s{

t t t \ t T A / Iv ul tr r T a
r T u\ rr ry-rr n Tr t
v

WhenArt is NotEnough
nstus,and
heoddswereaga
theapprehensron
we sensed
felow
evenfromcoleagues,
cLrators,
andart sts whochoseto
Festva
rvorkwithn the Bakawan
theythought
o atform Perhaps
twassheerhubrlsdrivngusto
dosomethng,
ih nkthatwecoLrld
at a i,at theo d studfarm,
anything
1owcampusrecycling
faciity.t
d d seem,at thegetgo,thatwe
r^/ere
to dodiffefent
tlrings,
lookinq
evenif we didcometogether
.n lheprincplethatthenotion

barredfromenterinqthest!d farm
evenf t wasrlghln thepath
already
of wheretheyI ved Byopenlngup
th s silefor al to play n andniake
the'benign
entry
senseofthrough
ponl of art,m ght t tr ggera sh ft on
bolhsldesofthed v de?Woud the
settlersbeabe to seethemseves
beyondtheout ierbengsther
as?
landessstatespantedthem
WoLrld
th s makethem ess nvs ble'?
Andwhatmightthat'v sibiity
s te do?
insnuatedn th s activated

of vafious
cf interdependencies
woud threadoufwork
ecosystems
s corewasu19rng
iogetherBakawan
ngnotjustofthen!mber
a broaden
rf artists
to workwith,blt a so s t fg
,vorksn moTepTomnenlspaces
rn campus,whereas
the off S,lel
out of Sightcuratorlalframework
-adto dowithcontain
nqworktoa
:ertan extentto dealwlthneal-zero
in our
agistcs WhatwasuppeTmost
.lindswasthatthe nformal
settler
:ornmltnt es we wouldbeworkng
.r th to produce
andexperience
:"reworkart sts werehopingto qet

enouqh
faithbehndhowthese
pLrrposes
m ghtactualy
crossed
ntersecttand
sotheartfestivaldid
getupandrunnngbyFebruary
2015,
precisely
Dlman
tlrned
aongsidethe
andNationa
Artsmonlhcelebratons.

ingquestron
:o ng. ThernosttfoLrb
'rr us clrratorswhohadgraduated
"orntheunivers
ty of th-"Phiippnes
.lP)was howcouldthoseiving
:o contiquously
iveoutsLrch
fates?
: scofnecledanddisparate
weTe
wasc earthatihesettlers

h iha

6n.l

c' ^^^.6

rhar.

Mr^c

self-Education
andSteep
LearningCurves
0newoudth fk thecloseto
reao
lwo yearrun !p wasenor_tgn
tmeto sortouttheambtons,grand
or otherwse.Yetth s wasstilfirmy
frar.edwithn thedomain
of ad,
the
so unpred
ctabiity,a ongside
desreto keepthe actvatedspata
ps dynamc
andsociareationsh
inthecharged
zonesofUP's493
hectares(whereapproxmateLy
70000informasettlerfamies)
to be
madeforp anning
thatneeded

t9

orqanzation
leadersandpeople's
headsbeforethewhoe oCRstaff
complement
wastermnated,qrven
the comingon boardof a new
Succeedinq
D limanadminstration.
to the new0CRwere
overtLrres
so in a matterof
metwithsllence,
meetingswlththe 0CRconflrmed
between months,we werebackon a cold
howrealtheestrangement
who
trai. Wemadea astd tch effortto
lskoarsngBayan
UP'svaunted
w th citizen
meetwiththenewViceChancellor
areessenta ly educated
AffairsNestorcastro
for Community
resoLrrces
andtheliteralynearest
ng enougn,
or
wrropfoveoencourag
embodmentof bayan(townsfolk
p
hadbecome.n thepasl andsowe oddedon.lt woud b-"
taongbayan)
t0 saylnat
gateswereliteraLy
rising,
and a malorLrnderstatement
decade,
p
our anto workwithwhatwefound
the on andoffdrlveson stickersand
faclityelciteda
at therecyclng
lDcardsonlydeepened
thefeelng
fromtheflrst
lukewarmreception
wasc osingitself
thatthecampus
w
andteachers
setofstudents
off Prevlo!sUPadmincampaiqns
oLrt
10.0ut ofal thestudent
from
reached
c ampingdownon everything
wewroteandthenmel
organizations
wa lth ckness,
buidinghelght,
theonlyrea lnterest
ingressandegressof constrLrctlon wlth,curiously,
camefromthoseat the Colegeof
materials,
overandaboveh ghly
Noteven
publcized
arlyat
Masscommuncation.
demoitlonsparticu
ofArchitecture
thoseat theColege
madeupthe restol
theArboretum
runnng
we neededto contend withthelogcalthread
the backstories
ATchtectur-"
towad its Landscape
w th.Whlewe hadbeenprepped
pfogram,nora coalitionof student
abouthowv sitsfromanyonefrom
couldbe
orqanlzations
envifonmenta
UPwerelookeduponas preudesto
operations,
therewasst ll no entlcedWewereguessngthattfre
clearing
baloonswere:whatcould
whatwe
thought
form!laic
wayof explaining
aft do n sucha forlornplace?Was
fromallthe
hopedto doas divorced
itjusttoomlch workthatwouldgo
Invoknq
badbloodalreadyfowing.
nowhereanyway?
artspeakcedan y wasnotthetrack
Theplanwasto attemptto
after
totake. Whatareinstallations
and
surface
mutuait esin sPace
flalingeffortsby DAR
al, butthose
census
relatonsWiththecampLrs
to wrestlandIeformedhectares
ngat leasthalfof
farmers in 2010indlcat
from hiredqunsthreatening
werestilempoyees
to giveuplandtransfercertiflcates, thesettlers
it should've
been
ofthe university,
riqht?
helpus
easyenoughto dothat in at least
TheOCR
d d manageto
onespecflc respect presumably,
vislts(to Daang
withseveralsite

