UP Diliman Arts and Culture Festival 2021 commemorates 50th year of Diliman Commune

This is a press release from the UP Diliman Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts.

This year’s UP Diliman Arts and Culture Festival takes place from February to April 2021 with the theme ‘Engkwentro.’

The Festival commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Diliman Commune, and the 5th centenary of the Triumph at the Battle of Mactan and of the Christianization of the Philippines. 

The Diliman Commune was an uprising led by students, faculty, and workers in protest of the increase in oil prices on February 1971.

Meanwhile, the commemoration of the Battle of Mactan celebrates not the death of Magellan, but the resistance of Filipinos against invaders.

In light of these historic convergences, the University has an extensive lineup of activities that recognize how these encounters are bottomless pools for dialogues, further studies, and interrogations in relation to the culture, the arts, and the identity of the Filipino people. 

The Festival’s activities are a call to the public to reflect on the cultural and material exchanges that were born out of these critical junctures of world history.

These historical turning points remain relevant as these sustain a lively and thriving intellectual discourse among researchers, the academe, and the public.

The following are the different project components for this year’s UPD Arts and Culture Festival:

• Barikada Singkwenta: Pagpupugay at Paggunita (a late afternoon vigil) | February 1, 5:30 pm
• ENGKWENTRO: Sa(la)ysay ng Diliman Commune (A Virtual Exhibition) | February 1, 7:00 pm
• enKWENTrO: Mga Kwento ng Enkwentro (A Public Art Installation Project) | February 1, 7:00 pm
• Talastasan sa Kasaysayan: Serye ng mga Webinar | February 2 – April 23
• Kwentong Mulat: The Diliman Commune Virtual Pasyal | February 9-28
• Saysay ng Salaysay: Paggunita sa Pagtatagpo ng Puwersa at Pamayanan | February 17 – April 14
• The Boxer Codex Reimagined: A Re-Reviewing and Re-Creating of the Illustrations of Filipinos in the Codex through Digitally Generated Images | February 26
• Obras Arquitectonicas en el Ultramar: Arquitectura Mestiza and the Built Environment in the Philippines | Online Exhibition: March 5, webinar: March 5-26 (every Friday)
• Of Crosses and Culture: An Anthropological Look at 500 Years of Christianity in the Philippines | March 10, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
• PAGDIRIWANG 2: Christianity and Popular Deviotion – An Online International Conference on Folklore and Heritage | March 17-18
• Sabang: Early Southeast Asian-European Intercultural Encounters (An Online Conference) | March 18-20, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
• The 2^nd Consuelo J.Paz Lecture: A Thumbnail Sketch of Philippine Linguistics during the Spanish Colonial Period by Dr. Arwin Vibar (An online Lecture) | March 19, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
• Tugon: Community Reflects on Historical Moments | April 26
• Narratives of Sea: History, Science, Explorations | April 28, 3:00 pm

For more information, contact the UP Diliman Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA) at 981-8500 local 2659 or 2660, or like the official Facebook page of UPD OICA. – Rappler.com