Cedie Lopez-Vargas redefines today’s museums

MANILA, Philippines - For someone who runs a museum, Cedie Lopez-Vargas certainly didn’t enjoy visiting them as a child.

“You know what I think it is, when you’re growing up and you’re brought to all these museums when you’re very young and nobody explains things to you and you’re left to fend for yourself, so all you see are just these paintings stuck on the wall and you either like the experience or you don’t,” she explained, “But when you go to institutions that actually take the time to engage their audience that’s when things become relevant.”

That’s why Lopez-Vargas, who serves as executive director of the Lopez Museum, works hard at ensuring that visitors to the museum, especially children and teens, get a fun, interactive experience each time.

Since she took over the museum in 2002, she’s brought in a number of contemporary artists who did their own interpretations of the books and works of art found in the museum. “Our exhibits are always rooted in the collection. We invite contemporary artists to come and have a ‘dialogue’ with the collection. It could be on the photographs, the paintings, or the books,” she says. The resulting work could be a film, a series of paintings or sculpture, an installation, or even a performance piece.

“Everything springs from the collection and links back to it.”

The Lopez family is one of three who have bequeathed their collection to the public through a museum that bears their name. Lopez-Vargas shared that her family, especially her grandfather and his children, saw art as an expression of their feelings or sentiment. Her grandfather, Eugenio Lopez, Sr., founded the museum in 1960, sharing his extensive collection of rare Filipiniana books, manuscripts, maps, archaeological artifacts, and fine art, particularly paintings by Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo. Her father, Oscar Lopez, currently chairman emeritus of Lopez Holdings, told her that the senior Lopez’s collection was born out of his powerful sense of nationalism combined with his passion for books and travel.

Though her family members have since grown the collection throughout the years, she says that the sense of national pride and the celebration of Filipino creativity remain the pervasive themes in all the works found in the museum. The collection now includes paintings by National Artists including Carlos “Botong” Francisco, Vicente Manansala, H.R. Ocampo, Cesar Legaspi, and Arturo Luz. Important artists such as Fernando Zobel, Nena Saguil, Juvenal Sanso, Macario Vitalis, Jose Joya and Romeo Tabuena are also represented in the museum’s ever expanding collection. The museum is equally proud of its largely under-rated pieces from Juan Arellano and Dominador Castañeda.

She says that her father and uncles took turns heading the museum, and each brought their own areas of interest or focus that only enhanced the collection. Eugenio Lopez, Jr., for example, was into the visual arts, while her father, was a keen historian, and was responsible for expanding the museum’s collection of rare books and manuscripts. 

Art in the age of digital

While she remains a staunch guardian of her family’s legacy, it’s obvious that Lopez-Vargas, who was born between the Baby Boomer generation and Gen X, has brought a modern vibrancy to the Lopez Museum by embracing young artists and new art forms, and by using digital and social media to engage with the public.  

The museum regularly holds public lectures, workshops, and even mini concerts, which she believes can help draw in younger people. “For example, there’s a whole new generation of young, classically-trained opera singers and some of them hold their concerts here. We also invited the young, contemporary choreographer, Ea Torrado, to do a lecture here. It was great, her lecture was very kinesthetic, and it was amazing how she was able to get her message across,” she enthuses.

It’s obvious that her work throughout the years has paid off. The museum is never without young folks, millennials who either serve as interns or visit the museum to see the collection or watch the performances. “It’s heartening to see university students responding and engaging with the speakers, and staying on to go around and see the exhibits.”

She observes that millennials are more open to the museum experience than previous generations — hers, in particular. “When I first came into the museum and people would ask me what I did, they would suddenly have this glazed look in their eyes and change the subject,” she laughs, “Nobody knows what to say anymore, because they think what I do is boring.”

She says, however, that in the last six years she’s observed a positive change in the art scene. “There’s a certain dynamism and a new energy in the art and cultural scene. I suppose it has something to do with how information is easily available to everyone through the Internet.”

In this age of self-curated content, Lopez-Vargas has ensured that the Lopez Museum remains a relevant part of the conversation. Last year, the museum hosted the 4th Better Living Through Xeroxography small press expo, where students, writers, artists, e-book publishers could bring their literary works directly to the reading public. “It was so much fun! The students, the young writers, animators, and artists, were all here. There was food and music and the crowd was spilling out into the driveway,” she recalls.   

As a way of bringing art to as many people as possible, Lopez-Vargas regularly promotes the museum through the various family-owned media platforms and via social media. The Lopez Museum is also part of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines along with the Ateneo Art Gallery, Ayala Museum, Bahay Tsinoy, and Museo Pambata to help spread arts and culture around the Philippines. She relates that there is a strong interest in arts in the countryside from students, LGUs, local tourism, and private businesses. They hold workshops and help set up private and community museums.  

“I think there is a realization that museums are no longer static places but community spaces where they can learn and interact through a myriad of activities that are centered around their interests and what’s important to them.”

She reveals that when the Lopezes ventured into community development through Rockwell Land, it was influenced by the family’s love for the arts, and unifying the Rockwell Land communities by “creating a sense that you’re in an art and cultural space”.

For its debut in 1995, Rockwell Land turned an unused thermal power plant into a thriving, self-sustained community, now called Rockwell Center, where each of the residential towers were named after Filipino masters.

In 2012, Rockwell Land embarked on its most ambitious project to date, a residential community where art, design, and lifestyle come together in what is once again, the Lopez family’s architectural tribute to Philippine arts.

The Proscenium At Rockwell is a 3.6 hectare development that will have five residential towers, a retail complex, a performing arts theater that can accommodate 500 guests, and will serve as the new home of the Lopez Museum.                            

New kids on the Block

On the museum’s upcoming move to The Proscenium, she says, “I realize that the community in Rockwell already exists and as the ‘new kids on the block’ the first thing we have to do is understand what the community expects of us and what they want in terms of activities and program offerings.”

However, she is thrilled that the museum will be housed in the same building as the performance theater. “I’m excited to see what sort of collaborations we can do with the performing artists.”   

She’s also looking forward to being neighbors with the 40-piece ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra (ABS-CBN PO), and the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth (OFY), an ensemble featuring underprivileged youth from around the country whose training is supported by the Lopezes. The Proscenium performing arts theater is expected to be the artistic home of the two orchestras. “The OFY would often perform in the museum and so I’m delighted to have them, and the ABS-CBN PO, be our neighbors.”        

At this point, she is committed to engaging the Proscenium community and the larger public and encouraging them to participate in arts and culture. “The museum and promoting arts and culture are my passion projects.”    

But for all her enthusiasm for the museum, she hopes that people won’t feel that art should simply be confined within its walls. She concludes, “Art is found in everyday living, you find it in everyday things you do, and it’s just a matter of appreciating and expressing it.”

It’s a fitting postscript, not just for this amazing lady, but also for what The Proscenium At Rockwell promises.