Artists explore neutrality in a world filled with biases

MANILA, Philippines – Paris-based photographer Alex Villaluz is holding an exhibit at the Provenance Gallery of Shangri-la Bonifacio Global City, in collaboration with performance artist Julie Marie Monsted and visual artist Wire Tuazon.

Entitled “Neutral,” the exhibit provokes questions about achieving neutrality at a time when minds have become flooded with information from an ever-increasing number of sources.

Villaluz explains the theme of the exhibit:

As humans we are prone to feel and absorb what is happening around us. We live in a time where we witness many extreme actions. We get caught in the frenzy of the news, advertising, social media, the entertainment industry, and are all harnessed by the fast access to information and communication. These information sources in our sights and fingertips bring us all closer and yet isolate us.

We are forced to act in an accelerated, global world.

Can a neutral state of mind be a free zone where we can breathe, be free of the constant pace, or is neutrality an extreme that leaves us with nothing but indifference?

From a philosophical standpoint, the choice to  be neutral is not neutral. But does neutrality even exist then? Throughout our investigation of the concept, we doubted neutrality as possible for humans opposite science where there are clear definitions of the theme. In humanity, there will always be bias based on personal interests and motivations.

We want to explore neutrality apart from scientific explanations and definitions. Neutrality in social application and theory defies logic and definition; a conundrum of sorts and therefore, we decided to take on this subject via multimedia; photography, 3D scans, video installation, performance, and collages.

Since neutral is such an overt perception which varies in definition and accuracy, we interpreted it in a physical, concealed, and visual manner. It is an exploration of the body, its movement and its limitations, with an obsessive recurrence. We opted to use various media to illustrate (in)coherence and to explore the breakdown of its many facets and to add dimension to its natural order. The synthesis of all the media brings it as one unified piece in discord and disharmony. The result is anything but neutral.

We employ the concept, neutral, and its meaning. We hide behind a neutral facade. Obsessively centered around one person, we develop a disorder. The installation goes around as a loop where the videos set the rhythm with an audio-visual interplay of hypnotic repeats in contrast to the forward-going life. Different screens will set the tone of the whole exhibition as metronomes out of sync.

The audio will repeat constantly therefore instilling the lines in the viewer’s head like a mantra filling them with emptiness.

Villaluz studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He was born in Japan and spent his formative years in Angono, Rizal, where his parents hail from.

“Neutral” will run until April 1. – Rappler.com