"Art is everywhere-from the simplest designed objects we use, to the

spaces and structures we inhabit.

Art enriches our lives with meanings that we often overlook.
Art responds to our human desire to experience beauty and explore the
unknown.
We shape art.
Art shapes our being.
Art makes us human."
OBJECTIVE:
1. Define Contemporary Art
2. Discuss the nature of Contemporary Art
3. Identify and discuss the characteristics of contemporary art
4. Discuss contemporary art in the Philippines
5. Discuss the aspects of contemporary art as seen in the selected
artworks
6. Explain the use of contemporary art
subheading
 "Art is everywhere-from the simplest designed objects we use, to the
spaces and structures we inhabit.
Art enriches our lives with meanings that we often overlook.
Art responds to our human desire to experience beauty and explore the
unknown.
We shape art.
Art shapes our being.
Art makes us human."
WHAT IS ART?
➢ is something that is created
with imagination and skill and
that is beautiful or that
expresses
important ideas or feelings.
POWER OF CANONS AND ELITIST BELIEF
SYSTEMS

CANONS DETERMINE ART'S VALUE AND WORTH, REFLECTING

ELITIST BELIEF SYSTEMS.
QUESTIONS HIGHLIGHT CANONS' ROLE IN REINFORCING
HIERARCHIES.
CERTAIN INSTITUTIONS AND ARTISTS REJECTING THESE
TRADITIONAL CANONS
these artworks are considered as
"masterpiece"
For non- urban regions of our country, these are not considered as
" masterpiece "in the Western Perspective.
 Philippine Art and Canons: Unanswered Questions

Non-urban Philippine art evaluated using Western criteria.

Absence of recognition for artists like potters and traditional
crafters.
Cultural artifacts like Maranao okir excluded from art history.
Stigmatization of comic books and telenovelas as "low"
entertainment.
 TODAY'S CLASS

OBJECTIVE NO.1: DEFINE

CONTEMPORARY ART
WHAT TO EXPECT
What is Contemporary Art?
Contemporary art generally refers to art being created now.
It is the catch-all phrase ascribed to the art of recent times and of today.
“Contemporary” is derived from the Latin prefix con, which means “together” or
“with,” plus tempus, which means “time.”
Contemporary art feeds on new technologies, which offer diferent and new ways
of conceptualizing, producing, and displaying art.
 Since the 1990s, there are two main applications
of this term in the discourse of art.
1. The chronological view
-defines contemporary art as art related to this current period in art
history
-refers to art that is new, recent, modern, or pertains to the present moment.
-defines contemporary art as “art produced in our era or lifetime.

2. The historical usage

-contemporary art as a specific episode or stage in the story of the evolution
of art
- referring to a specific location in space and time
-establishes a timeline in which works of art belong to a particular historical
period
 Contemporary art is often
considered to be synonymous to “postmodern art.”

Postmodernism, however, is more of an attitude

and style prevalent during the contemporary period
and is considered a form of contemporary art.
 TODAY'S CLASS

OBJECTIVE NO. 2: DISCUSS

THE NATURE OF
CONTEMPORARY ART
WHAT TO EXPECT
 Art produced after 1945.

in Euro-American history, when after

World War II there was a shift of political,
cultural, and economic power from Europe
to the United States which marked the end
of European colonialism. However, most
art historians now consider this reference
to be outdated.
Art produced since the
1960s. This is the one most
commonly used by art
critics due to the
emergence at this time of a
new generation of artists
who were overturning the
Modernist practice.
 CONTEMPORARY ART: A
MODERNIST LEGACY
Contemporary art is a legacy of modernism.
Born in the twentieth century, modernism is a radical break from tradition.
From technology and design, to fashion and sexuality, everything was
changing at a dazzling pace.
Speed was central to this era. Assembly-line production quickened the pace of
life.
The speed of communication increased; everything seemed to be going faster.
A kind of design democracy became apparent and, for the first time, ordinary
people had access to this new, glamorous, modern world that felt and looked
different.
 MODERN ART
- refers to art theory and practice, predominantly in Western
Europe and North America, from the 1860s to the late 1960s
— the period is characterized by significant social, cultural,
technological, and political developments in the western
world. Industrialization, urbanization, new technology, the
rise of the middle class, the secularization of society, and
the emergence of a consumer culture resulted in new
conditions where art was created, exhibited, discussed, and
collected.
 TODAY'S CLASS

