The Eighth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

visual framework to a curatorial essay. Banal’s video also heralds some of the strong currents that appear throughout the main selection of documentary, fictional and video works: the vernacular and subcultural practices; the challenges of rural and urban communities throughout the archipelago; reimagining present-day issues and experiences through mythic, if not surreal scenarios; and playing with a pronounced stillness in moving image that emphasises temporality. LAV DIAZ Lav Diaz is the leading figure of this digital shift in Filipino cinema and an artist-filmmaker recognised for his intense exploration of duration. For Diaz, the long take is an attempt to convey the struggle of the Filipino people, or what he refers to as ‘the Filipino psyche’ as a reality experienced in real time. His work derives a remarkable command from its use of time and space, bearing witness to Phillipine history and everyday life with an epic approach more commonly associated with literature. In APT8, Diaz’s program of 13 works constitutes almost 70 hours of screen time — a commitment reflecting Diaz’s own dedication and steadfast curiosity. As he observes of his longest work of 593 minutes, Ebolusyon ng isang pamilyang Pilipino ( Evolution of a Filipino Family ) 2004, I would go to any extent in my art to fathom the paradox that is the Filipino. I would go to any extent in my art to fathom the mystery of humankind’s existence. I want to understand death. I want to understand solitude. I want to understand struggle. I want to understand the philosophy of a growing flower in the middle of a swamp. 1 Diaz’s works, along with many of those selected for ‘Filipino Indie’ dispense with melodrama and focus on dramatic accounts of the social, religious and governmental powers that have shaped the Philippines. The period of martial law from 1972 to 1986 under President Ferdinand Marcos is particularly significant, as is communal violence and the catastrophic typhoons and landslides experienced throughout the country. Films make important symbolic use of archival footage and characters seem to inhabit the past, living amid real and dramatic accounts of violence, environmental disaster, colonialism and dictatorship that continue to shape the present. 1 Diaz cited in Brandon Wee, ‘The decade of living dangerously: A chronicle of Lav Diaz’, Senses of Cinema , Issue 34, February 2005, www.sensesofcinema. com/2005/filipino-cinema/lav_diaz/, viewed July 2015. LAV DIAZ Philippines b.1958 Production stills from Mula sa kung ano ang noon (FromWhat Is Before) 2014 HD video transferred to DCP, black and white, stereo, 338 minutes, Philippines, Filipino/ Tagalog/English (English subtitles) / Image courtesy: The artist Sine Olivia Filipinas, Manila