Design of the times

There must be some truth to the assertion that if you want to know what the future will look like, just take a peek into the hard drives of young multimedia artists, graphic designers and visual artists. Or if you’re lucky and an entire class of them is putting up their works on display, works that otherwise might be possessively guarded or shared in secrecy with a select few until they’re good and ready to be broadcast in a public space, make sure to drop by.

At the two-day, pre-Christmas multimedia arts exhibit called “Unwind,” held last Dec. 17 at the Ronac Art Center, a new arty landmark along Ortigas Avenue, the works of JR Manulid, George Domingo, RA Bautista, Edward Almeda, John Noel Martir, Martin Siojo Sitoy, Peach Mercader, John Renz Cahilig, Beanca Valeriano, Alezza Buenviaje, Aaron Aguba, Alex Zamora, Katia Benassi, RC Beltran, Marcell King, Johanna Sotto, Alexis Alberi Asad, Ericson Ardy Oreiro, Carlo Velasquez, Maku Felix, and Jed Revita — members of the graduating multimedia arts class of the College of Saint Benilde — gave audiences a preview of what we can expect on the visual front.

The setting lent the portfolio show some poetic resonance. To get to the exhibit space at the Ronac Art Center, a new building inspired by a Japanese aesthetic, you enter a shop called Start Fresh, a boutique that sells, among others, tabletop sculpture pieces by contemporary Japanese artists. The entire building design strays from the usual representations of Asian minimalist and opts instead to experiment with the other pillars of Japanese design: sometimes whimsical, often innovative, always interesting.

After February this year, during which the exhibiting class will step out of the university bubble and into the real world, these young designers will infuse their own fresh perspectives into the fray — in various fields from photography, to graphic design in various platforms, to installation art.

The viewing room for video works at Ronac Art Center page of the Manado Post

Fresh, in this case, easily translates to brave and bold steps in various directions, often the defining trait of young guns armed with the right technical skills. It’s also the trait that’s always welcome in the arts, something that fuels movement and change. And while most of the works displayed an evident technical adeptness, the most striking general features of the entire show were the flair for drama and a sense of playfulness drawing from a wide spectrum of influences — traditional two-dimensional art, fashion, animation, graphic novels, contemporary design, current political events, music — from around the world. This is, after all, a generation raised with the privilege of full access to almost everything in the world (thanks, Internet). It’s a generation that’s been made fully aware of what’s been done and what’s currently being done out there, but that everything and anything is still possible. And thankfully, if the show is any indication, it’s a generation that’s rising to the challenge.

Ironically, despite the electric creative energy in the air, the show bore the rather laidback title of “Unwind,” with a matching wall featuring one work by each artist made specifically for the show to visually reinforce the theme. “These works represent what we do to relax, when we’re not working hard on our theses,” says Martin Siojo Sitoy, a member of the class who was nice enough to be guide to the evening’s show. “Even when we play, we still create, because for us creating is play.”

Interactive works

Each of the works in the title wall featured a common element, that of a windup key, interpreted in the different ways each artist winds down. In one drawing, done exclusively on Photoshop, the key appeared on the back of a woman’s head with earphones plugged into her ears. The reason? Music, jammed into her ears to block off the outside world, is how the artist loosens up, recharges, and takes a break from work.

Remember how they say that work, when it’s extremely fun, ceases to be just work? It bodes well then, for the world of multimedia arts, that this is a generation that derives happiness from what they do.