(conducted by Rikey Cheng; revised by Pin-chieh Chang)
Q1. Where are you from and what language are you used to speak there? Do you live in the urban or suburban ?
Emmanuel L. Villariba (a.k.a. Mannet): As to the place I was from, it used to be considered as a town and very much a rural area before boasting due to its acres of fishponds, leather tanning industry and jewelry manufacturing. And now referred to as the City of Meycauayan (眉考阿炎市), a 1st Class, highly sub-urbanized city in the province of Bulacan (布拉干省), Philippines. The city is located about 19 km north of Manila. Meycauayan City is known for its jewelry and tanning industry. It is also home to several industrial parks. We speak Tagalog as mother language and use English as our secondary language.
Q2. Is there any earlier influence behind your choice of vocation?
V: In my early years, I was mostly influenced by my relatives, my cousins to be exact. One cousin took up architecture, and another took up engineering and they were very good in draftsmanship and artworks. I remember seeing some of their works of buildings and structures in minute details. Somehow it made a mark in my choice of vocation, and I thought I would also end up as an architect when I grow up. But I've never thought of taking up fine arts. As a prerequisite, I took up Drafting Technology which was meant for 2 years, learning how to become an architect’s assistant. But as I was taking this, I felt like being imprisoned in a cube. Because, it was so theoretical and rigid that made me realize it was not the right choice for me. So, I decided to try something more liberal like fine arts. Something more easily adaptable to freedom of expression, like painting or sculpture. But it took me a while to realize that I am bound to end up an artist, using my body as a medium and doing visual performances.
Q3. You mentioned the early influence by your relatives. Dose it mean that you come from the family which has academic background or other succession?
V: To the majority of Filipino people, just like my elder cousins who thought to seek greener pastures abroad after college graduation, to use their degrees to work overseas. The ideology is rather to work on a foreign land than staying in Philippine, for a better life ahead due to a very low standard of living in Philippine. For a Filipino to try and survive in a government like what we have does not reciprocate the hard work of a man or a woman whose aim is to support a family and give them a better life. (This is the reason why you may find a lot of Filipinos working at certain parts of the world like Taiwan or Hong Kong, etc., rather than in his/her country. You may call it a brain drain)And so, because of these circumstances that led my cousins and other relatives choosing to seek job elsewhere which is a general atmosphere in Philippine. After my college graduation, I decided to get a short work experience domestically, and after a few months or a year, further seeking work abroad. One cousin of mine went to an Arab country and practically worked there for 20+ years; he never had the chance to be with his children when they were growing up. These mindset is the very reason that leads Filipinos to end up with broken families. The very reason that ironically made me realize that the previous chosen path I've taken may someday take a toll on me too and pay the high price of losing my family. It is the factor that made me decide to reject architecture and just take whatever I feel fits my character best.
Q4. When does the idea come to you to be an artist, and how do you make it?
V: I graduated from a fine arts school and I majored in painting. I was very active in my student days; in the art scene. Attending exhibition openings, joining art groups and mingling with senior artists. A year or two after graduation, I asked myself, "how am I going to be able to sustain this passion and ideology if I don't have the means to afford these materials that I'll need for my art-making process?" So I decided to go and do corporate work, and I again felt being boxed, I can't move around much because of this corporate life. From one company to another and the other until in 1994 I decided to end my office life to pursue a freelance career. It was also at that time when I became increasingly active in an art band which called Puget Sound and we involved in what was happening with the Seattle music scene at that moment quite much. A few months later and we re-formed the band to what we finally called Soundcrisis. Our genre revolves around grunge style (rich and raw mixture of new wave with a punk attitude). And it was until 1996 when the local underground music scene started to be thriving. Underground band started to get lots of attention from the public. And as a band, we have been getting quite amount of recognitions from different band competition. The highlight of the band came into view when we entered a nationwide competition promoted by a local fm station (DWXB 105.1). We were lucky to get in the 10 final list from 400 different bands nationwide which would be aired. And again, luckily we ended in the top 4 bands. We were asked to compete live with the rest of the final list but sadly we ended on the 4th place. The good news was that from those ten bands, we were given the chance to record a band compilation album which entitled, A Dozen Alternative. To us it was the real highlight of our career as a band. We were able to hear our songs on the radio and have this song recorded and become commercially available in record stores.
