“Separate But Inseparable: Mythology and Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome” Exhibition (Seoul, South Korea)

 

The “Separate But Inseparable: Mythology and Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome” Exhibition

Part of Cebu Blue Ocean Academy-sponsored South Korea tour

 

The “Separate But Inseparable: Mythology and Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome” Exhibition, from June 15, 2023 to May 30, 2027, highlights, through the themes of mythology, portraiture, and the afterlife, how the cultures and histories of ancient Greece and Rome became deeply intertwined—separate but inseparable—in a symbiotic relationship that greatly benefited them both.

 

"The World of Mythology" Exhibit

Jointly organized with the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria (which houses a world-renowned collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities), on exhibit are 126 cultural artifacts and artworks, including Portrait of Gaius Julius Caesar estimated to be from between 100 BCE to 100 CE, and a Roman bronze sculpture of Zeus from between the first and second century. 

Check out “Kunsthistorisches Museum” and "National Museum of Korea"

 

Marble sculptures at "The World of Mythology" Exhibit

The “World of Mythology,” the first part, considers the famous myths that originated in Greece and were later adopted by Rome. On showcase are 55 works, including Greek pottery vessels and terracotta lamps decorated with images of the gods, along with large marble sculptures and small bronze statuettes from the Roman era.

 

Gods That Move the World

The displayed items and accompanying audiovisual materials illustrate the unique powers and domains of the most important Greek gods through related stories, while also explaining how and why these myths became so deeply ingrained in the lives of ancient people. 

Gods in Greek and Roman Life

Heroes Born From Gods and Humans

The exhibition also emphasizes how Rome’s embrace of Greek mythology served as the foundation for a shared worldview that has forever linked the two civilizations. Visitors will also learn about the religious nature of ancient mythology and why the gods were depicted in human forms representing absolute beauty.

 

Terracotta oil lamps

"The Human Sphere," the second part, is dedicated to portraiture from the two empires, focusing particularly on portrait sculptures, which uniquely reveal the discrepancies between ancient Greece and Rome while highlighting the mutually beneficial relationship between the two cultures. 

The Roman villa themed "The Human Sphere" Exhibit

The space hosting this part of the exhibition was modeled after a Roman villa, where portrait sculptures were predominantly displayed. At the center of the exhibition, visitors can immerse themselves in the ambiance of ancient Greece and Rome, where they are invited to engage in philosophical conversations about gods, death, and existence, just as the ancient Greeks and Romans did.

 

Roman busts.  At the center is the bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Roman marble sculptures.  The bust of Gaius Julius Caesar  is at the center

"The Empire of Shadows," the third part, examines the ancient Greek and Roman conceptions of the afterlife through tombstone art, a notion that inspired ornate inscriptions and images to be engraved on cremation urns and sarcophagi.

 

"The Empire of Shadows" Exhibit

The exhibition includes simple but informative work descriptions, as well as tactile exhibits and braille signage for visitors with visual impairment and other disabilities.  It also features “My Picks,” a special video which offers new ways for visitors to experience and enjoy the exhibited artworks.  

Minerva/Athena

Bacchus

Here, eight acclaimed leaders from different fields (including a music critic, a physicist, a fashion designer, a priest, and an actor) share their personal perspectives and interpretations of one selected work from the exhibition to help the audience better understand the two civilizations.

 

Beauty is Virtue

“Separate But Inseparable: Mythology and Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome” Exhibition: Ancient Greece and Rome Gallery (Room 311), World Arts Gallery, National Museum of Korea, 137, Seobinggo-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 04383, South Korea. Tel : +82-2-2077-9000.  Open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, 10 AM – 6 PM., Wednesdays and Saturdays, 10 AM – 9 PM. Entry closes 30 minutes before the closing time.  Closed on New Year’s Day, Seollal (Lunar New Year’s Day and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day. Admission free but charges apply for special exhibitions. Website: www.museum.go.kr. Guided tours (in Korean) are conducted three times per day (11 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM). Coordinates: 37°31′26″N 126°58′49″E. 

How to Get There: By subway, take Line 4 or the Gyeongui-Joungang Line (Munsan-Yongmun) to Ichon Station. Go out Exit 2 and walk 150 m. toward Yongsan Family Park. Information on elevator: An elevator is located in the direction of Exit 1 and Exit 2 of Ichon Station. 

