Comeback when You are Famous
“Comeback when you are famous,” is a line attributed to the period that have been experienced by borrowed from Late 1990s saw the growth of Manila art market particularly in commercial areas. While this provided a more lucrative source of income to established artists, it had disenfranchised younger and more experimental artists.
Artist run spaces became spaces of enablement as if filled the gap created by the art. It also is a testament that younger generation of artists in Manila, learn from older generations. Artists who organized their own space in the late 1990s to early 2000s are mostly university students who have had heard of the lessons of self-organisation from their mentors.
Surrounded by Water and Big Sky Mind were artists’ run spaces founded by student-artists from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts. They too were known to have been students of Prof. Roberto Chabet, who was known for his mentoring students, especially in applying conceptual and experimental thinking in their art making.
Mag:Net was co-owned and managed by painter Rock Drilon. It has a café, magazine store and a gallery. Although it was registered as a business enterprise, Mag:Net served a similar purpose as BSM and SBW, providing venue for artists that commercial platforms do not want to accommodate. It served as home for regular performances in early 2000s, including, but not limited to sound art.
Green Papaya Arts Project (GP) is the longest running artist run-space/ collective in Metro Manila. GP is important by providing a physical venue for different projects initiated by other artists, as well as initiating projects that they themselves conceived.
These spaces/ collectives were managed by artists, some even student-artists, and featured works by their classmates and friends. They have devised activities that will generate income despite only big enough to sustain their spaces. In effect, at the time when these artists-run spaces were at their peak, artists were like living in a house where there are no parents to tell you what to do or what you cannot do—making this period all too exciting as it is challenging to sustain.