Somehow, my plan to resign and put up my own design studio by what I've learned from the companies I've been into, though never took off, because I lack the marketing skills. And holding a band at the same time have somewhat absorbed my energy too much that I began to lose hold of my design studio plans. And just like any other band, we had our ups and down. And since we have already reached our marked goal, theres is no other way for the band but to simmer down or go on separate ways to retain whatever friendship is still intact.
The separation and failed design studio plans created a big empty hole in me. I went back to a corporate life again after 1998. Two years later, I resigned again, because finally I got someone to do the marketing for me and continue with my scheme. He was more adapted to the work of promoting our agency. We put up this design studio that only lasted for 4 years, but it was a great learning experience for both to venture into this business relationship. Then we decided to go on our own separate ways. Now, I'm doing freelance graphic designs of which majority of clients are from overseas doing telecommute works. Which is a very comfortable time management on my part with all its mobilities. Financial matters, are of no concern in most of the visual performances that I do. As we all know, visual performance per se is the anti-thesis of commodified art. To establish a career separating from my art making is very crucial to keep this passion rolling.
Q5. What kind of skill do you specialize in?--or what is your favorite art form?
V: It is mostly new media and any form of art using technology as a medium expression that fascinates me.
Q6.you have been engaged in varieties of fields in different phases of your life(ex: music, architecture drafting, visual arts, etc). Is there any reason to use your body as the main material of your performance, or just coincidentally?
V: Mostly by accident. I never thought that I'd end up being a drummer and composing music for a band other than being a painter. And it was so remote for me to think that I'd end up becoming a visual performance artist. I've previously seen works of performance artists way before I started doing my own. And I felt like alienated from what they do, because I could not understand why did they have to do such things. When I looked at them, I felt like watching at a crazy-lunatic person. It took me a while to absorb and really appreciate performance art. One thing I have to tell you is in my band days, we had this ideology that the band should be very “raw”, without using any synthesizers, without electronics, without the benefits of computers. But, somehow my corporate working experience dissolved this kind of ideology, and I slowly started to absorb the energy of this media and thought "maybe I should once and for all embrace technology because it's like you just can't get away from these development. It's everywhere. And the only way you can conquer this is to join these uprising development.Taiwan is the very measure of these rapid phase of development. The country has solidified its foothold in the eyes of the world through technological advancement. Being exposed to this industrial gadgets, harnessing computer chips and artificial intelligence made me realize that it's a symbolism for me to take advantage of this knowledge and hone this new found medium to take me on another level for my art-making process.
(Q: So how did it start?) Up until 2005, when I was invited by an artist friend Ronaldo Ruiz, and he asked me to join a collaborative performance in his painting exhibition. It was the start of re-entry for me. The collaboration was part of the closure of the exhibition to end the show with a performance. And so I asked “What should I do?”, he replied. “Since you are a musician, why not do some computer music?” So I brought my own desktop computer, (I didn't have a laptop back then) and a set of sound system set-up in the gallery, and made some noise sounds, and it struck me. I felt like I'm rejuvenated and back again. Presenting something in front of people which made me feel like butterfly in the stomach especially when you're about to perform with a band. This public experience made me feel like I'm back in the scene, but in a more experimental and awesome way. A few months later of the same year, an organizer and an old artist-friend (Yuan Mor'O Ocampo (Moro is based in Isabela, Cagayan, an 8 hour ride north of Manila); organizer of Philippine International Performance Art Festival) found out I was doing noise performances, and was interested to invite me for his upcoming PIPAF project. It was my first time to attend a performance art event with international artists. That event made me realize how serious performance art was on the international circuit. A different level of experience because you get to know and get the opportunity to be familiar with different cultures and exchanges of information on a more personal level.
Incidentally, Ronaldo Ruiz, is also an organizer of a performance art event called Tupada Action and Media Art (TAMA) based in Manila, a group of visual performance artists which I belong to. This group started to form in 2003 as a monthly-event and I became part of the core member in 2006. I was mostly doing design and layout of printed and online promotional materials for the event. Until I started handling the project directorship in the beginning of 2009 up until 2012.
Q7. Please introduce the “Tupada Action and Media Art” for us.