flexb e.Wesoughta I es ln the admin

structLrre
andfolrndthenofficeof
Community
Reations(oCR)D rector
ThelmaMancurongandherstaJf
morethan
orqanizefs
of community
wilingto hearusout Theflrstfew

sharedworkcircurnstances
Tubo,PookMain s, Krusna Ligas,
andtwo meettnqs couldbeonestartingpointforthe
andtheArboretum)
Yetwe
hoped for conversations.
witha crosssectionofpook

20

foundquicklyenoughthatth s
nothnqbuta thin
commonalitywas
withantagonlsms
thread puckered
to
between
thosewho managed
getifto thelmitednumberof
on
unts and
campuspublichousing
thosewhomadedowithmakeshlft
housinq
onstill'undeveloped'
land.
Hardputto notseemdismissive
of
thosegut feltanimosities
byforcing
anyoneto maketimefor a proposed

crossedsome
to haveunintentionally
inesof Lrndetected
sensibllties.
Andthentherewastootheintra
co..m!nlty dynamicswhichwe had
nitiallyhopedcomm!nityorganizers
couldhep !s navigate.
N,4onths
aftero!rfrst sltev sits,
we haddecidedwiththeartists
thattheworkwo!ld be imitedto
particLrlar
settlerclusters:CPGarcia
andthe nearbyVillagesA,B,& C,afd
art project,we wracked Krusna Lrgas,
thisberngcontingent
collaboratve
to th nkaround
the
on our beifgableto flndcommunity
ourbrains
rmpasse.onewe I ntentioned
blt
contactswhowoLrld
beresponsive
a so muchcrt quedeffoTtto convene to theworkng plansthe artistswere
workshop-dialogues
thenbegnningto form!ate,elseit
between
wouldbebackto thefiedand/or
university
offlcias andtherangeof
drawing
board.Wehadchosen
to
stakeholders
carneoff half-baked,
workinthestudfarmas it wasatthe
andwhllethephyscaloutput
of the
pointof at leastflve
,vorkshop
ofthe
resilentlyroseby openng
meeting
Afd so,fairy
lay throughmostofthe projectrLrn, settlercommunities.
whohadtakenpart n it
enough,
oneoftheartistsaskedfour
3veryone
<newtherewasmuchrethnkingto
nsistence
onworkng andkeeping
:o aboutcraftingangLrages
and
to th s placeonlyessentialy
keptthe
Todesof engagementthatwere
setterswithintheghettotheywere
-rLrchmorenuanced
to condtionson
n to beginwith.Wetookseriousnote
:1e9roun0,
ofthatandrecaledthatBakawan's
lf fact,for mostof thecomponent cored d askcuratorsto considerhow
:'ojects,thereweresmalv ctoriesas thep!b icsofeachoftheprojects
:lere werebattlescarson allfronts.
m ght interact.
Persuadlng
someof
:aaftfromlteraones(curatorial
theartiststo thinkbeyondthe usual
'submit/instal
artists,childfen
work-thencomeback
::afl volunteefs,
- ckedbyjagged
ped
debrs ors desw
for egress'mode
wasyetanotheT
:_.,wayward
deckers,
af artistgetting challenge
altogether
Wethought
-3sptallzedfromanal ergyp cked
pitching
about
thisideaof makng
,r apparently
fromworknqon s te
.,,rereenzymesandparasites
crtical
:: rherecycingprocessstii ran

