Constructive Dissent

Hi David,

There was one particular thing you said some time ago about dissent as a positive thing. And in my case, I find myself appropriating this as "constructive dissent." 
 
Constructive dissent. That particularly resonates to me to a great degree although with a particular and loaded set of inversions and peculiarities. A huge sum of it is primarily coming from a place with a huge amount of its art historical narrative remains undocumented or invisible while also inaccessible. So, in light of this, I see constructive dissent as a means to pursue a kind of radicality or irreverence while being aware of the art historical field in relation to being a Filipino artist. And more and more, I find myself consciously engaging in dialogue with specific historical contexts in relation to my country while balancing it with the shifts taking place in the contemporary art world. But the weight of these tropes of historicities find themselves infiltrating more and more my stream of consciousness. In this regard, they've come to look like these images below.

The codes overlaid with my images of the city find themselves like a filter whether just on the surface or beyond affecting things. It's much like how the digital world just like how on social media platforms we easily filter things (whether consciously or unconsciously) and how some peculiar contexts specifically historical ones are in a way eliminated in pursuit of the aesthetic or perhaps it can also go the other way around. It's like how that glaring simulated version of the screen deepens its reach into our daily lives. Somehow, on a good note, I'd like to imagine insisting on making these invisible stories come to the surface and work with these technologies that conveniently mute or dilute things from their actual potential. I think in that way, that's the best way we can create a more positive and constructive outlook on the subject matter of dissent. It's much like how as artists, we become respective of shifting between different contexts and operating with them while also being deeply rooted and conscious of our own set of peculiarities. 

It's been a great exchange of ideas with you. I gladly enjoyed my time here.

Cheers and all the best from Manila,

​Gian