Remix: Santiago Bose is a postmodern retrospective of the late, internationally acclaimed Baguio visual artist and cultural provocateur Santiago Bose.
Visual artist Santiago Bose (1949 – 2002) created many memorable works in mixed media: he was a painter, performance artist, set designer, and installation artist who often used indigenous media in his work. His work communicated a strong sense of folk consciousness and religiosity, and the strength of indigenous cultures amidst the constant barrage of foreign influences. Bose’s work in mixed media and assemblage is also a social commentary on the Philippine aesthetic.
Seven years after his unexpected death, his influence on contemporary Filipino art remains to be recognized. His contributions have been co-opted by modern artists who continue to create in the wake of Bose’s ideas, forms, and ideology across various media. Remix: Santiago Bose is an exhibit born out of the vestiges of Bose’s legacy. The show explores his roots through his biography in self-portraits, and contextualizes his impact on Philippine art through modern takes—or remixes—of his research by more than 50 visual, literary, and multimedia artists. The show is divided into several sections:
- Biography in Self-portraits, featuring select self-portraits of the artist through the years—from his iconic self-portrait on a door at the age of 27 to one of his last paintings where he contemplates his mortality over a cemetery.
- Reinterpreting the Anting-Anting Collection. One of Bose’s last projects was a series of drawings of anting-anting—Filipino amulets or talismans—that he mounted on handmade paper and bound in a book. The drawings—59 in total—were culled from Bose’s research in the 1990s.
- Literary Remix. On display are works of poetry and prose by 30 internationally recognized writers, historians, and cultural purveyors, including Krip Yuson, Jessica Hagedorn, Bino Realuyo, Luis Francia, Howie Severino, and John Silva. Each writer drew literary inspiration from Bose’s anting-anting drawings.
- Multimedia Visual Remix. Also on view are works by renowned artists influenced, mentored, inspired, and challenged by Bose—Alwyn Reamillo, Arnel Agawin, Mark Justiniani, Leonard Aguinaldo, Kawayan de Guia, Jordan Mangosan, Ged Alangui, and John Frank Sabado. The visual artists took three anting-anting drawings and made completely new works that showcased their own artistic statement. The eight artists also collaborated on a contemporary take on Bose’s version of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. Additionally, footage of Bose’s art performances compiled by filmmaker Rica Concepcion will be screened throughout the exhibit.