Cebu Blue Ocean Academy: Building 5, EGI Hotel and Resort, M.L. Quezon National Highway, Looc, Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu 6015, Philippines.  Tel: (032) 888-9868.  E-mail: pinesbaguio@gmail.com.  Website: www.cebublueocean.com.  Baguio City (Benguet) Sister School: Pines International Academy, Romel Mansion, 3 Ignacio Villamor St., Brgy. Lualhati, Baguio City, Benguet, Philippines. Tel: 1 754-255-9818. E-mail: pinesbaguio@gmail.com. Website: www.pinesacademy.com.

“Ceramics and Cultural Currency: Exchanges of Pottery and Prestige” Exhibit (Ayala Museum, Makati City, Metro Manila)

 

The “Ceramics and Cultural Currency: Exchanges of Pottery and Prestige” Exhibit

The “Ceramics and Cultural Currency: Exchanges of Pottery and Prestige” Exhibit, a permanent exhibit (reopened last August 3, 2022) curated by Kenneth C. Esguerra, Marinella Andrea C. Mina, examines the practical, social, economic, and spiritual values that Filipinos ascribed to these trade wares over a millennium of exchange. 

Blue-and-white dishes recovered from the Calatagan archaelogical site in Batangas

It features a selection, from a long-term loan to Ayala Museum from the Roberto T. Villanueva Collection of Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics, of more than 150 ceramic pieces found in the Philippines.

 

Celadon jars and cups recovered in Butuan, Agusan del Norte

Arguably one of the most comprehensive collections of ceramics found in the Philippines, these  Chinese and Southeast Asian trade ceramics found in the Philippine archipelago, dating as far back as the 11^th century, indicate the active participation of our forefathers in a wide network of inland and inter-island trade and cultural exchange in the region as early as the ninth century.

 

The right side of the exhibit

At both ends of the gallery, I encountered large maps that situate where these objects came from, how they reached the archipelago, and where were they found locally.

 

The left side of the gallery

The left hand displays in the gallery provide a brief introduction to what ceramics are and the variety of material found in the Philippines.

 

Trade jars at the center of the gallery

In the center is a display of a variety of trade jars as well as a scaled reproductions of a parao (111 x 70 x 67 cms.), used by the Tausug and Badjaos to sail from Mindanao to the Visayas, to Luzon and within Southeast Asia, and a casco (100 x 39 x 80 cms.), a type of barge used to carry cargo along lakes and rivers.

 

Model of a casco

The right section of the gallery examines the central question of the exhibition—why are there so many trade ceramics in the Philippines?

 

Model of a parao

“Ceramics and Cultural Currency: Exchanges of Pottery and Prestige” Exhibit: 4/F, Ayala Museum, Makati Ave. cor. De la Rosa St., Greenbelt Park, Makati City 1224.  Mobile number: (0945) 567-4221.  Open Wednesdays-Sundays; 10AM - 6PM.  Email: hello@ayalamuseum.org.  Website: www.ayalamuseum.org.

“Sounds of Blackness" Exhibit (Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Taguig City, Metro Manila)

 

The "Sounds of Blackness" Exhibit

The powerful group exhibition “Sounds of Blackness,” opened last March 14 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila and curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, brings together a diverse group of visual artists from the African Diaspora whose practices articulate a multiplicity of ideas and perspectives through various mediums. 

Check out “Metropolitan Museum of Manila”

 

The "Sounds of Blackness" Exhibit

The exhibition, showcasing artworks that stimulate the senses (similar to how music’s vibratory capacity impacts its listeners), features works evoke expressions of joy, pain, beauty, and the complexities of Black life around the globe, and highlighting a range of styles from emerging to established artists, many of whom will be exhibiting in the Philippines for the first time. 

 

Ancestral Whisper (Wahab Saheed, acrylic, charcoal,
chalk and oil on pastel, 2021)

Draped in Color (David White, mixed velvet tiles, cotton trim, 2021)

Running through June 27, the exhibition includes a carefully selected set of works from the collection of Filipino art patron and enthusiast Timothy Tan plus other pieces from private collectors throughout Asia, offering a holistic perspective and deeper cross-section of both art and artists. Sounds of Blackness also had a walk through, open to the public and free of charge, with Larry Ossei-Mensah himself last March 15, from 11 AM to 12 noon.

 

Beloved Bliss - Big Black Rainbow (Vaughn Spann, polymer paint and
terrycloth on canvas, 2020)

Forthcoming - NYC (Simphiwe Ndzube, oil on canvas and leather, 2021)

The exhibition, inspired by the Grammy Awards-winning and U.S.-based musical ensemble of the same name, aims to stimulate the senses in much the same way that the vibratory capacity of music can impact its listeners. The selection includes paintings, sculptures, a short film on dance and other unique conceptual pieces that pushes the limit of traditional, two-dimensional art. 

