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stage design
setting the Philippines in a different light
 When Gino Gonzales won the bronze medal in set design at the World Stage Design (WSD 2005) competition in Toronto, Canada in March 2005, it was a celebration of the vibrancy of Philippine art and culture.
As an inaugural event, WSD 2005 is the first time that Filipinos joined (and won) a global exposition of theatrical light, sound, set, and costume. Of those several Filipinos who participated, only Mr. Gonzales and lighting designer Jay Aranda received the invitation to showcase their works in the ancillary Gallery Exhibition. “To be chosen to exhibit is an honor in itself,” says Mr. Aranda. “To win a medal is the icing on the cake.”
Such quality of participation indicates the vigor of today's theater arts in the Philippines, where theater companies are proliferating in unprecedented numbers and numerous performance venues have opened in recent years, particularly in Manila. These developments feed the high level of cultural interest by the general population, and give space for stage designers to nurture their skill and sensibility.
 WSD 2005 also introduced 19th-century Philippine visual art to a new audience. Mr. Gonzales' winning entry, Spolarium, was inspired by the similarly titled monumental painting by the Filipino painter Juan Luna (1851-1899). The masterpiece, which depicts fallen gladiators being dragged to an unseen pile of corpses in a chamber beneath the Roman arena, won the gold medal at the Exposicion Nacional de Bellas Artes in Spain in 1884. At 4.6 meters by 7.72 meters, it is considered the largest painting in the Philippines.
Posted on 04/15/2005
For further information, visit http://www.wsd2005.com/ |
