Philippines

The Philippine Pavilion presents Mark Salvatus’ solo project Sa kabila ng tabing lamang sa panahong ito / Waiting just behind the curtain of this age. Through a newly commissioned video work, a mise-en-scène of textile, fibreglass stone sculptures, and a reworking of an existing artwork, Salvatus explores the ethno-ecologies of Mt. Banahaw, a three-peaked forested mountain located on the boundary between Laguna and Quezon, and Lucban, the artist’s hometown. Salvatus prospects the centrality of Mt. Banahaw in the cultural life of Lucban, from a revolution that aimed to encourage the native folk to cultivate their own vernacular way of religious discernment; a history of marching bands and musicians; and a film of mystery and joy—to Salvatus’ very own practice of assembly and salvaging that discloses a shared planetary spirit. This project is a proscenium in which the mystical vitality of the mountain is made material through a mise-en-scène of sound, light, and stone sculptures; where stories of the rich culture of the music of its surrounding communities that it has enlivened and that enlivens it are shared; and, where the reverberations of its place in vaster constellations of revolutionary and political life in a planetary scheme of things are rendered palpable, undeniable.