible and the intangible. — Itos Ledesma <img width="3391" height="2260" width_o="3391" height_o="2260" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3239ab86af4950ad63acab3c59b74e4b126c2e1123f788eb9424add5403011b4/DSCF4084.jpg" data-mid="80213094" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3239ab86af4950ad63acab3c59b74e4b126c2e1123f788eb9424add5403011b4/DSCF4084.jpg" /> <img width="3456" height="2304" width_o="3456" height_o="2304" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/51d5f4e1266e18ded7df94bc129a991ef4e16c0ae3ba133e0974e1db54fc88ce/DSCF3972.jpg" data-mid="80213087" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/51d5f4e1266e18ded7df94bc129a991ef4e16c0ae3ba133e0974e1db54fc88ce/DSCF3972.jpg" /> <img width="3297" height="2197" width_o="3297" height_o="2197" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9d405d1af1b3fb157baf6d98c2724fc2d700dcdfc72be9afc0a3e505a72437a5/DSCF3992.jpg" data-mid="80213091" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9d405d1af1b3fb157baf6d98c2724fc2d700dcdfc72be9afc0a3e505a72437a5/DSCF3992.jpg" /><img width="2878" height="1919" width_o="2878" height_o="1919" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ef6ad7bda77045215875424782c89b045bc0bbc2432b396d521ddf3f88fa4718/DSCF3912.jpg" data-mid="80213086" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ef6ad7bda77045215875424782c89b045bc0bbc2432b396d521ddf3f88fa4718/DSCF3912.jpg" /> <img width="2304" height="3456" width_o="2304" height_o="3456" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/450081542a0e1bae8540fafdf9dfdfaa4ed640f4a4204b1d2c984afe2da3e88e/DSCF3926.jpg" data-mid="80213084" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/450081542a0e1bae8540fafdf9dfdfaa4ed640f4a4204b1d2c984afe2da3e88e/DSCF3926.jpg" /> https://nicebuenaventura.com/Copies-will-not-fool-but-fools-will-copy Tue, 18 Aug 2020 13:15:59 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/Copies-will-not-fool-but-fools-will-copy EXHIBITIONS Copies will not fool but&nbsp;fools will copy West Gallery 2018 In this set of works, Nice Buenaventura contravenes the expressiveness of the human hand to create versions of printer test sheets, approximating not only their typographical topographies but, more evidently, the subtle shifts in tonality as well as the distortions that convey technological error. The eye, even if the beholder has been acquainted with this fact, can’t resist the seduction of the replica. This is not simply the painterly aim of replicating reality on a two-dimensional form, but an act of reconstituting an existing document—already flat—through the agency of human effort. It is as if the literal has been further literalized, the reference and the referent sharing the same material skin. This almost impossible labor (“almost” because the artist evidently succeeds) is all the more highlighted by the fact that Buenaventura has chosen easily discarded materials (test sheets, time cards, the resulting circles of punchers) to replicate. Their humility risks a different set of difficulties. By creating these durable doubles, the artist extends the works as physiological records of her artistic aims, recording, like the most sensitive of machines, the expenditure of energy. Effort is everlasting, not effervescent. To be sure, it is a painstaking process, this letter-by-letter, word-for-word build-up of printed matter, but it fundamentally underscores the etymological root of art as “techne” or technique. What this particular technique confronts is the technology that has supposedly replaced the human hand: an affirmation of the analogue, a valorization of volition. By positioning the body as the instrument in this radical duplication, the artist responds to electricity with energy, to circuitry with flesh and bone, to mindless churning of data to intentionality. Though these works attest to the labor of the artist, they frustrate biography. Time is condensed as exacting marks on paper, not of a life exemplified. The event rests primarily on the pivot of wrist, as the thumb and the index finger wield a piece of graphite. It is a labor that folds upon itself in its perpetual displacement of a strict notion of self. Instead of a revelation, the viewer, to use the words of Susan Sontag, is confronted by the transparency of the image, in which the real is quoted, indexed, and returned back to itself by the human element. Through this lens of clarity, the object subjectified becomes an object beloved.