Art Weekend at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar
Bellas Artes Projects (BAP) is pleased to announce an Art Weekend experience, highlighting Bellas Artes Projects’s residency and exhibition program at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bagac, Bataan.
Bellas Artes Projects: Art Weekend is a two-day celebration of our exhibition opening in Bataan and serves as a continuation of Bruce Conner: Out of Body at Bellas Artes Outpost.
Inspired by an out of body experience the artist had at the age of eleven, the exhibition considers strands of Eastern and Western spirituality in across the artist’s work in the way that it attempts to break away from the chains of physical existence and into a space of timeless consciousness.
“I went into a state of consciousness which I couldn’t describe afterwards. I changed. I changed physically, I changed conceptually, and it took hundreds of years. I changed and grew old, through all kinds of experiences, in worlds of totally different dimensions…There were so many things that were unknown secrets, that adult society knew, that they didn’t let children know about. I thought this was one of them”
Bruce Conner (1933-2008) was one of the most prominent American artists of the postwar era and a key figure of the San Francisco Beat scene in the late 1950s. Conner is known for his surrealist sculptures such as Child (1959) and Looking Glass (1964) and innovative avant-garde films, alluding to themes of postwar American society. Conner was a multimedia artist, creating hybrids of painting and sculpture, film and performance, drawing and printing, including bodies of works on paper utilizing drawing and collage. In filmmaking, Conner developed a quick-cut method of editing, combining found and new footage. His films such as A Movie (1958) and Crossroads (1976) have become pillars of American experimental cinema.
The Art Weekend itinerary consists of a screening of Conner's masterpiece, CROSSROADS (1976), a thirty-six minute film comprised of secondhand footage of the first nuclear weapons tests conducted at Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946 (Code name: Operation Crossroads). By splicing and manipulating the footage, Conner's mesmerizing rendition blurs the line between horror and pure, unadulterated beauty. Audiences will be able to view the film in Las Casas Church, and delve into the theme of war more profoundly since the Bataan Death March took place not far off from the unfinished church. From March 3rd to June 3rd, CROSSROADS will be screened during the weekends from 7:00 pm to 9:00pm, reminding us of the precarity of our existence and the need to foster positive energy to bring peace for ourselves and for the environment.
Bruce Conner was known as a proto-punk provocateur, a staple of the 1970s local punk scene in San Francisco. For that reason, we invite the public to fully experience the angst-driven energy Conner captured of this community. Following the screening, BAP is holding the concert, Mabuhay Gardens: A Tribute to the Mab, at Casa Binan featuring Sandwich and Hilera. Conner was a well-known habitué of the Filipino supper club and discovered the subjects of his photography at the notorious venue.
Numerous early punk and new wave bands performed at the lounge, such as the Angry Samoans, Dead Kennedys, Iggy Pop, and The Ramones to name a few. Conner immersed himself within the dusky scene, photographing the loud, highly creative moment of punk history at Mabuhay Gardens.
Along with Mabuhay Gardens: A Tribute to Mab, tours will be provided. Art Tour will feature artworks from past and current artist residents including Pawel Althamer, Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan, and Cian Dayrit. The Art Tour provides the public a second chance to view these exhibitions originally exhibited at BAP Outpost in addition to a semi-permanent installation by Geraldine Javier.
The Art Weekend Package, attached below, provides attendees with access to the exhibition opening of Bruce Conner: Out of Body, the Mabuhay Gardens buffet dinner and concert, two complimentary drinks, and access to tours. Attendees will experience a myriad of opportunities to engross themselves within the art and history Las Casas Filipinas has to offer. the official schedule of events is provided below, as well.
If interested, please e-mail us at info@bellasartesprojects.org and we will connect you with the reservations department of Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar.
FOR INQUIRIES AND MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US AT INFO@BELLASARTESPROJECTS.ORG.