Digital Diwa?
Posted by: Fats in: Fats, Vitamins & Minerals > Mga Pulong atbp > Teyorya ba“Diwà’t Kapookán/Articulating Spaces” is my proposed title for the exhibition I was commissioned to curate for the NCCA (National Commission on Culture and the Arts) to take place 9 March – 15 April 2006 at the upper galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila. Through “Diwà’t Kapookán”, I hope to make an inquiry into several inter-relating vectors surrounding the Digital Art Competition (formerly “Webgising” meaning “web-wake-up!” and now Websining or “web-art.”) “Diwa’t Kapookán” hopes to describe the diversity and constraints of digital art’s creative space within the context of a national art competition for digital media.
I am pondering on three major vectors in this space: First, that which is underlined by the socio-political, the place of image and technology in governance and social organization. Second, that which is underlined by the body or the medium, in particular the digital medium as stimulus for intellectual and sensual dynamics. And third, that which is underlined by language, in the conception of technology as a linguistic process and therefore a cultural medium.
The terms “Diwà’t Kapookán” and “Articulating Spaces” are not direct translations but are rather complimenting concepts. “Diwà” and “Articulating” reflect each other’s meanings: “diwà” suggests “substance contained”, “soul or vital principal” and “consciousness” whereas “articulation” entails “pagsasatinig”, “pagpapahayag” and a “pagsasadiwà.”
“Diwà” and “Articulation” brings the artistic process beyond the romanticism of “expression.” “Diwà” and “Articulation” enlarges the creative space where sense and meaning (diwà’t kahulugán) flow into each other.
In “Diwà’t Kapookán/Articulating Spaces”, the terms “Kapookán” and “Spaces” comprise the possibility of identifying precise points in space, making connectivities, and imbuing them with structure and meaning. “Kapookán” pertains to the center of a place, whereas “space” extends to “alangaang” meaning stratospheric space and tide. This demonstrates the relationship between time and space in the Filipino universe, where time is linked to the organization and meaning of objects in space.
Within the context of the competition, the concept “digital” is interpreted as a simulation of other media. How can artists define digital art in ways that form a more independent and self-supporting approach based more on uniqueness rather than on simulation? How can articulation – the building of language and not merely the display of images – become possible in digital space?
