Brave Hearts

Given the general perception that they’re stuffy, formal, elitist institutions governed by rules of silence and strict decorum and run by people who take a moral high ground, it’s an inescapable fact that museums don’t rate high in this country’s radar of public consciousness. When a good segment of the population is concerned about how to put food on the table, it’s hard to expect people to also think of paintings and sculptures, or national identity. What passes as art and culture for your average man on the street has more to do with Darna and Dolphy than Luna and Amorsolo. More would identify the latter two as streets, with nary a glimmer of recognition as to who the street was named after, or the accomplishments of that person.

While in more developed countries, private museums can engage in tacit competition, vying for audience share and "coups" in terms of what exhibit they get to mount, the inevitable reality here is that it’s much more productive to forge a "Museum Peace" (pun intended). What began last year as a consortium of three–the Ayala Museum, the Lopez Memorial Museum and the Ateneo Art Gallery–has now expanded to four with the inclusion of the Museo Pambata, and it augurs well for the future of arts and culture institutions in this country that the cooperation and peer collegiality fostered by this kind of linkage can be so successful.

This year’s collaborative exhibition is called Zero In: Skin Surface Essence. It covers a considerable scope of cultural interests, attempting to give the visitors a better understanding of what is the skin-surface-essence of being a Filipino, whether in the past, present or future. To get beyond the official mission statement and better understand what it’s all about, I spent an afternoon with Nina Capistrano-Baker, director of the Ayala Museum; Cedie Lopez Vargas and Yeyey Cruz from the Lopez Museum; Richie Lerma of the Ateneo Gallery and Nina Lim Yuson, president of Museo Pambata.

Ayala’s Nina Baker begins by explaining, "We were searching for an over-arching theme, one that would encompass the objectives of our bonding together, and yet would draw from our respective strengths. The concept of Skin, Surface and Essence provided that, and we put it all together with the title of Zero In. At the Ayala Museum, the exhibition deals with Palitada, which literally refers to the ‘skin’ of the Church, its lime plaster. It’s a collection of bricks, roughly-cut river stones and blown-up photos highlighting the variety of materials and technologies used in Fil-Hispanic churches built before 1898."

Cedie Vargas continues, "At the Lopez Museum, it’s a showcase of expatriate Filipino artists who, in exile, possessed memories of home that appear in landscapes that are abstractions, fantasy or romanticized. Called Essence and Sympathies, we have the works of masters such as Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, as well as contemporary expatriates such as Pacita Abad, Federico Alcuaz, Juvenal Sanso, Macario Vitalis and Fernando Zobel."

"At the Ateneo, we pursued that same thread of the Filipino expatriate artist, mounting a retrospective exhibition of the late Paris-based modernist Nena Saguil. Entitled Landscapes and Inscapes, they exhibit the landscapes of the mind, the illuminations that Nena Saguil herself referred to as ‘inscapes’," Richie Lerma explains. "We’re featuring more than 60 artworks, some of which have never before been seen in public."

Newest member of the consortium Museo Pambata has an ongoing exhibit called Skinteractives. Nina Yuson elaborates, "It’s a unique, hands-on experience on the skin and surfaces. It aims to stimulate and satisfy children’s natural curiosity as they discover something more than the surface of the skin. Although our presentation will already carry the most literal adaptation of the project, our interactive approach will challenge children to take a closer look and encourage a more reflective view of the skin and its implications."

While it is encouraging to see that despite it being a fledging concept, the consortium has, in its second year, already borne fruit in terms of cooperation and enthusiasm among the parties concerned, the question of whether this has translated to invigorated public interest still hangs. What are the reality checks for these well-meaning personages?

Cedie avers, "The challenge is there; it’s how to raise consciousness of our endeavors along a broad cross-section. We can’t just accept the cliché that our circle of activities is merely sosyal or elitist. We can state that it’s about pride in being Filipino, but to whom are we addressing that and is the message getting across?"

