Art in Open Spaces: A Case for Closer Encounters Pristine L. de Leon
Toym Imao, ‘Barikada’, 2021, repurposed furniture, bamboo, paint, dimensions variable. Image courtesy of UP Diliman Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (UPD-OICA). Photo by Pol Torrente.
In 2021, indoor spaces in the Philippines were regulated through constantly changing protocols. After months of policing how bodies gather, the government seemed to relax restrictions by the end of the year as candidates for the 2022 national elections started holding rallies outdoors. Supporters, mobilised in public spaces, are photographed as a mass of colours linked with certain political parties. Assembling becomes an elaborate choreography, a political capacity to organise movement and affective states. As scenes that thrive in scale or crowding, they conjure the visual spectacle of space seemingly unified by colour.
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