— Carlomar Arcangel Daoana <img width="3968" height="2232" width_o="3968" height_o="2232" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6ba2731ca97d40e7a6def18235b1bd6d88cb3b30887455f13647e320137fa262/P1040234.jpg" data-mid="80201776" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6ba2731ca97d40e7a6def18235b1bd6d88cb3b30887455f13647e320137fa262/P1040234.jpg" /> <img width="3266" height="2178" width_o="3266" height_o="2178" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2cd7a2b052cc6def853323ee1b1848ebc4fc86c524f22aae4b19cac991092d17/DSCF9641.jpg" data-mid="80201850" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2cd7a2b052cc6def853323ee1b1848ebc4fc86c524f22aae4b19cac991092d17/DSCF9641.jpg" /> <img width="3424" height="2283" width_o="3424" height_o="2283" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bbc1f36af1a8a897741a3d6f56adbd75db8fc7c1b442edadf3708a2e0e1a15c4/DSCF9650.jpg" data-mid="80201789" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/bbc1f36af1a8a897741a3d6f56adbd75db8fc7c1b442edadf3708a2e0e1a15c4/DSCF9650.jpg" /><img width="2235" height="3093" width_o="2235" height_o="3093" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/55142803871163753f24fbdbb7bbab2607f74c6d123ea1dde34384d2cb9f8bef/DSCF9643.jpg" data-mid="80201788" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/55142803871163753f24fbdbb7bbab2607f74c6d123ea1dde34384d2cb9f8bef/DSCF9643.jpg" /> <img width="3535" height="2074" width_o="3535" height_o="2074" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/63ed3b5ce7fe9a98d63c3e85457e3421b7854dcdee58c6d9da4ee316423521c4/P1040249.jpg" data-mid="80201787" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/63ed3b5ce7fe9a98d63c3e85457e3421b7854dcdee58c6d9da4ee316423521c4/P1040249.jpg" /> <img width="3337" height="2225" width_o="3337" height_o="2225" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dda16450a9b0b88f6ca5ade3028a4c9ee35b3366a2ca7b0d509675149979509a/DSCF9635.jpg" data-mid="80201892" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dda16450a9b0b88f6ca5ade3028a4c9ee35b3366a2ca7b0d509675149979509a/DSCF9635.jpg" /> <img width="3456" height="2304" width_o="3456" height_o="2304" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fbb02aa3a5a55fd6af536b1df00fe575e8410933a56ec22440a60c9bbd90eb18/DSCF9658.jpg" data-mid="80201786" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fbb02aa3a5a55fd6af536b1df00fe575e8410933a56ec22440a60c9bbd90eb18/DSCF9658.jpg" /> <img width="3456" height="2304" width_o="3456" height_o="2304" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7baa15d00fd75226b6c13f6f0e850fa7ebad426fcd2460563272b65a0bbd146e/DSCF9659.jpg" data-mid="80201785" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7baa15d00fd75226b6c13f6f0e850fa7ebad426fcd2460563272b65a0bbd146e/DSCF9659.jpg" /> https://nicebuenaventura.com/Fools-will-copy-but-copies-will-not-fool Sat, 04 Apr 2020 07:25:42 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/Fools-will-copy-but-copies-will-not-fool EXHIBITIONSFools will copy but copies will not fool Artinformal 2019 Susan Sontag, in her essay,&nbsp;On Photography, discusses the “democratization of experience” as the translation of any experience into image. In Fools will copy but copies will not fool, I append a corollary to that sentiment.The work leans toward an assertion that inherent in the democratization of experience is the distortion of experience. Through generation loss, every succeeding copy is an unfaithful copy.The