Ayala’s Baker agrees. "While searching for audiences at different levels of society and seeking financial aid from corporations and individuals, we’re constantly striking a balance between conceptualizing exhibits that can bring these audiences in, while not alienating the hard-core patrons who sometimes see any populist move as a form of ‘selling out’. It’s not easy, and that balancing act is foremost in our minds."

Attendance figures would indicate that there is still much to be done in that area. The Ayala Museum gets up to 40,000 visitors a year, a number of them coming in tour groups or as group outings from high schools and colleges. The Ateneo Gallery gets around 3,500; while supported by the Ateneo community, the drawback is that it does not get many visitors from outside, as they may have the wrong impression that the gallery is closed to the public. The Lopez Museum has around 3,000 visitors, while the Museo Pambata, thanks largely to the school groups that regularly troop through its halls, clocks in with 160,000 guests.

"It can get frustrating at times, that feeling that we’re operating in some vacuum," Ateneo’s Richie laments. "For all the effort we put into staging these exhibits with the limited resources we’re granted, obviously, the proof of success is the number of people who get to see it, those who enthuse about it to their friends and convince them to visit, or come back themselves because they feel they’ve been enriched by the experience."

"At Museo Pambata our parameters are more clearly defined. You won’t find paintings on our walls. As the whole thrust of our experience is hands-on and interactive, no one will lend us their paintings, or we can’t handle the insurance required!" Nina laughs. "But we are building on that next generation, to make them see museum going as an enjoyable, non-intimidating experience. That’s very important to us, to translate traditional paintings for the child’s mind and appreciation."

And perhaps this brings home a point about the education of the public at large. Museums are not a monolithic one-dimensional bloc. All over the world, the name of the game is specialization. Museo Pambata is classified under the museum type Early Childhood Education. Other types include those that specialize in Fine Arts, Arts and Crafts, Natural History or Science and Technology. There are also museums that are a combination of different types, like the Singapore Science Museum, which is both Science and Technology, and Early Childhood.

It would seem that formalized cooperation and interaction between the Department of Tourism and the museums in our country are in order. All over the world, major cities stake part of their reputation on the cultural institutions that are to be found there. The Louvre in Paris, the Prado in Madrid and, if traveling with children, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the Natural History Museum in London... these are must-sees in any tourist’s itinerary. You visit a country as a tourist, and it’s institutions such as these that provide immediate localized cultural appreciation.

With the holiday season fast approaching, I played a game, asking the four, with their museum hats on, what would be foremost on their wish list.

For Cedie and Yeyey of the Lopez Museum, it was sustained financial support and upgraded archival technology. This was for their collection of rare books, the likes of which can only be found at the Lopez Museum.

Richie dreams of more space, as more than 500 original works of art cannot be exhibited due to space constraints. He also sought continued support from his principals in the Ateneo community, and was practically on his knees, dreaming of "a full staff". The gallery presently employs three persons.

Immediately, all the other three teased Nina Baker about how "more space" would be the last on her list this year, as the new Ayala Museum on the corner of Makati Avenue and de la Rosa St. opens next year. Smiling but undeterred, Nina wishes for continued generous sponsorships and a loyal audience base.

For Nina Yuson, her list consists of one item: a permanent home for the Museo Pambata. At the time of the interview, what would happen to them was still up in the air. Presently located at the old Elk’s Club Building beside the US Embassy on Roxas Blvd., they occupy the site through the kindness of the City of Manila. Their lease expires December of 2003.

Relevance and identity–two buzzwords that institutions such as museums have to contend with on a daily basis. Maybe part of the problem actually lies with us, the public–our apathy, our disinterest. I’m not proud to admit it, but while my kids have been to the Museo Pambata on school outings, I’ve never taken the time to bring them there myself. It’s high time we take the initiative to recognize and appreciate the unflagging efforts of the people behind museums such as these four.

Let’s do our bit to make the wishes of the two Ninas, Cedie and Richie come true.