Lirio Salvador
Publiko, Intermidya, Elemento, E.X.I.S.T., and Espasyo Siningdikato
Lirio Salvador studied Fine Arts from Technological University of the Philippines in 1985, the same time when early Pinoy punk (the local version of punk in Manila) was at its height with university students as its major followers. It was also during his college days when he first encountered research about Joseph Beuys, Marcel Duchamp, Luigi Russolo, John Cage, and Yoko Ono, among others.
He formed the punk band Publiko (late 1980s), together with Mike Resurreccion on vocals, Ed Astilla on drums, Reinnier Villagonzago on guitar, and himself on bass, p-trap, television, electric drill, and typewriter.
When Publiko disbanded in 1994, Lirio organised Intermidya, a group that combined noise musicians and visual artists from students of fine arts. What the group did to perform was that their noise musicians started playing while their visual artists were painting or doing murals. At that time, Lirio was also in the process of developing sandata (translation: weapon), an assemblage made of different metals and electronic circuits, which also serves as a music/sounding/noising instrument. To date, Salvador’s sandata are being used by sound practitioners in Manila.
Intermidya disbanded in 1996 and in the same year, another group, Elemento, was organised by Lirio. Similar to Intermidya, Elemento recognises the interlinking of different forms and media, of visual arts and music. Elemento, however, is more progressive in its stance as it accommodates all else, other forms, other media in the spirit of creation or creating art. Elemento became the name for sound practitioners who, coming from Cavite, are participating in sound events in Manila. From this group came, Jonjie Ayson, Erick Calilan, Kris Deuda, Cris Garcimo, Kaloy Olavides, Jon Romero, Gilbert Sanchez, Richard John Tuason, and others, who are among the most active sound practitioners at present.
In 2002, Experimentation in Sound Art Tradition (E.X.I.S.T.) was co-organised with Toshiyuki Seido, a Japanese noise/sound artist and instrument builder, who is married to a Filipina. Seido met Lirio in 1994 in an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, which pays homage to National Artists. Salvador’s work, a reaction to Maceda’s composition, was part of that exhibit. This started the friendship between the two. This friendship culminated in the launch of E.X.I.S.T. as a sound art exhibition and performance, which involved Elemento, in a place called Club Sound Experience in Makati City. An album CD that featured Elemento and Transitory Form (another experimental group) was also launched during this time. In 2005, when they launched the second sound art exhibition, a larger number of practitioners joined, which resulted to the organisation of E.X.I.S.T. as a sound art collective or a loose organisation for sound artists and musicians. E.X.I.S.T. co-existed with Elemento, attending to almost the same events, working like a twin organisation or circle, with Lirio and Seido as their parent artists.
In 2009, a small store fronting National Highway, was converted into an alternative art space, it was called Espasyo Siningdikato. Curiously, Salvador recounted that Siningdikato, a compound word from sining (art) and -dikato (from sindikato or syndicate), was another step towards the fulfilment of his ambition to build an “empire”. By this, he meant a community of people from different backgrounds who are working on creative projects, including artists, carpenter, plumber, janitor, anybody. The space was managed by artists from Elemento/E.X.I.S.T. They had a series of programs, from exhibiting 100 artists to doing outreach art programs with the local government, and hosting events in the nationwide-celebrated February Arts Month.
Lirio met a vehicular accident on New Year’s Day of 2011. The accident rendered him physically and mentally incapable to function as a normal adult up to this day. The group continued running the space until late 2011. Elemento remains a performing sound group, making them the second oldest group (next to Children of Cathode Ray) in the sound practitioners’ community in Manila.