infidelity that may be found in each reproduction when compared to its source image speaks of material conditions, the variance in my unsteady hand, or even the weather. I wink at this complicity (of the artist/the fool that copies) with one drawing, a flawed-by-design rendering of a historic biblical misprint: “Thou shalt commit adultery.”The rest of the pieces on display are continuing explorations of the Windows Printer Test Page/Pagína de prueba de la impresora series wherein I mimic (in as much as I am capable) print failure, applying charcoal and oil on canvas in not exactly the same way a printer would apply ink on paper, but perhaps in the same spirit: one fool to another, copying unfaithful copies. <img width="3460" height="2309" width_o="3460" height_o="2309" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0799846376967314ef5f713f639c600535eaf8756046b4f90ac56e8e51c40f05/FWCBCWNF1.jpg" data-mid="65686040" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0799846376967314ef5f713f639c600535eaf8756046b4f90ac56e8e51c40f05/FWCBCWNF1.jpg" /><img width="3820" height="2232" width_o="3820" height_o="2232" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/07de37eb8bb937b43f8923da72e9f898722262101d9827d92550bfb5b871e512/FWCBCWNF4.jpg" data-mid="65686027" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/07de37eb8bb937b43f8923da72e9f898722262101d9827d92550bfb5b871e512/FWCBCWNF4.jpg" /> <img width="3820" height="2232" width_o="3820" height_o="2232" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cc37012207ccc0d644696edab1091cd64ce5c0450315d993f1092ac8c79f7162/FWCBCWNF3.jpg" data-mid="65686041" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cc37012207ccc0d644696edab1091cd64ce5c0450315d993f1092ac8c79f7162/FWCBCWNF3.jpg" /> <img width="2656" height="1552" width_o="2656" height_o="1552" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5280ff60788e57f31dc34e82dbb650b9f6dfe9678c33fe9dd5fcef3cc5788021/FWCBCWNF2.jpg" data-mid="65686037" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5280ff60788e57f31dc34e82dbb650b9f6dfe9678c33fe9dd5fcef3cc5788021/FWCBCWNF2.jpg" /> <img width="3968" height="2232" width_o="3968" height_o="2232" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/350407a3442c6db5b286d23eb35636aba5c49351204bada35df6953475b70391/FWCBCWNF9.jpg" data-mid="65686396" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/350407a3442c6db5b286d23eb35636aba5c49351204bada35df6953475b70391/FWCBCWNF9.jpg" /> <img width="3306" height="2206" width_o="3306" height_o="2206" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b9e9eb2ba12a1d21770ba79795ba57e445bfdfc1d027194b7059490d9aa75a95/FWCBCWNF5.jpg" data-mid="65686028" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b9e9eb2ba12a1d21770ba79795ba57e445bfdfc1d027194b7059490d9aa75a95/FWCBCWNF5.jpg" /> <img width="3182" height="2122" width_o="3182" height_o="2122" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/230acc9df9d37a78995c8a28fe59044cc9f6a9489f527110bf07680ed3781b51/FWCBCWNF6.jpg" data-mid="65686029" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/230acc9df9d37a78995c8a28fe59044cc9f6a9489f527110bf07680ed3781b51/FWCBCWNF6.jpg" /> <img width="2886" height="1926" width_o="2886" height_o="1926" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a9c7623d400e61d572da67b6368d841425e2a70f0512a116110a1672f029a63e/FWCBCWNF8.jpg" data-mid="65686033" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a9c7623d400e61d572da67b6368d841425e2a70f0512a116110a1672f029a63e/FWCBCWNF8.jpg" /> <img width="2246" height="1495" width_o="2246" height_o="1495" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5098b325c2d11578dde608d0813f1ed08391e18e70f1c240dc4fa7580e053afa/FWCBCWNF12.jpg" data-mid="65686034" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5098b325c2d11578dde608d0813f1ed08391e18e70f1c240dc4fa7580e053afa/FWCBCWNF12.jpg" /> <img