OBJECTIVE NO.3: DISCUSS

CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE
PHILIPPINES
WHAT TO EXPECT
▪ Ferdinand Marcos –
Martial Law (is the imposition of direct military
control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil
law by A government, especially in response to A
temporary emergency where civil forces are
overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Anchored
his vision of cultural and artistic renewal to the
images of the pre-colonial Philippine society.
Marcos exercised control over print media, radio,
television, and the arts through various presidential
decrees.
Established a network of cultural and art in stitutions
governed by his wife IMELDA Philippine art
EMERGED IN REACTION TO SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
REALITIES DURING 1970S
❑ ERA OF REPRESSION AND CENSORSHIP OF
ARTISTICXPRESSION
 The political art of SOCIAL REALISM
flourished at this time: Social Realism – is an
art movement which sought to expose the
real condition of the Philippine society and
used art to transform it.

Progressive Art (visual

arts, music, theater,
dance or literature in
manila and countryside
developed a culture
that would convey the
authentic aspirations of
the Filipino People
❑ END MARTIAL LAW -> WAKE OF EDSA PEOPLE POWER REVOLUTION IN 1986
BROUGHT THE Philippines into the contemporary period
Art produced was regarded as contemporary art
✓3 factors that led the emergence of the contemporary art in the Philippines
1. Return of democracy under the Aquino government
2. Improve economic and political environment in the country particularly in the region
3. The advent of new technologies and free access to media

Free expression was gained by the people

 TODAY'S CLASS

OBJECTIVE NO.3: DISCUSS CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE

OBJECTIVE 4. IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTEMPORARY ART

OBJECTIVE 5. DISCUSS THE ASPECTS OF CONTEMPORARY

ART AS SEEN IN THE SELECTED ARTWORKS
WHAT TO EXPECT
 CONTEMPORARY ART AS
BREAKING OF NORMS
Contemporary art is plural, diverse, and whimsical
Discipline-based classification of arts
Artists now freely mix media, or they may practice a medium with a long lineage in an
unconventional way,
Artists utilize their experiences and interest in a myriad of issues in the society,
drawing inspirations, and themes from an expanding range of practices and
disciplines
Contemporary art –not only celebrates the beauty of the final form and technical
achievement in the manipulation of the medium but also focuses on how the work
infused with meaning bye engaging viewers with timely social issues4
Works are energized and supported by historical or archival research, scientific
inquiry, engineering, politics, and anthropology, among other pursuits and methods
APPROPRIATION
An important
preoccupation in the
world of contemporary art
.It is the practice of
creating a new work by
taking a pre-existing
image or work from
another context- art
history , media,
advertising- and
combining the borrowed
image with new ones.
SANTIAGO BOSE’S CARNIVORE OF SESSION ROAD

The artist superimposed the image of Ifugao natives

with icons of American fast-food culture to comment
on the allure of the colonial imperialism and how
Filipinos struggle with the effects of colonialism in
their everyday life and gastronomic habits.

A vintage black-and-white photograph of pine trees

serves as the painting ground where pen-and-ink drawings
of Ifugao culture and cut-outs of Baguio’s urban
architecture are placed side by side to create
representation of the City of Pine’s most prominent
thoroughfare (road/street)- THE SESSION ROAD.
At the center of the composition are the 3 Ifugao men
inrubber shoes carrying Colonel sanders, the icon of KFC,
transporting him on their shoulders along the road as they
are accompanied by a full-bodied headless Ronald
McDonald.

