In my almost two decades of being a resident of Metropolitan Manila, I confess I have not yet fully explored the city. One of the places that I have always wanted to explore was Quiapo and the University Belt where the majestic San Sebastian Minor Basilica (or most popularly known as San Sebastian Church) is…
Tag: Heritage
Performing Heritage / The Intramuros Project (The Project Brief)
On 1 April 2019, the project “Performing Heritage/The Intramuros Project” commenced. Funded by the University of the Philippines Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Development, the project is both an ethnographic study and a performance of ethnographic data about cultural heritage development. The goal is to problematize the concept of heritage via…
Mythology, Cosmology and Tourism in Play: The Barong and Kris Dance in Bali
Bali, an island in the Indonesian Archipelago, is a tourist haven among adventure seekers, cultural enthusiasts, and nature-lovers. As a traveler, Bali is one of the many places in the world listed in my bucket list. My obsession and fascination with UNESCO World Heritage Sites made me want to visit Bali since the inclusion of…
Pampanga Colonial Churches; Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical (Part 1 of 2)
I am Kapampangan and I am proud of my heritage. Most of the time, many Filipinos associate Kapampangan heritage with food. One of the most articulated cultural stereotype (in a positive sense) of a Kapampangan is her skills in cooking (hmmmm, Atching Lilian embodied!). This is also the reason why Pampanga is commonly associated as…
Manila, Entangled!
This post is an excerpt from my book Buhol-Buhol/Entanglement: Contemporary Theatre in Metropolitan Manila (Bern et al: Peter Lang, 2017). ENTANGLEMENT is persistent in Manila’s historical narrative. Travel writer Pico Iyer has observed many contradictions in the city of Manila. For instance, he describes the gallery going to his hotel room as an extraordinary space since: “on…
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, an Indian Architectural Wonder
Early July 2017, a colleague from the University of the Philippines Diliman passed on a daunting task of delivering a lecture on digital humanities in Mumbai, India. The task was terrifying but the thought of Mumbai was seductive. Mumbai is one of five Indian cities in my bucket list (the other cities: Delhi, Agra, Goa,…
Stasis & Mobility: Launch Speech
Last night (19 October 2018), Stasis & Mobility: Nasa Dugo Natin Yan?! (An Exhibit on Philippine Genetics and Culture) was launched. The exhibit poses a general question: what is the role of culture and the environment in genetics? As I indicated in the program notes/exhibit catalog, this is not the first time the relationship between genetics and…
The Gutenberg Experience at the Plantin-Moretus House–Workshops–Museum Complex
The movable-type press is a system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce a document usually on a paper. The figure behind this technology is Johannes Gutenberg, who in mid-15th century Europe, introduced the metal movable-type. Gutenberg created his type pieces (the metallic alphabets, numbers, and punctuation) from lead, tin, and antimony, which…
Rio and its Playful Landscape (Part 2 of 2)
I am really glad, I was not interpellated by popular biases against Rio. Otherwise, I would not have experienced the carioca landscapes between the mountains and the seas. A panoramic view of the city from the Marro do Urca (Photo: SAP Tiatco) My visit to Rio de Janeiro was spent for a few hours only. Given…
Rio and its Playful Landscape (Part 1 of 2)
In the Philippines, when one thinks of Brazil, she thinks of the Amazon jungle, the carnival, beauty pageants, and Rio! Rio’s popularity has been on the rise since the 1960’s. The Bossanova song “A Girl from Ipanema” invaded the world radio, even winning Record of the Year in the 1965 Grammy Awards, beating American and English…
