[Ilonggo Notes] VIVA ExCon 2023 and Antique: The time is right

VIVA ExCon Antique. To the average Rappler reader, perhaps these three words will vaguely be recognized, but to the Philippine arts community, and to those interested in local history, these words generate anticipation and excitement.

Antique, one of four provinces of Panay Island, occupies its western part, facing the Sulu Sea. According to the Maragtas legend, the area is where fleeing Bornean datus, their families, and forces settled and established communities centuries before the Spanish came, bartering the lowlands from the Negrito natives, who moved upland. Their descendants spread far and wide throughout the Visayan archipelago, heavily influencing present day culture, tradition, and languages.    

However, the mountainous regions, lack of roads and good harbors, and relative inaccessibility have hindered Antique’s economic progress. Compared to neighbors Iloilo, Aklan, and Capiz, it has a higher percentage of families living in poverty, and for decades has been known as a major source of seasonal farm workers and sugarcane plantation sakadas.   

Antique ‘s rugged terrain made it difficult for the Spanish colonizers to subjugate the highland peoples, who offered stiff resistance to colonial policies of onerous taxation and forced labor. The highlands also sheltered indigenous spiritual leaders – babaylan – who had several deadly clashes with the friars in the 18th-19th centuries. A vibrant and distinct culture of the upland people (the Panay Bukidnon) flourishes to this day, with their characteristic woven patterns, chants, dances, as well as methods of agricultural cultivation.  

Antique is also home to the Kinaray-a speaking population; it is believed that today’s Ilonggo, or Hiligaynon, language is largely derived from Kinaray-a, with many words “softened” by Chinese influences, and the inability to pronounce “r,” substituting the “l” in its place. Antique may also be the only Philippine province whose name has been derived from an animal – in this case, a type of ant, called Hamtic, which has a fearful sting. Indeed, the plaza of Hamtik town, the oldest town in the province and a former provincial capital, features the ants on an arch in the town plaza.

Antique’s tourism potentials are untapped and not as widely known as those of its neighbors – Boracay and the Kalibo Ati-Atihan, or Iloilo’s old churches, museums, and Dinagyang. But for those who love nature, Antique has an abundance. These include hillside and island resorts, hiking and mountain trails (the highest peak on the island, Mount Madia-as, is in Antique), clean and pristine beaches, newly discovered rice terraces, exotic blooms like the Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world, the kawa experience in Tibiao, the cleanest river in the country (Malumpati in Pandan), and Barangay Aningalan, San Remigio town, known as “Little Baguio,” to name some of the more popular ones.

VIVA ExCon

The VIVA ExCon (Visayas Visual Artists Exhibition and Conference) is the longest running biennale in the country.  First organized in 1990 by the Black Artists of Asia (BAA) collective – Nunelucio “Nune” Alvarado, Dennis Ascalon, Charlie Co, and Norberto “Peewee” Roldan – VIVA ExCon was conceptualized to “showcase contemporary works of visual arts from the islands, to promote visual art forms reflective of the islands’ cultural influences, historical traditions, and current social situations, aside from encouraging innovative, experimental, or collaborative works among Visayan visual artists (VIVA ExCon Folio, 1990).”

The conference component provides a platform for discussions and exchanges on artistic developments and trends, gives an opportunity for analyses of academic, art, and social theories while contextualizing for a better understanding of various aspects of contemporary art practices. Since then, provinces and cities all over the Visayas, from Bacolod to Dumaguete, Cebu to Samar, Tagbilaran to Iloilo, Roxas City to Dumaguete, have hosted the biennale; it went online in 2020, owing to COVID-19.

Being out of the country for many years, I had never heard of the biennale; its name recalled that of a film production company. In 2017 while on an early morning walk, I noticed that large murals had been painted on several blank walls and installations put up along the Esplanade. Turns out these were products of the 14th ExCon, held in Iloilo in 2016. It became a catalyst for more street art and murals, contributing to the revitalization and popularization of visual arts in the city, taking it beyond the occasional exhibits at the Museo Iloilo. Many of the murals are maintained up to today, particularly in the Atria and Muelle Loney areas.

