Circle

FLORAL designer Rachy Cuna renders Filipino leitmotifs into colorful floral constructions in DramaCuna, originally installed at the National Museum and now running at the UST Museum of Arts and Sciences until June 15.

Cuna, who calls himself a floral architect, used materials native to the Philippines to promote the local crafts.

Upon entering the exhibit, visitors will immediately see the intricate “Kulasisi,” inspired by the bird of the same name. The work which uses bamboo, buri and fossilized roses shows interconnected baskets that represent the nest of the bird, which is endemic to the Philippines.

FOR A PROFESSOR, explaining a complex history while keeping the audience interested can be a daunting task. But wrap this lecture around an elegant musical show, and one can definitely have the best of both worlds.

Canciones de la Revolución Filipina: Songs of the Philippine Revolution from 1872 to 1898 is a lecture-concert presented by Tawid Publications with support from Ministerio de Cultura of Spain, Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation and Instituto Cervantes de Manila. The event was held last April 24 at Salón de Actos, Instituto Cervantes in Ermita, Manila.

THE HEROIC need not be ascribed only to extraordinary men of extraordinary feats; even the plebeian citizen has the capacity to become heroic.

The Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS), with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, launched Everyday Filipino Heroes, an outdoor banner project cum art exhibit held in connection with the May 10, 2010 elections at the Vargas Museum in the University of the Philippines (UP).

ADAPTING novels to the big screen has been a common practice for filmmakers and screenwriters, dating as far back as the early 1900s where timeless classics such as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist already had their film counterparts.

But in time, these page-to-reel transitions have become a dime-a-dozen, with some filmmakers chopping off even the most necessary parts in the novel just to make a fitting adaptation.

This summer, works of authors Alice Sebold and Dennis Lehane are granted the big screen glory, but do their respective films deliver?

The Lovely Bones: style over substance

STORYTELLING has gone a long way, from simply telling stories by mouth to writing them in books, people have even developed a way to tell stories through the screen. The television networks have merged the classic fairytale and the soap opera, resulting in the fantaserye, an often engrossing dramatic series which shows the fantastic in the human and the fantastic into human.

Agua Bendita: a case of sibling rivalry

Voters’ education programs on TV such as Harapan and Kandidato have added to the hype of this year’s electoral process, urging voters to take a closer look at candidates and make the right choice. But do these programs really inform the viewers about the candidate’s platforms, or are they just tawdry shows looking to boost the networks’ ratings?

FOUR different styles in Galerie Joaquin Group’s simultaneous art exhibits, “Four Shows: A Narrative of Humanity,” last April 14-20 at the SM Art Center in SM Megamall, featuring Lydia Velasco’s “Paradiso,” Jerry Morada’s “Kinang,” Juanito Torres “Allegory,” and Buen Abrigo’s “Indeterminacy”.

“Everyone indulges in his own preferred style, but all the artists are bound together by a single concept. These works are their individual interpretation on social issues here in the Philippines,” said Ruben Cañete, the curator and a UST alumnus.

AN INTERNATIONAL exhibit will trace the 400-year history of the University through rare books and memorabilia that form the priceless treasures of UST.

Lumina Pandit: An Exhibition of Historical Treasures will be open to Thomasians and the public at large from June 17 to January 2011 at the Miguel de Benavidez Library ground floor.

Fr. Angel Aparicio, O.P., prefect of the libraries, said the exhibit is a “journey to look backward,” a way of telling UST’s history through books.

“A sense of history is vital to the nation, and books are the primary medium for a credible past,” he explained.

TAKING a glance seems exhausting when you have seen more than enough, but Julio Jose Austria’s paintings suggest that one can never be weary with looking at life.

His exhibit, Viewing the World, which runs till April 8 - 22 at the Art Verite’ Gallery in Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, consists of oil-paintings on canvas depicting experiences and observations of the United States and Europe. Theme is about the objective viewing of the world, avoiding subjectivity.

Had took up Painting from College of Architecture and Fine Arts batch 2000, Julio Jose Austria got a grant from the Vermont Studio Center, U.S.A., which enabled him to travel in places there. He has also held shows in Germany, Austria and Thailand.

NOW ON its fourth year, the Varsitarian’s Cinevita film fest reaffirmed its advocacy of using film as a tool for meaningful expressions of life through the screening of internationally acclaimed independent films Lola and Kinatay.

Both directed by UST advertising arts alumnus Brillante Mendoza, winner of the Best Director award in the 62nd Cannes Film Festival last May, Kinatay and Lola were shown at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex Auditorium last March 4. The event was a collaboration between the Varsitarian and Thomasian Cable TV.