Outside in / inside out contemporary Philippine art: Observing,artists,artworks,scenes and markets

Abstract

This paper explores the contemporary art landscape of the Philippines, mapping its multiplicity across local terrains and within definitions of regionality and the art market. It discusses the ruptures that have caused this landscape to shift intermittently, spawning new networks and value structures that are less defined by the frame of ‘nation-based identity’ favoured in the past, and instead locates difference within the experimentation, historiographies, and pace of this contemporary ‘art scene’. It highlights flashpoints and uses case studies across the last five years in particular to illustrate that Philippine artists, art scenes and art markets are highly reflective of cross-civilizational cultural flows, alert to global trends and of their own currency within regional markets. This paper does not seek to provide a comprehensive overview but rather draws a map of some potent changes and significant players in this contemporary landscape.