At the beginning of Tad Ermitano’s talk he showed an image of a Jackson Pollock painting and associated it to his understanding of the city. The chaos and the disorder were all too familiar for us. As architecture students, we have been made aware of the parallels of an abstract brush stroke to the dynamism of Metro Manila. But much like my appreciation for Pollock’s paintings, I believe that, Manila, underneath all that layer of randomness is a form of “organized chaos.”
The artwork was named “Gillages”, a portmanteau word composed of “gilid” (which means border or edge) and village. It is used to represent the Philippine population who lives at the edge of Manila’s gated villages, a phenomenon that is apparent throughout Metro Manila. This population, as explained in the talk, has built informal settlements around these compounds because of the nature of their work. These people have been the backbone of these villages- from security guards, gardeners, house maids etc.- as they found it to be convenient and practical to live in proximity to their jobs.
The sculpture, made of scrap building materials like wood, metal, plastic etc. very much resembles the modern art movement “arte povera” which literally translates to “poor art.” Attached to it are a number of screens showing video clips of Filipinos from the “Gillages” building and using this trolley-like means of transportation to transverse these gigantic infrastructures in cities. Bridges and railway tracks that was originally meant for metro train systems has bred this ingenious new form of transportation, man-powered and made by the very materials found in the sculptures. The phenomenon that is the “Gillages” is not only present on gated communities but also around city infrastructure.
Although sometimes art has been labeled only for the rich it is this type of art that expand the boundaries of the medium. The very question on whether this should be taken artistically or politically is only secondary to what it meant for the viewer. Art, or modern art at the least is more about the subjectivity of the artwork rather than the subject itself. In my opinion, the very purpose of this piece is to spark interest, emotion and a conversation. Through my own experience of seeing the evolution of our cities, learning the reasoning behind it and understanding our part to play, I must say that it has served its purpose. Although it touches a sensitive matter of poverty in the Philippines, something that has been a “trendy” topic of interest of both in art and film, this has shed light on something that is not a completely image of hopelessness. This piece is more about the ingenuity of the Filipinos rather than just a reflection of their everyday struggle, straying away from the trend of “poverty porn.” In the everyday life of the underprivileged, they have found means to adapt to their environment in ways that a spectator cannot fully understand.
In the midst of all the chaos of urban life, people have this natural ability to survive, discovering and creating news ways to work with what we have and what this means to me as an architecture student is that, not all is hopeless. I used to think that the only way to remedy our cities is to start from scratch. The unrealistic nature of this often leads me to a black hole of despair and inability. But upon the many ways the Filipino has found a way to cope- from building their own settlements to provide a life for their family to making their own means of transportation. Maybe we could too, especially coming from a place of privilege. I have realized that instead of treating this as a problem maybe we, as designers can find a way to build a foundation on it, after all it is in our nature to adapt. It is our duty first to understand these conditions, making artworks like these more important than ever. We must understand that before acting one must understand to avoid creating something that is completely alien to a context. It is only through this way that we can encourage “negentropy.”
In what I thought is just randomness and entropy we have found a chaotic form of order. Much like a Jackson Pollock painting, our cities are made up of layers and layers of “organized chaos” you just have to look closer.
Decrypt design 