V: About the cultural Rootedness of Tupada Action and media Art:The term TUPADA is a prohibited cockfight; a cultural Filipino pastime influenced by the Spaniards during colonial rule. As cockfights in 17th century Philippines were permitted only on Sundays and feast days, TUPADA, were held on the sly and on short notice, where competitors and audiences, even from neighboring towns, assembled in the middle of roads or public spaces to watch and bet on the cockfight, then quickly disperse right after the bloody bouts. This Filipino passion for spontaneous spectacles is the concept behind TUPADA—ambush, live performances that attempt to artistically interpret, express and convey a broad spectrum of concepts and truths to the masses, with the artist’s body, space, time, circumstances, audience, site-specific elements and more as both the medium and the subject.
Over the years, TUPADA has set venues for these instantaneous and independent performances, which has enticed and encouraged local artists from various disciplines—academy, research, design, social and community work, film, literature, dance, theatre, music and visual arts—to explore performance art as a less restrictive and more inclusive form of creative expression.
Continuous exploration and experimentation on new media, and incorporating technology with live art paved for the evolution of performances, thus, the genesis of TUPADA ACTION AND MEDIA ART (TAMA) in 2006. Sound art, video art, computer graphics and other forms of electronically generated elements expanded the concentration and execution of concepts, creating an artistic realm that is not only multidisciplinary but also interdisciplinary.
Now, we are finding new ways to speak the language of the time. TAMA is constantly seeking ways to advocate the practice and execution of performance art in the Philippines, embodying the truly Filipino ideal of expression without boundaries, and educating the masses who witness and take part in international live public art.
Q8. Have you ever been to other Southeast Asian (East Asia) cities?
V: Yes, but I am not sure if the following cities are part of Project Glocal: Singapore, Ho Ci Min, Myanmar, Bangkok are of Project Glocal; others are Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Nagoya, Gyoda, Nagano, etc.
Q9. Have you ever met artists from other (Southeast) Asian cities?
V: Yes. In 2011, I met Watan UMA (瓦旦•塢瑪) from Taiwan when I participated the “Commemorating 1911-2011 Part2 Exhibition, Video Screening and Performance Art” in JCCAC Artist Village, Hong Kong, organized by Mok Chiu-Yu. At that time, Watan UMA is with another female Taiwanese artist but I forgot her name.
Q10. Do you enjoy working under the "regional" (by regional I mean Southeast Asia) measure? Reasons you enjoy it or not.
V: Cultures and traditions vary in every region. For this is what interests me most, to learn something new or even if I knew it by means of vicarious experiments, there is always a certain degree of being awarded by experiencing it in first hand.
Q11. What is the most important thing in Project Glocal?
V: I think primarily it is the tailor-cut way of how we adapt to what we feel would suit us best. But I don't know other artists in the Taipei Residency for the Project Glocal 2014. Before I do the interview, I'm thinking of why it was called Project Glocal, what is within the context, “Global Localization” or “Localization within Globalism”? I mean, the meaning of Project Glocal is adapting what is in abundance on the international scale, then making it customized on your own usage locally.
Q12. What is your major references of your works ?
V: I am interested in the works of Dan Sahdin, Daito Manabe, Ryoji Ikeda, Stelarc, and the Chunky Moves experimental dance theatre.
Q13. What’s your major concern or the issues that you keep exploring in your works?
V: The issue I have tackled with varies widely. I may focus on something very personal and at times just simply pose a nagging statement of endless possibilities. On the other hand, what I do with myself is to merge myself with this virtual environment.
Q14. What do you expect in Taipei residency? Any artist you want to cooperate with?
V: I want to widen not only my horizon, but to those I come in contact as well. I'd like to know artist who is also interested in implementing technology into his/her work. Somebody like Stelarc, and maybe you can suggest me some names. Anyway, I'm thinking of cooperating with someone whose main interest is working with technology, the computer-based, or somebody who uses machinery. But I think, in Taiwan, there are many digital-based artists. Right?
Q15. When the development of technology is mature enough to encourage the artistic use of computer in Taiwan, it becomes more like a special skill or “expertise”. So if artist who wants to utilize the technology, he or she just hire a programmer and commission the effects. how do you think of that?
V: I'm more interested in someone directly working with technology, who doesn't rely on someone else. More like doing on one's own, same way as I do. I don't feel like doing my art-making by hiring someone else. To work with digital artist will be cool, though. Probably the artist is using technology as part of ones work... Just like what I do.