 

The Comedian (Nathaniel Mary Quinn, giclee printed
on Hahnemuhle German ecthing, 310 gsm, 2017)

Susan's World (Sesse Elangwe, acrylic on canvas, 2022)

Accompanying the exhibit is a 100-song soundscape (also called “Sounds of Blackness”), celebrating the multiplicity of Black expression and complementing the exhibition’s goal of reflecting and highlighting the depth and breadth of Black creativity, curated by Carolyn “CC” Concepcion of ARTNOIR, a New-York-based global collective.  Closing  the loop between visual art and music, it takes the listener on an auditory journey celebrating the multiplicity of Black expression.

 

Everything We See Hides Another Thing (Hank Willis Thomas, polished bronze, 2020)

Louis XVI, The Sun King (Kehinde Wiley, cast marble dust, powder resin, 2006)

The exhibition was sponsored by Flexiform, Poliform, Sta. Elena Construction& Development Corporation and Ruby Jack’s Steakhouse and Bar.

 

Hello Queen (Izere Antoine, acrylic on canvas, 2022)

Kept Awake (Patrick Eugene, oil on canvas, 2021)

Participating Artists:

• Patrick Alston
• Izere Antoine
• Amoako Boafo
• Kim Dacres
• Delphine Desane
• Sesse Elangwe
• Patrick Eugène
• Ufuoma Essi
• Charles Gaines
• Alex Gardner
• Alteronce Gumby
• Hugh Hayden
• Rashid Johnson
• Tunji Adeniyi-Jones
• Spencer Lewis
• Hugo McCloud
• Simphiwe Ndzube
• Toyin Ojih Odutola
• Nathaniel Mary Quinn
• Wahab Saheed
• Tschabalala Self
• Vaughn Spann
• Hank Willis Thomas
• Bongani Tshabalala
• David “Mr. StarCity” White
• Kehinde Wiley

 

Light on the Path II (Simphiwe Ndzube, acrylic, fabric,
duct tape, resin, shoe and synthetic braids on linen, 2019)

Out of Body (Tschabalal Self, quilted fabric, edition of 30, 2020)

The Ghanaian-American curator Larry Ossei-Mensah, a native of The Bronx a cultural critic and angel investor who uses art as a forum to redefine how we view ourselves and the world, has organized exhibits at global venues like the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Denver, Ben Brown Fine Arts in Hong Kong & London, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), and the 7th Athens Biennale in Athens, Greece (which he co-curated with OSMK Social Club).  

 

Jimmy (Kim Dacres, tires, screws, paint, 2017)

Navient (Hugh Hayden, wooden sculpture, 2021)

He has also organized exhibitions and programs at commercial and nonprofit spaces featuring artists such as Firelei Baez, Steve McQueen, Catherine Opie, Nick Cave, Guadalupe  Maravilla, Ebony G. Patterson, Judy Chicago, Stanley Whitney, to name a few. He has also collaborated on several Web3-related projects with creative minds such as Derrick Adams x Jay-Z, Marco Brambilla, and Mikael Owunna. 

 

Nomad (Toyin Ojih Odutola, charcoal, pastel and pencil on paper, 2016)

Untitled (Spencer Lewis, acrylic, oil, enamel and ink on jute, 2021)

Previously the Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAD) Detroit, he now holds the position of Curator-at-Large at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and curated "Soul of Black Folks," the first solo museum exhibition for Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo, at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in 2021, SanFrancisco, and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in 2022..  During the latter part of 2023, upcoming iterations of the show will be on view at the Seattle Art Museum and Denver Art Museum. 

 

Rumors of War (Patrick Alston, acrylic, enamel, goache, oil,
oil on stick and spray paint sewn on fabric, 2021)

Searching for Kirchner (Alteronce Gumby, glass on panel, 2021)

As a co-founder of the nonprofit ARTNOIR, he is committed to promoting racial equity in the art world by supporting and centering creatives, curators, collectors, and communities of color.

 

Red Scarf and Red Nails (Amoako Boafo, oil on canvas, 2020)

Son (Hugo McCloud, plastic merchandise bags on wood panel, 2020)

Sounds of Blackness: 2/F, South Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Mariano K. Tan Centre, 30th St. cor. 9th Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Metro Manila. Mobile number:: (0917) 160-9667. E-mail: info@metmuseummanila.org. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays (except on public holidays and other special notices). Pre-register a day before your visit. The museum offers free admission on Tuesdays.