thingsfromwhathad ivedouttheir
usenotonlyas a waytorethink
th-"
toutedprecousaspectofart, but
:'.uck), brLrised
splritsneededto
alsobecaLrse
we hopedto activey
particlpaten gettingmoreartiststo
:-: smoothedoverperlodicallyWe
:'coursehadcomeonto a s te that
th nk beyofdthe studioWehedged
-;1, in alLlts
dystopic
ruckus,
itsown aboutbecoming
too hardcore
about
--.,(hmof work. Howevergingerywe managinq
theimmersive
aspectbut
_:d to treadaroLrnd
this,we seemed nowin h ndsght it seemst woud

2l

havebeenat leastonewayto have

keptOffSte going.Thoughat the
t me,projectsweretakingshape,
theart sts werea readyfumbingto
fnd waysto workgivenlhetough
conditonsandtheopenframework
we wereproffernqcuratorialy.
This
remains
a rnanagement
ca lwe have
notflrly resovedto th s day
Whatwe havefounds that
thedaly rigorofworking
onthe
transversal
aspectsof communilybasedart doesnot gettheamount
of p ayit warrants
intheextant
Iterature
andanalysisfearths lack
ofcandoronlyfue
s thefearthat
socally-engag-"d
art s nevitably
nstrumenta
ized.Coaxing
artists
to thinkbeyond
a gallery
set-ups
onethng butbullding
upa senseof
process
ownershipofthe
thatgoes
ntoa rnutifacetedprojectlke off

theshantes.Ganinqsomegoodwil
helpw th thec earing
of mounds
of
trashfromcityhal'scontractor
wasa
plus,butoveral,ltwasstillheyouth
whogameygrabbed
at th-"brooms
andsacksto pushoutyearslf not

decades
ofaccumuateddomestc,
ndustral,humanwaste,
reptian,
an0evencannereTnarns
Io maKe
spacefors!ch renam-od
s tesasthe
CPGarca ga erywherethreaded
sheets
of colageddreamhouses
anda commlntymaprnadeoutof
endemic
banana
leavesthal
setoff
theroomalongwitha ruddytable
and
a coLrch
thatsentasthmasufferers
scampering
Themost ivey holrrsof OffSite/
Outof S ghtweretheafternoons
whenthechidrenweredonew th
ther halfdayof schoolanddL.rring
whichtheywo!ldhavethe
runofthe
Ste/outofSight
wasa muchtoughef place.
Theywouldbefoundreadinq
taskthanweexpected.
Theideaof
at theHonesty
L brary,
runnn9Lrpthe
.fr r6:r arror^li^rl r^ rha rro. .rr .n
havn9st!dentsworkalongs
dethe
artistsin engagngthecommun
upwiththemobiesthey
ty
made,
getting grapplng
wth a tlresw n9rigged
rnembers
al thewaythrough
nstalatlons
rea zedandworkshops upbythearchtecturalcolective
gongseemed
simpe enoLrgh
a
CCLAB,
orwatchngandoccasonaly
jo n ngthedeckers
proposition,
butit didnot prov-.
andbikers
sustainab
e Likemostoftheartsts, whohadbeguntoarrven droves
students
wereoccupedwth many
afterhearinqthatthe
llP 0ltdoor
otheT
course
tequrements
afd could Recreat
onGrouphadsetupa b ke
pLrt
only n imitedholrs Nottoo
tfalandthatanartisthadr.adea
surprs fg y, t wasst llthechidren
rampto beconquered,
alongwith
fromthe informasettersrteswho
wa ls thatcoud bebornbed(withn
remained
moststeadfastandever
fairlyoosetermsofregotiat
ons).
present.t wastheirneghborhood
Whenthenumbers
werehitting
.
r
l
F
,
<
l
a
h
n
.
l
r
a
.
l
n
L'rn^ rhacp
afteral, blttheyalsobroughttothe
y durng
sltea certan regardforthisnonafternoons,
andpartlcr.rlar
p ace,th s dunrpsite
andsometme
weeKenos,
we Deqan
ro ponoeT
newer
problems.Thewordwasgettnq
toietandwashfac ityforthose
not
abe io affordtheusurious,
because outthata publicspacehadopened
bootleg,
waterratesthatoperatedn
Lrp,andrt seemed,
specflcallyfor

