'Kulo': Did media pit artists against the faithful?
11-Aug-11, 8:20 PM Carlos H. Conde, InterAksyon.com
MANILA – Did media’s coverage of the controversial art exhibit of religious icons at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, which has since been shut down by the government, contribute to the firestorm that is now consuming the country’s art community?
This question came to the fore at Thursday’s press conference held by artists and art educators at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, with one speaker in the panel, Karen Ocampo-Flores, singling out a report by the ABS-CBN current affairs program “XXX” as having set the tone of the ensuing controversy that forced even President Benigno S. Aquino III and his administration to step in and urged the CCP, the country so-called “sanctuary of the arts,” to be more circumspect the next time it chooses artworks to be exhibited.
According to Flores, who resigned on Wednesday as a member of the board of directors and head of the visual arts department of the CCP that organized the exhibit, they had had disagreements within the CCP about “Poleteismo,” the art installation included in the exhibit Kulo that has scandalized many Filipinos, particularly the conservatives and the Catholic Church.
“There were complications within the CCP,” Flores said, when asked by InterAksyon.com if her department had prepared for the worst even before the controversy erupted. “What prevailed from within was the pressure to immediately remove” the installation, Flores said, referring to “Poleteismo” by Mideo Cruz, a multi-awarded artist whom the CCP recognized in 2003 as one of the country’s best “13 artists” and whose previous work had been exhibited in other venues here and abroad.
It came to a point that, as Flores admitted during the press conference on Thursday, “there are indications that (something) from within (the CCP) led to the ‘XXX’ report.”
In that report, which was aired on July 18, a woman complained to “XXX” about Cruz’s installation that, according to her, so offended her that she cried when she saw it. In “XXX,” reporters or producers use hidden cameras to capture illegal or controversial acts. It used a hidden camera for its report on the exhibit, giving the impression to the viewer - unintended or not - that the exhibit was a seedy, clandestine activity.
It largely featured the complaint of the woman and the tirades of former Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who described “Poleteismo” as “sick and sickening,” and Etta Rosales, the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, who described it as the “product of a troubled mind.”
It had an audio interview with Mideo Cruz that lasted for a few seconds, as well as an interview with Flores who emphasized the need to educate the public about the arts so they can better appreciate works like “Poleteismo.”
The “XXX” report also made it seem that Cruz’s work was the only artwork featured in the exhibit when, in fact, Kulo also had the work of 31 other artists, all of them recognized in their own right, not just by the CCP.
But what offended Flores and the other artists about the “XXX” report was not only the allegedly sensationalized manner in which it was put together, but also the premise to the report - that the exhibit was ultimately about the controversial Reproductive Health Bill.
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