The 17th iteration of VIVA ExCon will be held in San Jose de Buenavista (the capital), and Sibalom town in Antique from November 8-10 this year. This is the first time that the 33-year-old biennale will be held in Antique, and will feature 45 local and international artists. The AVAA, or the Antique Visual Artists Association, together with the local government of San Jose de Buenavista is the main proponent and organizer, with artistic and curatorial management handled by Green Papaya Art Projects. 

The 2023 theme, “Suba sa Iraya,” literally means “going against the current.” AVAA has likened VIVA ExCon to a pebble in a pond, the ripples of which disturb – and energize a still and placid surface. Not that Antique is bereft of known artists – several major figures in contemporary art hail from Antique – the National Artist for painting Jerry Elizalde Navarro, watercolorist Fernando Catague, and Edsel Moscoso. Luminaries of Kinaray-a literature include: Palanca awardees Genevieve Asenjo, John Iremil Teodoro, and Alex de los Santos. The first Filipino photographer, Felix Laureano, was born in Antique and spent his childhood in Bugasong town. Artisan weavers are in Bugasong, and Sibalom has a village known for its clay pottery. The current ExCon logo is patterned from a native patadyong (tube skirt), similar to the sarongs and malongs of southern Philippines, but with a characteristic interlacing weave; the bugasong pattern has the jasmine flower or pinili design, as represented in the logo. 

Festival Director Bryan Liao of San Jose, Antique, an artist whose main works are in wood, and who also runs the artist space Studio Mano in San Jose, notes that the program will feature epic chants and dance by members of the Panay Bukidnon indigenous community, public performances, outdoor installations, curated art exhibits, school projects, lectures, and discussions. VIVA ExCon 17th’s institutional partners include the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Office of Senator Loren Legarda, Provincial Government of Antique, Office of Congressman AA Legarda, Local Government of San Jose de Buenavista, University of Antique, Goethe Institut-Philippines, Japan Foundation-Manila, Mercedes Zobel, and the Outlook Pointe Foundation. 

In a warm show of solidarity, regional artists banded together to organize fundraising events for this year’s ExCon: “Punong sa Ilawod,” on view at the Museo Iloilo, while “Gibwangan: A collateral show by Antiqueño artists for VIVA ExCon Antique” was held at SM City Iloilo. Proceeds will support the ExCon.  The allusions to water flow, currents, ponds, and estuaries in Suba sa Iraya, Punong sa Ilawod, and Gibwangan are obvious, and also pay homage to the topography and lifeblood of the province – 13 of 16 towns are coastal, and several major rivers bisect it. The works on sale are a varied mix of colors, textures and forms – ranging from sketches in pen and ink, to watercolors, oils, mixed media, found objects and even string art – spanning realism, abstracts, Impressionist pastels, and pop art.

San Jose de Buenavista is still a laid-back and sedate town capital, where most people go about on tricycles. Its plaza is sadly better known for a shocking killing – a charismatic, awarded former governor chased and shot down with impunity by assassins in early 1986; it is now known as the Evelio B. Javier Freedom Park, in his honor. In the past few years the ports, transport terminals, and markets have been relocated and improved, and the airport upgraded. A two-kilometer-long esplanade has been completed in Barangay San Pedro. This provides Antiqueños with a sea wall, protection against erosion, and a fantastic view of the sunset; it is now a popular promenade spot. The former provincial capitol has been converted into a museum, and several artist spaces with cafes have opened. 

VIVA ExCon comes at exactly the right time, and hopefully will provide a needed spark to ignite, rekindle, and perhaps inflame, more creative pursuits in the province and its people.  

For more information and to register for the conference, send an email here, or check this Facebook page. – Rappler.com

Vic Salas is a physician and public health specialist by training, and now retired from international consulting work. He is back in Iloilo City, where he spent his first quarter century.