22

awayfrom
didnotqoto schoolat all).By
belngchased
indlviduals
spaces. thetimeOffSite/outof Slght
mainstream
theuniversity's
waswinding
up itsfirstsetof
Elder
teensfromcommunities
programmed
worKsnops,
wewere
wehadnothadtheopportunity
gettingprivate
messages
already
withwere
to establshcontacts
asking
that
andemailsfromstudents
overthewldedivlde
crosslng
(whchsetoff to hod bothArtsStudies
and
Avenue
wasCPGarcia
civicWelfare
Training
Servlce
and
KrusnaLigasfromtheVillages
(CWTS)
classes
at thestudfarm,
itself)to
community
theCPGarcla
head-based
to weaveotherwise
checkoutthestabeswhereartists
withlearning
off-gfd.
essons
hadsetuPworks
andorganizations
upon
a vaguely Wewouldalsochance
fromtimecapsules,
ranginq
like
fromotherschools
onquck
students
objecttake
surrealstfo!nd
time
KaayaanColegespending
zones,
fixes,fauxnotrespassing
andpantingwiththeCP
to the ong
drawing
reference
a nostalqic
chlldren.
0rganlzations
structure Garcia
vanished
horses,
a peephole
frornasfarawayas LosBanos
L brary,
an
overooklng
theHonesty
pockmarked approached
oneof o!r volunteers
encosure
thechidren
shone!p byblack to askif theycoulddowriting
wth neonstickers
on site.Also,possibly
workshops
choked
mangrove
light,a plastic
projects
thebestsynergy
between
ngs mirlatlon,
andthejamm
off Site/
by wasstruckbetween
occupied
workshop-gallerystables
Aesthetics
LaborArmy out of SightandtheM ndanao
theWindang
of
consisting
artistscontingent
whocamped
outandsetupofthe
artistsandtheCagayan
Talaandig
headquarters.
siteastemporal
y geared de0roArtsG!ildwhonotony
Whie weweremental
guards
or guides worked
ontwoofthestabes but
upfor nothavlng
a sopropeled
whosepresence
assuch,wea soknewthatth-"
d r ! ms e s s i o ndsa, n c i nagn, da n
ony wayoff site/outof sight
liveperformance
evening-long
couldcrossoverintoa Phase
rightat thefootof thebiketrai.
variant
wasif we
twoor otheT
a surfelt
Therewasindeed
morefullyengaged
community
poignant
who of
andevenhumorous
beyond
thechildren
members
aswhenonechidpicked
welcomed
theopening moments
had nltially
upa student's
bookandstarted
upof spaces
in whchtheycould
art
playandleatn.Theweekend
spoutngnosebleed-inducing
y
eventual
thatran
theoryNevertheless,
workshops
andevents
episodes
wereafoot,
silkvandalism
thegamutof toy-maklng,
paintlng,
beganbullying
the
ing,
andolderteens
storytel
screening,
qang
younger
kidsto yieldspacefor
bookmaking,
music,andopenair
ad!lts
whlletheworkinq
wereclearly
valuable activities,
screenings
howtheywereoccupied
activlties relayed
icebreaker
andcontinuity
and
withearning
theirday'skeep,
forthissubsetof youths(and
thuswouldonlycometoevening
forthosewho
moslespecially

23

g venour
eventswhrcl'lwerespaTse
ighting,
thewiringior
makeshift
to
whichwasrepeated
Y subjected

butto g rd uP,ister
otherrecourse
ntently,
andlearnthe ropes.Clear:!
ihis paliativemodeneedn'tand

theft

cannotbethenorm.

OverourHeads

CaringandCarrying
CapacityandotherNonobjectLessons

downtheIne
Nowfvemonths
slncewep tchedplansforphasetwo,
beingeasedout
andafteressentialy
ofthestudfarm,wecontinuetotake
someharci
thet metoaskourseves
questons.Whatelse
couldhavebeen
a spacew thin
done?Doesreactlvatinq
reatonstake
whch newlyernbodied
Whilest ll
shapecountfor nothing?
onto the deaof
tenLrolsyholdlng
an magnatonof a less
artenablnq
fawedwodd,tcertanlydldnottake
too ong n th s caseto reconfrmthat

