“In Situ, Performance as Exhibition: The Philippine Edition” to Showcase Groundbreaking Artistic Collaborations Between Danish and Filipino Artists

“In Situ, Performance as Exhibition, The Philippine Edition” brings the power of performance to a transformative exhibition format, using the body as the primary medium to present art in the public space. This initiative focuses on the shared presence of the artists and the audiences set against the backdrop of the urban and rural environments in the Philippines.

Organized by Belarmino & Partners in partnership with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, supported by the New Carlsberg Foundation and the Danish Arts Foundation, this exhibition is curated by international Filipina curator, Vanini Belarmino. It will feature eight works by Danish visual and performance artists Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Molly Haslund, Sophie Dupont, and Filip Vest, alongside choreographer, Kai Merke. Conceived to facilitate cross-disciplinary encounters, “In Situ, Performance as Exhibition,” the artists will reimagine their existing works for Metro Manila, Los Baños, and La Union on 15-26 October 2024.

The works will see the pairings between Danish and Filipino artists unfold in an exciting and exploratory process. First-time collaborators include renowned Filipino choreographers and performers Christine Crame, Ea Torrado, and the Daloy Dance Company, along with emerging multidisciplinary artists Sasa Cabalquinto, Jeremy Mayores, and Kyle Confesor, engaging in what the curator refers to as artistic ‘blind dates.’

Performances will be situated in outdoor locations such as Mount Makiling in Los Baños, the shores of La Union, the bustling streets and parks along Roxas Boulevard and CCP Complex, the walled city of Intramuros, the pavement and courtyards of the iconic brutalist and art deco buildings that of Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Manila Metropolitan Theater. Adapting the performances for the sites, “In Situ, Performance as Exhibition”, will offer the public direct contact and engagement with the works and artists as they are presented in this constellation of natural and urban landscapes.

“In Situ, Performance as Exhibition, The Philippine Edition” is part of an ongoing series that builds on the success of previous site-specific works initiated by Belarmino in Southeast Asia. Following preliminary 3-year research and artist meetings conducted by the curator in Denmark between 2021-2024, this edition follows the recent Singapore iteration in April, which featured a different set of performances by Danish and Singaporean artists.

This collaborative exhibition invites audiences to actively participate in the evolving conversations between the artists, spaces, and local communities, offering fresh perspectives on how art can shape, and be shaped by, the places in which it exists.

In the words of the Filipina curator, I marvel at the thought to have been entrusted by the different artists to ‘transport’ their work to the Philippines and for them to have accepted the challenge of braving what could be a volatile process of welcoming new collaborators whom they have yet to meet, work with for the first time, and most I have selected for them as collaborators and be part of their works to be presented within an unconventional marathon exhibition format.

“In Situ, Performance as Exhibition” was conceived in my mind as a collection of performance works that can be recontextualized for a specific locale. It is about bringing collective bodies to be placed or situated within the backdrop of a mountain, beachside, and the urban jungle. As the title suggests, my proposition is to consider the moments of the performance, its process, the presence of the artists, and the engagement of the audience as the actual composition for the exhibition.

As organizer, on the other hand, I am moved beyond words by the support accorded by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, in partnering with my company Belarmino&Partners, in seeing and making sense of what I have been imagining. I find it encouraging to develop artistic interventions for the streets of Manila, i.e., having living mobile mirrors walk along Roxas Boulevard, or receive excitement about an artist marking her breath for 12 hours in the mountain, being awakened by an invitation for a whole community of people to walk on sand. It is equally gratifying to have prestigious international foundations such as the New Carlsberg Foundation and the Danish Arts Foundation on board as supporters of this project. Their support has added validation to this journey, making what was once imagined into something tangible and pulsating.