11.20.08 kulturnatib

Being, becoming and remembering
In Raymund Fernandez's last column, 'Guerilla Art,' I learned that, 'Tugpo,' . . . 'seems to have disappeared.'

Reading further, I realized that the hows, whys and wherefores of that seeming disappearance does not interest him. At least not as far as to share them with us. I suspect it is less a matter of reticence as a simple resolve that the intensity of this personal matter be accepted at face value.

While I have my opinion on how art is not just a personal matter, especially one that was very public, even if it did find itself in the no man's land of the public space subject to what amounts to the whim of a private owner – free speech, for example, is not constitutionally guaranteed in malls -- and one that I believed started to show the way towards public art that was neither heroic nor hagiographic, I respect Raymund's reasons for refusing to address this disappearance head-on.

In this light, this will be a remembering of that 'disappeared' sculpture. An epitaph, if you will.

I remember how upon seeing it for the first time I observed to Raymund that it was a fitting sculpture for a private company who has always prided itself in not being simply in the business of business but more so of the championing of local culture as an exemplary way of doing business.

As was and is our habit after more than three decades of continuing friendship and collaboration we immediately got into the thick of discussion. That time about public art in the city, its absence largely, and how the Arts Council of Cebu together with Ayala Center Cebu might finally provide the ground for its robust flowering in a public art garden no less.

We even launched into the stratosphere of artistic fantasy sharing what additional sculptures we would plant in this garden. As fantasies go these were definitely beyond the grip of gravity or what was practically possible in a city whose idea or affinity for the arts were rather basic and the willingness to spend for it was static; at almost zero.

The sculpture, though not in the most prominent area of the mall, was fittingly situated where people could promenade, sit down on the grass and enjoy the little of the clean and green space in the city. It was unobtrusive and one could almost bump into it especially as the day darkened since this was not lit.

Soon, as I would personally observe, it also became a favorite picture taking prop as it did provide for a variety of posing arrangements with the more adventurous photographers having a field day with its many visual and planar dimensions.

At the most immediate dimension, 'Tugpo' resonated with everything that was fun in the summer. It was a celebration of carefree innocence unmediated by technology and its exorbitant costs.

More than that, however, 'Tugpo' was the launching of a public sculpture that was without affectation or pretensions at greatness or holiness or even exemplariness.

Technically, as well, it introduced hammered copper into the vocabulary of the local art scene.

It also launched the pioneering foray of the Arts Council of Cebu into the visual and plastic arts where before they were firmly if exclusively limited to the performing arts. This changed, for the better, regard for it by many artists, myself included, leading to very fruitful collaborations.

So, Tugpo was many launchings. Not the least of which is itself into what I hope will be an even better appreciation of public art. Thus, Tugpo cannot disappear. Tugpo has not disappeared. It has simply and finally flown away. It has become what it was meant to be. A kite turning into one of Elton John's skyline pigeons; at rest in flight.

Like Raymund himself, Tugpo personified. He has launched and is continuing to launch experimental art - these days performance art, where rest and flight are a circular continuum into being, becoming and remembering.

11.13.08 kulturnatib

Biere de Saint Michel
Quebec is the Canadian province that takes language seriously. Very seriously. It has been said that Quebec is more French than the French. While the rest of the world, for example, is amenable enough to using 'computer' no matter what language they speak and appropriating it accordingly, in Quebec it has to be 'ordinateur.'

As part of this seriousness with language, product labeling are required by law to be in both English and French. This goes as well with names of businesses though implementation has been less than strict. Thus, Kentucky Fried Chicken, for example, also has to be PFK or Poulet Frit Kentucky.

Having worked at packaging design in a country a similar law was in effect, I am familiar with the difficulties this present. Although having prepared materials provided to us and our main concerns were designing these in a visually appealing and effective way, I was aware that the two language requirement immediately doubled the chances of mistakes.

Many of us are familiar with or have been victims of China-made products whose accompanying labels or assembly and operating manuals run from the simply funny to the dangerously wrong. I once bought a computer table that made me wonder if a rocket assembly manual had mistakenly found its way into the box.

Last week I had the opportunity to see how one of our favorite products will fare in this bilingual territory.

I had a performance art piece that included a message in the bottle routine. Since the message or the messages were about global warming and rising sea levels and how the Philippines being an archipelago will surely be affected I decided that for maximum impact these had to be contained in bottles from the Philippines.

I knew that such bottles were available here. I had seen them before. What I wasn't sure was whether they were really going to be bottled in the Philippines or in Hong Kong or Spain. I had also seen such bottles from previous travels.

To my most pleasant surprise they were indeed bottled in the Philippines. This was the 'aha' moment that convinced me that I was going in the right direction with this piece.

Since the bottles had to be empty to accommodate the notes with the messages, I proceeded to empty them upon arriving home. In the best way I knew how.

This also provided me the opportunity for label and language checking. Checking my progress with the language, it turned out, that is. I had to spot where the translation had tripped.

I passed my test. I spotted all the mistakes.

The first one was easy. Premium Lager is translated into Lager Premiere, meaning first beer which does not technically translate into premium. The correct translation would be Lager de Premiere Classe.

The next two mistakes were grammatical. A matter of verbs in French called the Passe Compose. A matter of an additional e at the end of the verb, which for the most part is preceded by an accented e.

And this after a whole sentence describing flavor is not translated at all.

So, a barely passing grade for San Miguel Beer.

But, since flavor needs no translation, SMB still gets my thumbs up. Unfortunately, the translation that is most understood here is not French but Econospeak and in this language Premium Lager translates into expensive.

SMB is clearly not your hockey night drinking companion.

Still, as I was collecting the bottles after my performance piece I could only retrieve one of the the four I released. Clearly the bottles attracted some interest. Someone admitted to encouraging somebody else to keep what he said was a classic collectible.

It is often counseled not to shoot the messenger if the message is not good news. In this case the advise wasn't just not to shoot the messenger, but better: keep it.