Urban Modifications by Rai Cruz

Seize The Daze

Photography has always been embroiled in the question of impropriety: what is it that you seize, that you catch in a frozen frame, other than what is expected, if not what is obvious? 

Living within social media the discussion has become more complex, where the photography of daily life is about the creation of a perfected self, one defined by objects and moments deemed unique, or special. This is of course a delusion in itself, where the task of capture is about engaging a public via likes | shares | hashtags – asserting a relationship between one experience and another, effectively dissolving the specificity of experience into the creation of a virtual community.

If social media is the medium through which this crisis has been revealed, it is urbanity that cradles this disconnect between normalized (over-)shared experience and photography as individual expression. Contemporary urban development has created a financially mobile and technologically adept sector that lives this contradiction, oblivious to its toxic by-product: the dishonest re-presentation of individual lives and the creation of community premised on unstable commonality.

The task of capture is now not only improper. Photography of the everyday has become an act of boorishness, a vulgar display of one’s life in pictures. Imbued with new meaning and functionality by the one taking photos and the community that (dis-)agrees, the photographic subject is systematically decontextualized and necessarily disrespected.

Urban Modifications interrogates this state of affairs, revealing what these photographed objects ultimately become. Tourist attractions (tarsier, the eagle, the maya bird), everyday objects (a piggy bank, the lucky cat Maneki Neko, a camera, a gun) and subjects (a cat, the heart), and food (a hamburger, isaw on a stick, a mango) are exposed as nothing but disjointed parts. The artist’s signature wayward eye, nuts and bolts, innards and entrails, plants and flowers recreate these non-photographs, where all that is left of an object is its shape.

The critique is clear: the personal social media gallery is made up not of images that do justice to living, but of chaotic assemblages that reveal urbanity’s remains. This is what we use to define “us.” This is who we are. 

Welcome to this city, where we seize the daze. 

-- Katrina Stuart Santiago, May 2015.

Jeremyville in Manila

Jeremyville is a New York based artist with an Architecture degree from Sydney University. He has done collaborations with Nike, Mercedes, LeSportsac, MTV, Disney, Swatch, Diesel, Adidas and recently Uniqlo.

Aside from showcasing his work in numerous galleries around the world, Jeremyviile has exhibited at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburg, La Casa Encendida Museum in Madrid, the Madre Museum in Napoli, Colette in Paris, Cappellini in NYC, the 798 Arts District in Beijing, and is in many private collections around the world. Steven Heller, Editor at the New York Times, selected Jeremyville for his book 100 Best Illustrators in the world, by Taschen.

Sa Mata Ng Ating Kamalayan by Dennis Bato

Ang pisikal na kaaunyuan ng mga bagay na unang yumayakap sa ating pang-unawa ay napakalaking salik sa kung paano natin tignan ang lahat sa ating paligid, mga tao, mga bagay at higit sa lahat, kung pano tayo mamumuhay batay sa antas ng pamantayan na sumasaklaw sa ating lipunan.

Ang ilusyon na ating ginagalawan ay inilalatag sa atin ng panahon tulad na lamang ng palaisipang tumatakbo sa isipan ng mga tao, ang kinamulatang pamantayan na isa sa mga unang inuusig ng ating pang matang kamalayan.ano ba ang estetika o kagandahan? Nakakadagdag ba ito sa importansya ng isang bagay o tao? Sino ba ang nagdidikta nito? ang ating utak ba o nakakaapekto ang mga taong nakapalibot sa atin? mga artistang napapanuod natin sa telebisyon? Mga makabagong siyensyang kasangkapan na nakikita natin sa mga malalaking lathalaan sa kalsada? Mga usong kasuotan na nakikita natin sa "Internet"?

Ang sumusukob na maskara sa ating pagkatao ang unang nakikita ng mga mata ng mga nakapaligid, ang pisikal na kaanyuan na nagbibigay ng panguna’t huling hatol ng tao sa ating pagkatao. Ang mga tao ay likas na mapanghusga sa biswal na aspeto o kaanyuan dahil ito ang isa sa unang nahahagip ng ating pandama, inuunahan ng ating mga isipan ang pagbasa sa katangian ng mga ito base sa una nating nakita.

Ang indibidwal na persepsyon ng tao ang nagbibigay ng halaga sa mga nakikita nito, ang pagkakaiba-iba sa pagunawa ng tao ang sumasalamin sa interpretasyon ng importansya ng mga bagay bagay. Tayo ang nagbibigay ng paliwanag sa pangkabuohan na aspeto ngunit tayo lang din ang may hawak sa kung paano natin ipapakita sa ibang tao ang kahalagahan ng mga bagay sa paraan kung paano natin gusto nila maunawaan ito, sa pamamagitan ng pagbukas ng ating mga isipan, ang susi sa mata ng ating kamalayan.

“Sa mata n gating kamalayan” (In the eyes of our consciousness) question the invisible boundaries which our eyes and minds set base on what the typical society portray. The artist showcased 2d paintings given a different dimension with the use of stereoscopic 3d lenses to view the final imagery.