ANDI TAKU E SANA, AMUNG TAKU DI SANA / ALL OF US PRESENT, THIS IS OUR GATHERING
Gerardo Tan (artist)
Felicidad Prudente (musicologist)
Sammy N. Buhle (masterweaver)
Curated by
Yael Buencamino-Borromeo and Arvin Flores
13 June - 14 October 2023
3/F South Gallery
Andi taku e sana, amung taku di sana are the opening lines of a Sogna, a chant performed by the Madukayan Kalinga ethnolinguistic group of the highland Cordillera region of the Philippines. It translates to “All of us present, This is our gathering.” The chant is performed prior to a peaceful dialogue among the members of the community. The act of gathering and of being present as a community manifests a collective consciousness of reaching a common aspiration, despite differences in interests and views.
The exhibition involves an interdisciplinary approach to transmitting culture with sound and textile, weaving the customary and the contemporary across the archipelago. It presents a highly mediated process of generating sound, performance, image and object by conveying the production and translation of the source cultural sounds of chanting and weaving into notations, visual art and textiles.
The exhibition performs a convergence of cultural expressions that creates spaces for inquiry into traditional and contemporary art forms. The first work, "Speaking in Tongue", is a two-channel video installation featuring the translation of a traditional chant into performative painting using squid ink as a medium. It is followed by "Renderings", which shows the transmission of sound made from traditional weaving practices remediated in video and textile material. Throughout the process of production, translation and rendering, the work lends itself to the artists’ agency through improvisation and an open interpretation of the audience, thus creating space for investigation and exchange.