The image provokes a commentary on the insidious

(deceiving) effects of American colonialism on the rich
tradition and transformation of the ancestral space which
native Cordilleran's inhabit, steadfastly resisting colonial
rule.But in the process, the natives are seductively lured into
 TIE A STRING AROUND THE WORLD CURATED BY PATRICK
FLORES presented in the Philippine Pavilion at the 56th Venice
\ Art Biennale 2015

Tence Ruiz’s shoal , a boat shaped installation made up of steel

framings wrapped in maroon velvet fabric whose smell and
texture allude to the religious devotion to the Nazareno in
Quiapo, is suggestive of WORLD WAR II vintage BRP Sierra
Madre currently beached at the west Philippine Sea- an
assertion of the country’s territorial stake to several islands in
the vicinity.It seeks to initiate discussions on the history
of the sea and its relationship with the current world, claims
to patrimony , and the struggle of nation-states over a vast
and intensely contested nature.
It locates the Philippines in the world through its deep ties to
ancient cultures, its early achievements in modern art, and the
critical responses of contemporary art to present
predicaments Through the work of artists across generations,
this history is told which Flores describes as “a poetic and
political
reflection on the history of world making, the links between
geography and politics and the notion of nation, territory , and
archipelago.”
❑ Tie A String Around the world revolves around MANUEL
CONDE’s 1950s film Genghis Khan, co-written and designed by
CARLOS FRANCISCO, which was screened at the Venice Film
Festival in 1952.
❑ “ Genghis Khan” - This film narrates the story of the
conqueror's rite of passage from warrior to overlord (ruler) and
ends with Genghis Khan surveying his dominion as he pledged
to his beloved that he would tie a string around the world and
lay it at her feet.
❑ The classic film is a story of how the formation of empires
has strung the islands of the world
❑ Around this premise, the film is positioned in a conversation
with the contemporary art projects of filmmaker Mariano
Montelibano III and intermedia artist Jose Tence Ruiz.
Montelibano’s multi-projection video art refunctions the
sounds and images gathered from a foreshore community in
the Southern Palawan to illustrate survival stories of residents,
and Chinese territorial incursion both by means of physical and
auditory presence with radio frequency
CONTEMPORARY ART AND LOCAL HERITAGE

Contemporary art professes an • Regional heritage may be

awareness of local heritage .
Heritage is something that can be
reverberated in the creation of
passed from one generation to the new art forms by juxtaposing
next, can be conserved or inherited, images of traditions and history
and has historic or cultural value . with the present to couch
These are physical objects and places
of heritage (old buildings, paintings,
contemporary issues, thus,
public , etc. and the various practices of creating a lively dialogue that
heritage (oral traditions, dance , and fosters cross- fertilization
fiestas, etc.) unique to the region or
locality that are conserved or handed
down from one generation to the next
• For example, abandoned heritage structure are given new life through modern inventions of
contemporary architectural approaches like adaptive reuse. In the town of Baclayon Bohol, an old
sabungan or cockpit arena is repurposed to become a community theater in 2015.

Cockfighting or sabong Initiated by the theater director Lutgardo labad, the staging of
Timothy Dacanay’s Teatro Porvenir in the cockpit arena
breathes new life to the dilapidated structure and showcases
experimental and musical theater in Bohol
 This innovation is reminiscent of the transformation of the
Teatro Zorilla from the Raha Sulayman Theater which was
re-designed and the re-structured by Leandro Locsin in
the late 1960s from being a garrison during colonial
Spanish rule

The carabao, which is integral in traditional Central Luzon

agriculture, becomes the focal point of art making in the
Mandala Art Festival held every May since 2012 in Pulilan,
Bulacan.The festival is a gathering of visual artists from all
over Central Luzon and takes off from the tradition of the
carabao kneeling festival, which honors the carabao in a
competition on the making of painted , miniature, papier
mache carabaos , carabao painting, and wall mural painting
CONTEMPORARY ART AS A CRITIQUE OF SOCIETY
Everyday life and the concerns of the day ate also articulated in the
medium of contemporary art, posing questions and critiques of
contemporary society.The growing speed of technology, the transfer of
ideas, capital, information, and culture around the globe provide the
backdrop for the dizzying diversity and rapid transformations in
contemporary art, thereby loosening many of the boundaries and
distinctions within art itself and the crossing over of art forms
Venues for contemporary art are no longer confined within the strict
boundaries of the museums and gallery spaces are carved from existing
public spaces like parks market places or even abandoned buildings
 the Ukay-ukay Dome , an eye-catching temporary patchwork
architecture of used clothing assembled by over a hundred
student volunteers, and installed in the Rose garden of
Burnham Park. Derived from the thriving second-hand clothing
trade or ukay-ukay in Baguio , the tent is marked by the
communal collaboration , whose goal is to connect people and
students and make them interact to produce a work of art

