True blue Manileños, recent transplants, and visitors to our city all know — there is never a lack of things to do in Manila. This is Coconuts Manila’s guide to all things good and great happening over the coming weekend. Peruse it, take note of everything that interests you, and hit us up on our Facebook page or on Twitter @CoconutsManila to sound off on what you think.
See an immersive exhibit literally cracking open pieces of Bacolod in Bonifacio Global City
Date: Jan. 11, Saturday – Feb. 4, Tuesday
Venue: Mo_Space Gallery, 3rd floor, MOs Design Bldg, B2 9th Avenue, Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City
Artist Kristoffer Ardeña’s show “Geopoemas: Bacolod” opens in the main gallery of Mo_Space in Taguig City this Saturday. The Bacolod-based artist has printed Google street maps of his Negrense island hometown on tarpaulin, painted over them, and cut them out in almost two hundred pieces, before hanging them from the gallery’s ceiling using deconstructed basahan retaso (pieces of rags). The performative and immersive (not to mention, painstakingly masochistic) display invites the audience to crack open each “painting” to see what texts, iconographies, and street names each reveals.
Show starts at 6pm until late, then runs on regular gallery hours until Feb. 4. For details, visit Mo_Space Gallery’s Facebook page.
See a non-gloomy Makati art show about hope and nostalgia
Date: Jan. 11, Saturday – Feb. 8, Saturday
Venue: ArtInformal, The Alley at Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati City
Over in Makati, four new art shows open at ArtInformal this Saturday, including Dan Barry’s “We Shall Meet in The Place Where There is No Darkness.” The artist assembles a visual narrative evoking nostalgia, wonderment, and hope in his one-man exhibit at Gallery 1. Barry uses antique frames to house multimedia pieces made with graphite and paint, handwritten scribblings, and patchwork stitchings. The visiting Texas-based artist has been a regular in a handful of galleries around Manila, exhibiting locally since 2015.
The show runs from 6pm until 11pm on opening night, then runs on regular gallery hours until Feb. 8. For details, visit Art Informal’s Facebook page.
Or see this multi-artist exhibit about beginnings and endings
Date: Jan. 11, Saturday – Feb. 8, Saturday
Venue: ArtInformal, The Alley at Karrivin Plaza, 2316 Chino Roces Ave. Ext., Makati City
Also opening at ArtInformal this Sunday over in Gallery 2 is the group show “An Alteration of Intake & Exhaust, Combustion & Expansion,” by returning artists Adrian Alfonso, Jason Dy, Ringo Bunoan, Mike Crisostomo, Jayson Oliveria, Masi Oliveria, and The Weather Bureau, as well as artist-curator Lena Cobangbang and punk art icon Manuel Ocampo.
Cobangbang’s curation of the 10-artist show rounds up diverse pieces that reflect themes of beginnings and endings, mortality and existence, and the concept of a fixed point.
The show runs from 6pm until 11pm on opening night, then runs on regular gallery hours until Feb. 8. For details, visit Art Informal’s Facebook page.
Attend a group’s discussion series about Duterte’s war on drugs
Date: Jan. 12, Sunday
Venue: Stall 9, Cubao Expo, Quezon City
Resbak (short for Respond and Break the Silence Against the Killings) — an alliance of artists, media practitioners, and cultural workers against Duterte’s war on drugs — launches their first discussion series for 2020 this Sunday titled “Telling Stories through Data (Discussion on Drug War)” at Cubao X, in Quezon City.
Data journalist and analyst Florian Tarcelo-Balmes leads the talk, discussing art-making and data journalism in the time of extrajudicial killings. Artists, journalists, and anyone else whose interested to talk it out and listen are invited. Discussion is free and open to the public.
Doors open at 4pm, and discussion runs until late. Plus afterward, there’s always beer just around the corner at Cubao X. For details, visit Resbak’s Facebook page.
Catch a milestone concert from this Canadian rock band in Quezon City
Date: Jan. 12, Sunday
Venue: Skydome, SM City North EDSA, EDSA corner North Avenue, Quezon City
Canadian rock band Silverstein (who claim to have named themselves after children’s book author Shel Silverstein) is playing at the SM Skydome in Quezon City this weekend.
The emo/post-hardcore mainstays return to Manila for their 20th anniversary, following their first appearance at Manila’s PULP live show eight years ago. Vocalist Shane Todd and the rest of the posse will play their milestone album Discovering The Waterfront, plus anthemic hits from their two-decade run at this one-night-only treat for Pinoy fans.
The show starts at 8pm. Tickets start at PHP2,590 (US$51) for general admission, and PHP3,620 (US$71) for VIP boxes, which include a meet and greet. Cop them at the SM Tickets website.
Read more about places to see and do in the metro here.
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