boxed 2009

In 2006, Boxed was conceptualized by artists J. Pacena and Buen Calubayan as a series of exhibitions for artists and the artistically inclined. Each exhibition would gather together those from a wide variety of ages, backgrounds and creative training, showing their art—loosely bounded by dimensions—and prompting reminders on the presence and significance of the artistic community. From the initial exhibition in Big Sky Mind to the hallways of the Cultural Center of the Philippines to the Cubicle Art Gallery show themed with erotica, Boxed is, in the words of Pacena, 'the idea, that we can be boxed, in one time and one space in order to connect and create a larger box, the idea of creating a universe and a dialogue in between.'

In the fourth installment of Boxed at blanc compound curated by Clarissa Chikiamco and Rica Estrada, over forty women artists think, converse and relate their practice with one another. Within a set chain over four groups and starting from thoughts of the curators, each artist must reflect and respond to ideas of the previous artist in the line, documented through dialogue and then enacted in actual production. The dialogue, done through email, SMS, phone or in-person chats, is exhibited along with the art, putting primacy on the stages of art's conceptual development and the ability of artists to discuss and negotiate their practice.

Subtitled The Start of a Conversation, the show begins a dialogue but anticipates its extension beyond the exhibition. Believing that all different kinds of dialogue—direct or indirect, formal or informal—impresses upon and subsequently shifts artistic identities, however subtle, the exhibition challenges the idea that art is made in isolation. Highlighting the importance of artistic networks, the exercise of the show attempts to encourage networks in a system in which artists are able to both verbally and visually communicate their ideas with flexibility to others' artistic practices. Boxed: The Start of a Conversation discloses a normally concealed process as it commences it, acting as an index for the future dialogues it trusts to instigate.

Boxed: The Start of a Conversation opens on Saturday 4PM, December 12, 2009 at Blanc Compound Mandaluyong. Blanc is located at 359 Shaw Boulevard Interior, Addition Hills, Mandaluyong City. For more information, please call or sms 752-0032 / 0920-9276436, email info@blanc.ph or visit www.blanc.ph and www.blancartspace. multiply. com.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Ambie Abano
Clare Alegado
Janet Balberona
Cathy Lasam-Ballo
Mica Cabildo
Con Cabrera
Kim Carlos
Marika Constantino
Grace Corpuz
Ranelle Dial
Karen Flores
Mayang Frigilllana
Dina Gadia
Angela Garrido
Sarah Gaugler
Eva Gubat
Alon de Guzman
Abi Jao
Helen Jose
Amihan Jumalon
Lea Lim
Lesley Lim
Michelle Lim
Raquel de Loyola
Kat Medina
Maan de Loyola
Jhoan Medrano
Donna Noda
May Tobias-Papa
Cheng Pimentel
Brenda Praico
Alma Quinto
Ling Quisumbing
Marga Rodriguez
Julie Cola Shen
Reine Shih
Bru Sim
Yasmin Sison
Mimi Tecson
AJ Tolentino
Teta Tulay
Anna Varona
Shakira Villa-Symes
Jazel Kristin Villamarin
Tanya Villanueva
Lauren Villarama
MM Yu

Boxed will run until January 2, 2010.
Written by Lisa Chikiamco