Bliss Market art installation project

Words by Katrina Stuart Santiago

Choosing from the pre-exiting “Dasal” series, one framed image will will be installed in each of the 23 buildings of U.P. Bliss, creating an exhibit that cuts across the 23 different lobbies of the different buildings. That this renders prayer in this form across the structures, but even more so that it is these artworks that will bridge the gap from one building to the next will force the community to move from their own spaces to the next one. Like an unconventional stations of the cross, tied by prayer, tied by art. ***

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30 artists and artist groups gather

for the U.P. Bliss Art Intervention Project

Bliss Market: Exchange in Time | Space of Transience gathers together a diverse set of artists tasked to intervene in U.P. Bliss as space and community, currently in the throes of neglect, constantly being reimagined by memory and nostalgia.  

A project of J Pacena II, Bliss Market takes the central symbol of the old Bliss Mart that used to be grocery and community center of the U.P. Bliss of his childhood. Now just structural ruins, the Bliss Mart is not only memory but also fact: here lies a vestige of a community that could be brought together by common spaces of exchange, both literal and figurative, neighborly and otherwise. That this isn’t true anymore, different as the landscape has become, where childhood leisure has become more about staying in instead of inhabiting the outside, and the individual has rendered community less important, is the current state of U.P. Bliss.

This is the site of the artistic intervention with which the Bliss Market has tasked its 29 participating artists and artist groups. All immersed in the narratives of the past and present of the U.P. Bliss, these artist interventions are premised on an engagement with the community, and a necessarily critical stance about the notions of bliss at this point in time, changing as it is. Envisioned as a breathing art project, Bliss Market will run for two months from May to June 2012, allowing artists to conceptualize projects that will cut across that time frame, and creating venues for the variety of creative interventions from workshops to artist talks, performances and film showings, street art and art installations. Documentation and related events will run at the U.P. Vargas Museum.

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The participating artists are Brian Barrios, Aristotle Pollisco (Gloc-9), Rai Cruz, Mark Salvatus, Alma Quinto, Angelo Magno, Jef Carnay, Kiri Dalena, Nonoy Marcelo, Apol Sta. Maria, Buen Calubayan, John Leonard Puso, Angelo Paolo Martin, Paul De Vera, Carlo Holganza, Don Salubayba, Kirby Roxas, Robert Besana, and J. Pacena II. The participating artist groups are Pilipinas Street Plan, Monochrome, 98B, Print Makers Association of the Philippines, Anino Shadow Play Collective, Komikera, Sipat Lawin Ensemble, Ugat Lahi, Arkisens, UP Dance Company, and Tudla Productions.

Bliss Market: Exchange in Time | Space of Transience runs in two venues. Site-specific projects, workshops and artist talks, will be held at the U.P. Bliss from May to June 23, 2012. A related exhibition will run at the U.P. Vargas Museum from May 17 to June 09, 2012.

This Project is presented with U.P. Vargas Museum, In cooperation with Asia Pacific College and supported by Arts Network Asia and the U.P. BLISS Senior Citizen Achievers Chapter, Inc.

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Philippines Association of Printmakers

For the past four decades, the PAP has brought art to the people with its multi-original prints, and through its exhibitions and workshops that promote the art form and subsequently democratize art. Founded in 1968 through the pioneering efforts of Manuel Rodriguez, Sr., and with Adiel Arevalo and other printmakers he mentored, it has since become the prime mover of graphic arts in the country. For almost 40 years, PAP has devoted itself to the promotion of printmaking and bringing art to the people. Its programs include the continuous training of members, regular exhibitions, annual competitions, outreach workshops and lectures, and hosting of exchange programs with international visiting artists. From its ranks, the Philippines has been represented in international exhibitions, competitions, biennales and triennials. In 2001, it was conferred the Dangal ng Haraya Lifetime Achievement Award for Cultural

Promotions by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.