width="3299" height="2202" width_o="3299" height_o="2202" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9bd7996bf1f6340c15da453a8584402545f3320ae33110abccb7c2a15e3c2c7e/FWCBCWNF13.jpg" data-mid="65686032" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9bd7996bf1f6340c15da453a8584402545f3320ae33110abccb7c2a15e3c2c7e/FWCBCWNF13.jpg" /> <img width="2656" height="1552" width_o="2656" height_o="1552" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3faeb4730888f6c65638e766596ec5a2462bb233d273c06a0e62471e53684359/FWCBCWNF10.jpg" data-mid="65686038" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3faeb4730888f6c65638e766596ec5a2462bb233d273c06a0e62471e53684359/FWCBCWNF10.jpg" /> https://nicebuenaventura.com/Autoportraits Sat, 04 Apr 2020 07:25:42 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/Autoportraits EXHIBITIONSAutoportraits Areté June 2019 Artinformal October 2019In Autoportraits, I revisit the notion of identity as a function of task, wherein an entity is defined by its own activities. What is an artist but an entity that makes art? Does the machine in the laboratory, when given agency (as its ouput {or, in this case, the sound it makes} is itself utilized as input) to create its own sound-image, become an artist? How is it different or no different from me, drawing the vibrations of my working hand for my exhibition Wave Drawing Nos. 11-12 (2017)?A proper methodology, in pseudocode syntax, as though communicating with each artist-machine:&nbsp; for &lt;i&gt; in &lt;machines&gt; {&nbsp; &nbsp; if &lt;i&gt; = (makes a sound) &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; machines.print(sound); &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; }&nbsp; } Questions that arise from a such-and-such proposition include, but are not limited to: concerns about the work of art in the age of computerized reproduction, concerns about individual vis-à-vis communal authorship, concerns about technology in the service of art and the nascent possibility of art in the service of technology. It is an objective of the exhibition to present an ideal condition for innovation, incidentally recursive.

That the exhibition is produced in a laboratory is of note: one hopes to find answers. Autoportraits is the artist’s culminating project for Materials Improvisation, a residency-format course at the Ateneo de Manila University’s ELJ Makerspace. In the same year, it was restaged at Artinformal. With special thanks to Jason Dy, SJ, Tina Fernandez and Koki Lee. <img width="2656" height="1768" width_o="2656" height_o="1768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/103c51ba45ca81bc27cdec24665b54d60487789eba27a9016699855677b3a757/editP1040382.jpg" data-mid="65685646" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/103c51ba45ca81bc27cdec24665b54d60487789eba27a9016699855677b3a757/editP1040382.jpg" /><img width="2443" height="1626" width_o="2443" height_o="1626" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a23c5bd27066e49ecd930ae51b739504fe644279d20700cc070b893c3c361eb7/editP1040375.jpg" data-mid="65685643" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a23c5bd27066e49ecd930ae51b739504fe644279d20700cc070b893c3c361eb7/editP1040375.jpg" /> <img width="1528" height="1017" width_o="1528" height_o="1017" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/768fba42cc9b3f0bbf4e4fc5b10b1d1e045720c7e3fa67845105b612f315d14b/editP1040385.jpg" data-mid="65685647" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/768fba42cc9b3f0bbf4e4fc5b10b1d1e045720c7e3fa67845105b612f315d14b/editP1040385.jpg" /> <img width="2975" height="1984" width_o="2975" height_o="1984" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/13879334fe995efb94910375d992d7d9e96fbfffab2b7773aeabc71873bc0f2c/editIMG-4828.jpg" data-mid="65685645" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/13879334fe995efb94910375d992d7d9e96fbfffab2b7773aeabc71873bc0f2c/editIMG-4828.jpg" /> Areté <img