“Plazas in the Philippines: Places of Memory, Places of the Heart” Exhibit (Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Taguig City, Metro Manila)

 

The “Plazas in the Philippines: Places of Memory, Places of the Heart” Exhibit

The “Plazas in the Philippines: Places of Memory, Places of the Heart” Exhibit, opened last May 4, 2023 at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, is an ingeniously curated and designed multimedia exhibit on Philippine plazas.  It narrates our contemporary understanding of Urban Heritage in the Philippines harking to this year’s National Heritage Month theme: Heritage: Change and Continuity. Here, award-winning city planner, landscape architect, historian extraordinaire and exhibit curator (among many other hats) Paulo G. Alcazaren highlights a selection of 16 plazas from around the country in celebration of their role as the beating heart of many a town and city. The exhibition runs until June 3, 2023. 

Check out “Metropolitan Museum of Manila”

 

Landscape architect, urban planner and exhibition curator Paulo G. Alcazaren

Paulo packed a wealth of information into a compact space where the unlikely centerpiece is a real basketball half court, representing the modern-day equivalent of the plaza for many Filipino urban dwellers, the type you’ll find in many congested barangays and the de facto plaza today of communities across the land.  The installation, a striking demonstration of the curator’s playful, insightful take on his subject, features several pairs of actual rubber slippers arrayed beneath the backboard, a silent homage to the nation’s countless barefoot players and to our poignant fondness for a tall man’s game.

 

The basket half court

Panoramic black-and-white photos of actual barangay courts, jammed with action (much of it not even basketball-related), illustrate Paulo’s point that these modern-day plazas serve multiple purposes in communities lacking in parks and wide open spaces. Paulo has also been calling out, on social media, the absurdly unpeople-friendly aspects of city life such as the inhumanely steep pedestrian overpass on EDSA nicknamed Mount Kamuning.

 

Basketbol (Emmanuel Garibay, oil on canvas, 1994, the M Collection)

The plazas are featured to show their contexts alongside archival images, interactive artworks, photo collages of Rizal Monuments that form part of the built environment of plazas, and a selection of artworks from The M’s own collection, highlighting the history and trajectory of town and city plazas in the Philippines.

 

Bumnabun (Pablo Baens Santos, oil on canvas, 1997, the M Collection)

Plazas in the Philippines have been central to communal celebrations and other social and political events in over 1,600 towns and cities for hundreds of years. However, it has fallen prey to the pressures of population and economic growth, as well as the attendant consequences of urban densification and commercial real-estate development.

 

L-R: Plaza Roma (Intramuros, Manila) and plazas of the City of Zamboanga and City of Bacolod

As a city planner and landscape architect, Paulo has spent the past 15 years traveling all over the country and taking the opportunity to record the heritage of plazas, their landscapes, and their remaining structures of note.

 

Jose Rizal Monuments in the Philippines

He completed his Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degrees from the University of the Philippines (Diliman) and his Master’s degree in Urban Design from the National University of Singapore. He has taught at the University of the Philippines as well as at the Ateneo de Manila University.

 

Panoramic black-and-white photos of actual barangay courts

Paulo has been a practicing design consultant in planning, urban design and landscape architecture for the last 40 years, with twelve of those spent in Singapore as head of PDAA Design Pte Ltd. He has been principal planner, urban designer or landscape architect in charge of close to two hundred projects in 14 countries and is currently head of PGAA Creative Design, Manila.

 

L-R: Plazas of the cities of Mandaue (Cebu) and Tagbilaran City (Bohol), the municipality of Santa Barbara (Iloilo), Plaza Molo (Iloilo City) and Plaza Libertad (Iloilo City)

PGAA’s portfolio of completed projects in the public realm include the Iloilo Esplanade, the renovation of eight plazas in Iloilo and Pasig City, as well as parks in Manila, Makati, Pasig, San Juan, Quezon City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Singapore.

 

Plaza of the City of Tabaco (Albay)

Paulo is the founder of MADAFAKAS (Metropolitan Alliance for the Development and Fixing of All Kantos and Sidewalks), a faux political party with its own Facebook page.

 

Plaza of the Municipality of Pagsanjan (Laguna)

A co-production of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (The M) and the Filipino Heritage Festival, Inc. (FHFI), it is supported by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts with partners Security Bank Corporation, Business World and DDB Group Philippines.

 

An indispensible drone

Plazas in the Philippines: Places of Memory, Places of the Heart: 3/F, South Gallery A, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Mariano K. Tan Centre, 30th St. cor. 9th Ave., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Metro Manila. Mobile number:: (0917) 160-9667. E-mail: info@metmuseummanila.org. Open Tuesdays to Saturdays (except on public holidays and other special notices). Pre-register a day before your visit. The museum offers free admission on Tuesdays.