Beyond the Future: Papers from the Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Baguio Arts Gu ild is one of the of the thousands of NGOs that have come about during the past decade in response to the endemic faults and inequities of the socio-political-cultural system. Of cou rse in the everyday world of Filipinos faced with the increasingly d ifficult task of survival , history and geography tend to fade into the background, but never entirely. The effort of the artists to rule their destinies and not rely on some outside force, whether residing i n Manila o r the easy confines of Europe and North America has touched an ancient nerve . Any time you divorce art from the culture from which it springs it emasculates art and reinforces the whole process of colon isation . The organization has managed to launch successful careers of a number of homegrown artists . The most prominent is John Frank Sabado who's Cordillera-inspired works comb ine craft and indigenous forms to come up with a d istinctly contemporary Fil ipino art. Another member was the late Roberto Villanueva whose riveting installations gained recognition locally and internationally. Many young artists who have no access to formal art education look for inspiration and guidance to older artist members of the Guild. The Gu ild, however, if it is to continue growing, must endeavour to expand the role of women in our ranks and require members who are the most successful in the art scene to g ive back time to the Gu ild a nd its everyday affairs . To keep up with the demands of the modern world the guild has established websites . To update members and the art commun ity at large with its activities and critical writings on art, our newsletter called In the BAG in now on line. In one sense it is easy to m isread the Baguio artists so it's possible that i n the fever of elevating ethn icity the works are consumed for the wrong reasons. I n a culture where the critical mass has been largely shaped by western culture, the danger is omnipresent. Again, Roces puts it succinctly: 'There is obviously a problem . It deserves reiterating that the perception machine imposes its own parameters. Those parameters, hegemonically constituted, do not allow for the possibility that many Filipinos are not qu ite "readable" within those self-made parameters.' Indeed the Baguio artists are fortunate enough to sit on top of deep artistic traditions and resources. From the lowland regions of Northern Luzon to the remote parts of the Cordilleras, like the goldminers of Benguet, our artists have begun tapping the different lodes, going to the recesses of a communal psyche to show the rest of us what treasures lay buried there. The rediscovery of the small, the communal, has been a g ut reaction to the global corporate slickness of contemporary representation . That rediscovering and interpreting of home is one of the more rewarding voyages at the end of the millennium. 1 32