One Spin Cycle

Impressions on the one-night-only group exhibition “Spin-Cycle”.

Away from the typical white-cube setting a group exhibition, Spin-cycle was held in an intimate space — a house inside Magallanes Village. The unusual affair drew curious guests to wander inside a space that worked hand-in-hand with the context of the exhibition.

Exhibition curator Arianna Mercado of Kiat Kiat projects had long envisioned an exhibition inside a house. This particularity with its venue stems from Kiat Kiat Project’s manifesto, which leans toward projects that focus on decentralization and non-white cube spaces.

The exhibition was borne out Mercado and Yuji de Torres learning of a 1998 exhibition curated by Roberto Chabet. It was aptly titled in Asia Art Archives records as “Magallanes Exhibit”, which was also held inside Magallanes Village.

According to Mercado “the idea of throwing an exhibit in Magallanes sounded exciting and funny because it was 1998 and spin cycle was 2018 so it’s like a 20th anniversary in a way. So we toyed around with the idea of remaking the exhibit or like paying tribute, so to speak. In regards to our exhibit, we thought around the idea of “recreation”

For Spin Cycle, they settled for a house that belonged to a family friend of Mercado’s, one of several houses they considered for the exhibition. Given the timing that the house would be uninhabited and also up for sale, which w their main considerations in pulling off the exhibition.

The artists: Lesley-Anne Cao, Pat Kay, Itos Ledesma, Neo Maestro, Margarita Mina, Katherine Nuñez, Sara Rivera, Gerome Soriano, and Dominic Zinampan each presented a work that accorded to their interpretation of the word “recreation”.

Utilizing only the ground floor and backyard space of the house the artists toyed with the meaning of recreation. An eerily haunting piece by Neo Maestro was minimal, making use of a light bulb and a mirror conspicuously placed inside a dim room, this was accompanied by a text montage of encounters with the unknown. His use of light inside a dark room recreated the vibe of a haunted space. Dominic Zinampan’s piece was digital recreation of the house on sims 3 where the exhibition took place. Its uncanny resemblance furthered the meaning of recreation as a process of re-enactment. ​

A tongue-in-cheek piece by Pat kay was set inside the common restroom on the ground floor. Inside the toilet bowl was hooked to amplifiers with the intention of it being interacted with. When in use, the sound of water hitting the ceramic bowl would be amplified for others to hear. In Pay Kay’s context, it was made to recreate the sound of a satisfying release of a dump plopping into a bowl.

One work (which the writer failed to identify) is a stack of cards on a large brown table next to the buffet table. It is with instructions that tell the reader to take one. The card reads “This has happened before and will happen again.” possibly a hint that we may see another non-white cube exhibition by Kiat Kiat projects in the near future.

Spin Cycle is the first exhibition of Kiat Kiat projects.

More photos on www.instagram.com/kiatkiatprojects

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This text was originally published on October 1, 2018 on artplus.ph