width="3264" height="2448" width_o="3264" height_o="2448" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/edb5f954a109d67fec4347ef69bc0f5f03d502f88210df9b038721396cff4211/autoportraits0.jpg" data-mid="80272274" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/edb5f954a109d67fec4347ef69bc0f5f03d502f88210df9b038721396cff4211/autoportraits0.jpg" /> Artinformal https://nicebuenaventura.com/Boolean-Garden Sat, 04 Apr 2020 07:25:42 +0000 Nice Buenaventura https://nicebuenaventura.com/Boolean-Garden EXHIBITIONS Boolean Garden&nbsp;Media and Arts Technology Centre Queen Mary, University of London London 2020︎︎︎Visit the .garden (Desktop only) An exercise in techno-mysticism, Boolean Garden sets a stage on which technology, in the form of computer programming, and nature, in the form of plant life and its esoteric qualities, can be observed side-by-side. The premise, which asserts that the natural is computational and vice versa, is reminiscent of the laws of sacred geometry. The project pursues this proposition by communicating natural and folk histories through a channel more associated with the future.&nbsp; The Boolean Garden narrative begins with two stories of vanishing that are centuries apart. Apúng Sinukuan, a mountain deity from Mt. Arayat on Luzón island, grows weary of greedy lowlanders and retires from guardianship; E. aureum (common name: pothos), quintessential houseplant, shuns the neglect of busy homeowners and ceases to flower. Obliquely, ancient wisdom about the relationship between man and the natural world then unfolds through a piece of 2-D interactive media, created using CGI software and adapted for online exhibition. The apparent incongruence between message and medium only serves to expose an underlying congruence: nature and technology can be mutualistic.&nbsp; Within the dotgarden, a virtual experience is designed to instigate a (re)discovery of the magico-natural on a technology-assisted scale: a scale wherein vegetal time is compressed within the limits of human perception. The resulting simulation of biorhythmic synchronicity allows the digitised plants to demonstrate movement and sentience on-screen, to the viewer’s naked eye. In being able to manifest that nature and technology are intrinsically linked through the interface-as-landscape, a case against the dominance of one and suppression of the other can be made. Boolean Garden (Interface-as-Landscape) is the artist’s MSc dissertation and exhibition at Queen Mary, University of London. The application was online from July 2020 to 2021.With special thanks to Nick Bryan-Kinns, Itos Ledesma and Nigel Rodriguez.A prototype of Boolean Garden is a techno-botanical artefact called Dormilón. <img width="2560" height="1600" width_o="2560" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b5c9c9d713d23389b344025ae0081ca431f99a1c0e9107eb12f92134463b67f9/Boolean-Garden-3.jpg" data-mid="77802807" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b5c9c9d713d23389b344025ae0081ca431f99a1c0e9107eb12f92134463b67f9/Boolean-Garden-3.jpg" /> <img width="2560" height="1600" width_o="2560" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b62251f2cc03efeb6b994571e8e30a6edafd015c7fe06a57844d1d8fd26b9385/Boolean-Garden-6.jpg" data-mid="77802809" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b62251f2cc03efeb6b994571e8e30a6edafd015c7fe06a57844d1d8fd26b9385/Boolean-Garden-6.jpg" /> <img width="2560" height="1600" width_o="2560" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7d42e8d476e204be926b781f420e47bd9df283fbdddd2c9bdf5e7a28e8f683ff/Screen-Shot-2020-07-18-at-15.46.51.png" data-mid="77802811" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7d42e8d476e204be926b781f420e47bd9df283fbdddd2c9bdf5e7a28e8f683ff/Screen-Shot-2020-07-18-at-15.46.51.png" /><img width="1366" height="768" width_o="1366" height_o="768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e9f5bc234bde40f0d737787e1d03bb2260fa458b6fe969502c70486763bfe669/Boolean-Garden-1.jpg" data-mid="80271905" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e9f5bc234bde40f0d737787e1d03bb2260fa458b6fe969502c70486763bfe669/Boolean-Garden-1.jpg" />