andenergy
DldtheUme
betweenart sts andthcF
exchanged
whochoseto
inthecommunities
workwithus constitutea fa rtradet
Th s remalnsthetoughestPolntto
because
Precisely
confrontfor L.rs.
workn th s casewas oLltofsight.
festations
J
thephysicalman
beyond
co labofaton suchas the installaticr-s
we beleveonlya
andworkshops,
moredeepy cu tivatedensung set.i
s. Wh
wouldsurfaceth
structures encounteTs
aftcannotunmakeonelous
attemptsto bringin essinvested
thatgnawattheunwe ecologes
mlndsandvoicesto solicitexternal
likethe
whch Lrnder
ie nstltutions
weremade,thesedldnot
cTitique
nsof
andthebroaderterra
!n versity,
materiaizefor reasonsof disinteres:
thecity,state,andso on
agement.
or othertropesof diseng
of S ght
WhileoffSite/out
ableto share
Weare ndeed,however,
that art andinformal
demonstrated
someofwhatwe'veganedfromthrs
coud bemadefromand
educallon
frst phaseof encounlers.
place,
ild d alsollrm
n a nowhere
ty ot the
Thatthe Univers
upthechalengefor us-artists,
Phiippnesthatiguresn thementai
workers
c!tators,
andcLltuTa
ary ofthechidrenfrom
practice
beyond map,particu
broadened
seekinq
ties,is differently
andtrendy thesecommL.rn
of exhibitions
thedomaln
and
fromwhatstudents
imagined
platforms,
to pick!P
discursive
as UPwasone
teachersfeckoned
in
smartsthatdo notgetPeddled
ofthe starkestlessonsOffS te/
atth s
artnorcuratorialPrograms
0ut ofSightbrouqhtto thefore.
jufcture.Th s shoresuPthe stark
w d scovered
Thiswassomethlng
realzationthatthereare m ts io
dlrringcartripsLnto
unexpectedly
makingdo. Whilethereweretoo
woud
thatthechildren
whenwefet we had thecampus
manyinstances
askus to takethemon Insteadof
gottenoveroLrr
neaosas amateLlr
bu ld nq namesoTco lege
those abbreviated
orqanzersbecause
community
labeLs,
the ch ldrenwouldPointto
whohadthetrainngandmandate
not respond
to mltchmorepersonalyremembered
for t werenotor coLrld
our nvitatonslo helP,therewas no

24

i. :acestheyfolndusefu
fruits
: ,'ls in,a patchwherefree
at which
: - , .e had,thecheckpoint
: : .'l hadtakentheirday'swork
they
.r:reredrecyclables,
Places
precsely
:::: red ikeBacter
a Beach
i::-selnerewasno ronyIna
coud befound
: : I ,ri-rere
coTpses
: :s qoingfora slimyswim,etc.
- _:::
alteTnaTTatves
inscribed
how
::-.lay fe forthesechidrenwer-"
.'aly worldsapanfromthestiI
: : :rrviegedln UPto reckon
asthelr
.
:: /ardandnota distantandflI of
- ; . : : 1 yp o r no T e
:fuenit wasthemostinnocuous
: .cumstances
whichwoud
::luse usofthinking
we knew
_:: to do.MarsBugaoan,one
of

undeniably
uponus. Thisontopot
mountngfearsof beingsubs!medby
greenwashlng
andevenh pstensm
ho^rmo

nr-|.,?

n^

n ra.

tha

framinqof off S te/OutofSightwithin

a festvaltrope
andtherapacious
sefe taknqc imatewhereevenlhe
was
mostabjectofscenography
fairgame,it seemed
c earthatwe
needed
to uplheantebeyond
the
quantness
of a durnpturnedp!b ic
ground.so thequestions
ringoni
Hadwewornoutourwecometoo
soon?Orhadwe not pushedenoLrgh
buttonsto approxmatethechemslry
needed
toturnthetoxic
soupinto
somethngthatcoud ve on despte
ourineptness?

: ;raduateF neArtsstudents
_: signed
EileenLegaspi-Ramirez
s co-curator,
off
onto workona stabe
-:-ghtfulypasted
upphotographs Sile/OulofSitecommunty workshops
-adtakenofthech ldrenasthey
:..1< ro,<.a.in. ^<t. ri^nc

day
:': bu d ngupthespace
:.d dayout.
Whethechldrn
.:.ondedcheerfu
lyto seenqtheir
roorn,
they
:::s (andwork)given
:i dernonstrated
ther prideof place
. ..rnceremonious
y peelngoffther
:iuresfromthewall.becausethese
.::e magesIneyowneo

cag Reflex
Thepaceat whichthesesmallbut
oning
:'iicalmoments
of self-qLrest
::me n successive
sputtsaswel
:a slowcrawls,
buttheonlywayto
bodily
: ishthemwasbyrernaininq
:'esent.Soonenough,
thetoll of
: eanerand
eaneT
complement
r'volunteersandoff offS te tasks
:?achng,qradinq,
wrltng)piing
resoutionwere
-l anddemanding

25