Artist Mark Ramsel Salvatus III collaborated

with the community Barabgay San Jose,San
Vicente, Camarines Norte to create the
installation Salabay using bamboo, abaca, and
found plastics, Salabay is a local term for
Jellyfish, which is also the form adapted for a
series of bell-shaped bamboo forms suspended
by bamboo poles planted on the sand
 Objective No. 6: Explain the use of contemporary
art
1.CONTEMPORARY ART FOR PLEASURE
✓ Art can provide escape from everyday concerns and satisfy the yearning of pleasurable experiences
✓ We need delight, enjoyment, pleasure, and decoration in our lives to elevate our everyday existence
2.CONTEMPORARY ART AS PROFESSION
✓Artist earn a living through their art
✓Art has economic value and gain currency in a network of exchange
3. CONTEMPORARY ART AS COMMENTARY
✓ Art has often been used to answer our need of information
✓ Before the advent of photography in the nineteenth century, artists and illustrators were only source of
information about the visual appearance of anything
✓ By providing a visual account of an event or a person, or by expressing opinion , artists have shaped not
only the way people understand their own world, but also how their culture is viewed by others
 Objective No. 6: Explain the use of contemporary art
4. CONTEMPORARY ART IN SPIRITUALITY
✓ Artists may create art to express spiritual beliefs about the destiny life controlled by the force of higher power
✓ Art produced for this purpose may reinforce the shared beliefs of an individual or a community finding its way
through sacred rituals, places and ceremonies.

5.CONTEMPORARY ART AS REMEMBRANCE

✓ Remembrance is something done as an aid to memory
✓ We all have profound need to commemorate important events and people that have shaped our history and
show reverence for those who have gone before us
✓ Commemoration is sometimes personal, as we each hold memories of events and people important in our lives
6.CONTEMPORARY ART FOR PERSUASION
✓Art that is used to spur political change or modify the behavior and thinking of large groups of people have political
and persuasive functions
✓Government buildings, public monuments, television commercials , and music videos all
harness the power of art to influence action and opinion
7. ART AS SELF EXPRESSION
✓ Art fulfill an expressive function when an artist convey information about his/ her personality, feelings, or
worldwide
✓ Such art becomes a meeting site between artist and viewer, where the viewer feels empathy for the creator and
gain understanding of his/her personality

OTHER FUNCTIONS OF CONTEMPORART ART

✓ 2012 – exhibition “ ART FOR EVERYONE”
✓ Patrick Flores (Curator) concisely described the general characteristics and tendencies of
contemporary art as he explained what it means to be the present and what is art now
✓ He maintained that :
1. Art Now is part of global culture
2. Art Now reflects upon historical conditions that have shaped our present situation
3. Art Now is animated by the busy traffic of images in society
4. Art Now explores a wide range of media, techniques, styles, and technologies.
5. Art Now expresses hope about the future
6. Art Now facilitates interaction among its audience
7. Art Now renews our ties to a changing world
8. Art Now encourages us to be different. To be skeptical or sameness
9. Art Now initiates us to a horizon of chances
7. ART AS SELF EXPRESSION
✓ Art fulfill an expressive function when an artist convey information about his/ her personality, feelings, or
worldwide
✓ Such art becomes a meeting site between artist and viewer, where the viewer feels empathy for the creator and
gain understanding of his/her personality

OTHER FUNCTIONS OF CONTEMPORART ART

✓ 2012 – exhibition “ ART FOR EVERYONE”
✓ Patrick Flores (Curator) concisely described the general characteristics and tendencies of
contemporary art as he explained what it means to be the present and what is art now
✓ He maintained that :
1. Art Now is part of global culture
2. Art Now reflects upon historical conditions that have shaped our present situation
3. Art Now is animated by the busy traffic of images in society
4. Art Now explores a wide range of media, techniques, styles, and technologies.
5. Art Now expresses hope about the future
6. Art Now facilitates interaction among its audience
7. Art Now renews our ties to a changing world
8. Art Now encourages us to be different. To be skeptical or sameness
9. Art Now initiates us to a horizon of chances