The National Museum of the Philippines has finally launched National Artist Kidlat Tahimik’s INDIO-GENIUS: 500 Taon ng Labanang Kultural (1521-2021).
We are also happy to announce that everyone can now view this exhibition on Saturday, OCTOBER 22, 2022, along with the reopening of the National Museum of Anthropology!
We invited our friends from the press for a media preview of the exhibition last Monday with “Tatay Kidlat” himself giving a tour of his installations depicting his quirky retelling of our cultural struggles throughout history.
During the launch, Tatay Kidlat, joined by his fellow Indio-Genius, conducted a ceremonial performance – beginning with a “reenactment” of his cultural reawakening followed by various incantations by notable members of ethnolinguistic groups who have collaborated with the National Artist through the years.
Despite the on and off drizzle, members of the NMP Board of Trustees, the National Commission of Culture and the Arts, and other partner agencies and institutions came to celebrate the launching event. Also present in the reception were family, friends and colleagues, members of the academic community, fellow filmmakers, and other guests and artists from his hometown Baguio City.
Such great timing to open the third week of #MGM2022! Coming up this week are some special pop-up performances, including an immersive music and dance experience by UP Diliman’s Kontra-GaPi at the National Museum of Anthropology to kick off the exhibition’s public opening.
The Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino (Kontra-GaPi) is the resident Ethnic Music and Dance Ensemble of the College of Arts and Letters of the University of the Philippines-Diliman. The troupe which has extensively performed locally and abroad, showcases and promotes the artistic excellence and diverse cultures of the Philippines through their distinctive mix of music, dance, and mime. Museum viewers will have a chance to watch them live at the soon-to-reopen National Museum of Anthropology on October 22, 3PM.
Join us for a FREE performance-led tour at the National Museum of Fine Arts this October 23!
In celebration of Museums and Galleries Month and the 165th birth anniversary of our country’s foremost Filipino painting master, Juan Novicio Luna on October 24, the #NationalMuseumPH invites you to a performance-led tour of the Spoliarium Hall and the Far East Bank and Trust and Company – Andres and Grace Luna de San Pedro Memorial Hall (Gallery VI) of the National Museum of Fine Arts (NMFA) on October 23, 2022, Sunday.
This activity will show a glimpse of the artistic life of Juan Luna through his masterpieces in these exhibition galleries, providing an enhanced visitor experience at the National Museum of Fine Arts. Dancers, singers, and instrumentalists will come from the Far Eastern University Center for the Arts and scholars from the Friends for Cultural Concerns of the Philippines (FCCP) led by FCCP President and Director Mr. Martin Lopez.
To complete the lineup of performances for the third week of the Museums and Galleries Month celebration at the National Museum of the Philippines, the University of the Philippines Manila Chorale will perform for the museum visitors of the National Museum of Natural History on Sunday, October 26. A short museum-themed repertoire is set to anchor the collections and exhibitions of the Museum of Natural History and the theme of this year’s MGM celebration.
These performance-led activities at the museum intend to offer visitors different and augmented museum experiences and aim to explore various creative and alternative ways of promoting Filipino Heritage, particularly the NMP collections, exhibitions, and its advocacies making it interesting and relevant to various museum audiences.
The UPMC is the multi-awarded official performing group for choral music of the University of the Philippines Manila, presently led by its music director, Mr. John Steven Verrosa.
Make sure to be at the Museum in the afternoon to witness their choral performance!
We commemorate Alfredo Evangelista – archaeologist, anthropologist, educator, and former assistant director of the #NationalMuseumPH, on his 14th death anniversary #OnThisDay, October 18.
Assistant Director Evangelista ca. 1973 during the 1st ASEAN Field School in barrio San Piro, Balayan, Batangas. Photo from the NMP archives.
Considered one of the pioneering Filipino archaeologists, Evangelista’s interest in the discipline started during his undergraduate studies at the University of the East, under the mentorship of Wilhelm Solheim II. He has since been involved in several archaeological explorations and excavations of the following sites: Batungan Cave and Kalanay Cave in Masbate (with Solheim); Bato Caves in Sorsogon, and Cagraray, Albay in Bicol; and Sta. Ana, Calatagan and San Piro, Balayan in Batangas. His well-known archaeological undertaking is perhaps the Duyong Cave excavation in Palawan in the 1960s, where the oldest evidence of betel nut chewing in the country, associated with a primary Neolithic burial, was discovered.
Assistant Director Evangelista (center) inspecting the instructional materials in “Educational Loan Kit,” as part of the educational project of the NMP ca. 1985. Photo from the National Museum Annual Report 1985.
Evangelista was responsible for acquiring 4 National Cultural Treasures (or NCTs)—the Calatagan Ritual Pot, Laguna Copperplate Inscription, Marinduque Celadon Jar, and Banton Cloth. A model employee who allegedly did not file for even a single day of leave of absence, he started his career at the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) as a laboratory aide in 1951 and retired as a Director III in 1991. He pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago in Illinois, under a Fulbright scholarship, and at the University of Hawaii. Throughout his lifelong career, he also accepted teaching appointments at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and the University of Santo Tomas.
Assistant Director Evangelista (leftmost) during the opening of an exhibition in October 1980 in line with the celebration of National Museum Week. Photo from the National Museum Annual Report 1980.
In recognition of Evangelista’s contributions to Philippine archaeology, one of the 5 National Archaeological Repositories maintained by the NMP-Archaeology Division was named after him.
CLICK links to learn more about the NCTs featured in previous #TrowelTuesday posts of our #MuseumFromHome series:
Calatagan Ritual Pot – https://tinyurl.com/CalataganRitualPot
The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the life of #ManlilikhaNgBayan Estelita Tumandan Bantilan on her 82nd birthday.
MB Estelita Tumandan Bantilan, also known as Labnai, is a renowned master weaver of Blaan mats called igêm and was conferred with the Manlilikha ng Bayan award in 2016. She advocates traditions, including the indigenous way of creating her masterpieces, from the careful selection, drying, and stripping of romblon (Pandanus sp.) leaves to dyeing and weaving. She passes on the tradition by training the younger generation of Blaan weavers in her community with the assistance of her daughter at the GAMABA Cultural Center in Malapatan, Sarangani.
On 11 May 2022, an igêm with sulif design by Bai Labnai was part of the newly donated works of Manlilikha ng Bayan, which the GAMABA Executive Council of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts turned over to the National Museum of the Philippines. Sulif is a two-colored pattern of wavy stripes representing the act of swimming, diving in, and going back to the surface of the water—a reflection of the influence of the natural environment of Sarangani on her work. Her other signature designs are sangbangkil (wavy patterns of quadrilaterals), sulong-sulong (windows), and daksina (propeller-like pattern).
Learn more about MB Labnai and her works by visiting the Manlilikha ng Bayan Hall at the 3F National Museum of Anthropology in Manila as we reopen soon.
#EstelitaTumandanBantilan #GAMABA #Igem
Article and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division and the GAMABA Executive Council
