Art fiends, this is something to get excited about.
Philippine-born artist David Medalla is sending one of his iconoclastic bubble-machines to Manila in September for the first-ever London Biennale Manila Pollination.
One of his earlier works, made in the 1960s, the “Cloud Canyons” bubble machine pieces — which continously spew out streams of cloud-like bubbles —redefined the concept of sculpture which until then was understood to be a solid structure.
There are now several versions of the machine, and they have all been shown in the museums and art festivals around the world.
In the video above, he talks about the things that inspired him to create this work, and what it means to him.
As he explained in an interview with Mousse Magazine, the idea for his first bubble machine “was rooted in a complex combination of many memories” that inspired him to create a work of art that would express and embody the motion of clouds.
“During the war I saw as a toddler a young man shot, and he was dying, and I saw bubbles coming out of his mouth,” he explains in the video. “And then much later my mother was cooking special meals for me with cream of coconuts, so I also saw bubbles.”
He adds that when he first went to America, he saw “all these clouds.”
“Finally, my last inspiration was when I was in Edinburgh with a friend of mine. We went to a brewery and we got free beer…As I was watching the clouds I got the idea for this kind of work.”
There are 90 artists and groups from all over the globe expected to participate in the 2016LBMP.
The one-month event, which will include exhibitions, performances, symposia and workshops, will be held in several venues around Metro Manila — Escolta, University of the Philippines, Tanghalang Francisco Balagtas (Folk Arts Theater), Metropolitan Theater, Bulwagan ng Dangal, University of the Philippines, Galleria Duemila, PROMDI and Project Space Pilipinas.
2017 London Biennale Manila Pollination will be held from Sep 15 to Oct 17. Here’s the link to their FB page.
