UC's Edson Cabalfin brings the Philippines to Italy

Edson Cabalfin, associate professor in the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), served as curator of the 16th International Venice Architecture Biennale’s Philippine pavilion, one of 63 national pavilions selected to show during the prestigious architecture and contemporary art exhibition.

The Philippine pavilion, titled “The City Who Had Two Navels,” is that country’s official and only representation at the 2018 Biennale. Cabalfin’s work to create the exhibit largely began in October 2017, providing months of valuable lessons learned that he can now use in his Cincinnati classroom. A Filipino native, Cabalfin, who also serves as the interior design program coordinator in DAAP’s School of Architecture and Interior Design, talks about the exhibit, its meaning and how his experiences will bring value to his future teaching and research.

How did you develop the concept of "The City Who Had Two Navels" within the 2018 Biennale's theme of "Freespace?"

The exhibition was inspired by Filipino National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin’s 1961 novel “The Woman Who Had Two Navels.” The novel, and subsequently the exhibit, discuss the challenges and struggles of forming identities in the present as affected by the past. I translated this concept to architecture as the ways by which the Philippine built environment is influenced by the country’s colonial past and shaped by the global neoliberal present. The Philippine participation in the Venice Biennale interrogates the ways by which Filipinos adapted and transformed their built environments within the forces of colonialism and neoliberalism and highlights the ability of people to shape their futures through architecture. By highlighting human agency in Philippine architecture, the exhibit addresses the Biennale’s theme of “Freespace” as the modalities of architecture empowering and ennobling people. The Philippine pavilion thus underscores the humanity of the built environment.

What are the most pressing themes and issues your exhibit brings to the forefront about architecture?  

The exhibit highlights the two “navels” of colonialism and neoliberalism, or forces that have shaped and continue to form architecture in the contemporary setting. The first “navel” of colonialism shows how the experience of the Philippines, under the colonial control of Spain from the late 16th century to 1898 and then under the United States from 1898 to 1946, drastically shaped the architecture in the country. Even though the Philippines today is officially no longer under colonialism, the architecture of the past still bears weight on the ways the built environment in the country are still being produced today. The first section of the exhibit presents the question: “Can we truly escape the colonial?”

The second “navel” of neoliberalism interrogates the impact of a network of economic and political policies that emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s advocating for free market, free trade across borders, deregulation and minimal state intervention. While neoliberalism has become a dominant ideology today not only in the Philippines but also in rest of the world, the production of architecture has been deeply entrenched within these policies. The second part of the exhibit asks: “Is neoliberalism a new form of colonialism?”

These two forces are not only relevant to the Philippines but are also something that affects other countries. By presenting these issues, I hope that discussions can begin as to how we can live, adapt and maybe resist these forces that continue to oppress people throughout the world.

How does the construction and design of the Philippine pavilion contribute to the overall message of your exhibit?

The exhibition design is composed of two large-scale curving walls that dominate the space in the Artiglierie section of the Venetian Arsenale. The two walls form arc segments of two intersecting circles representing the two navels. As part of the exhibition, I assembled a think-tank consortium composed of four Philippine architecture schools, a women-led nongovernmental organization focusing on participatory design, two photographers and a film artist to respond to the themes.  Their responses and speculations are exhibited in the outer side of the curved walls through videos, photographs, artifacts and physical models.

The exhibition argues that the two forces of colonialism and neoliberalism are not isolated phenomena and are inextricably intertwined. In the middle of these two curved walls is a multichannel installation by Filipino artist Yason Banal, whose work “Untitled Formation, Concrete Supernatural, Pixel Unbound” (2018) presents the challenges of the formation of contemporary subjectivities through the lens of architecture born out of colonialism and neoliberalism. Through the diverse vignettes, artifacts and media, the Philippine exhibit presents the two navels in architecture as a complex, layered and multidimensional phenomena not necessarily easy to reduce into a one-line statement.

Your exhibit evokes a sense of calm, but also an unsettling realism about the future. What do you hope this exhibit achieves?

It is my hope that the Philippine pavilion provokes discussion about the continuous role that the forces of colonialism and neoliberalism play in the formation of the built environment. The eclectic viewpoints, vignettes and artifacts presented in the pavilion, though seemingly arranged in an ordered and calm manner within the glowing, sleek, curved walls, underscore the messiness and chaos behind colonialism and neoliberalism. The school projects shown, for example, investigate both an optimistic and nihilistic view of the future if these forces continue to dominate the world. The pavilion does not offer one answer or solution but rather presents speculations as to how to respond to these ominous forces. I hope the exhibit shows that despite how these two forces are seemingly insurmountable and hegemonic, the humanity of architecture will provide new hope for the future. The pavilion ultimately advocates for architecture that is humane, inclusive, equitable and emancipatory.

“The City Who Had Two Navels” is a blend of architecture and art. Why is this important?

Presenting architecture in an exhibition is always challenging as the subject itself is often removed or absent in the exhibition space. By presenting the Philippine built environment through multichannel installations, videos, photographs, architectural projects, sound and artifacts, it is my intention to present architecture as something that is not limited to buildings. I recognize that to access architecture sometimes requires you to go beyond the actual building itself. It is important for me to not only ask what architects think about architecture, but to also include voices of a multitude of people, such as artists, community organizers, students, community leaders and city dwellers, to tell stories of their experiences about architecture. It is my intention to highlight the humanity of architecture so I wanted to show people interacting, creating and living within the built environment. Architecture is about people, so there are multiple ways to showcase this relationship.

How will your experience as the curator of the Philippine pavilion translate into the classroom and your teaching at the University of Cincinnati?

The experiences as curator and being part of this important international conversation has greatly affected my being a teacher and researcher. I have learned so much from the entire process beginning with the conception to the eventual implementation, from every aspect of the pavilion including the exhibition design, the catalogue, the collaterals, social media and public relations. Being responsible for the many aspects of the exhibition, I was challenged in many different ways.

My perspective about architecture has also broadened because of my interaction with other curators, architects, researchers and designers. The international discourse presented at the biennale has also impacted in the way I think and discuss architecture. I realized that as much as different countries and architects have presented various ideas in the Biennale, there are many commonalities and shared values across the world. By acknowledging the shared values among different cultures and societies, we realize how we are all really the same. All of these are important lessons that I will hope to share with my students in the future.

It is quite an honor to be chosen as the curator of a pavilion during the Venice Biennale. How were you selected?

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the highest cultural agency of the Philippines, released an open call for curatorial proposals in July 2017. I submitted my proposal and a six-member jury selected it out of the 12 proposals submitted through a blind-review process. It is truly an honor to represent the country in this prestigious architecture exhibition. This is only the second time that the Philippines have participated in the Venice Architecture Biennale.

What advice do you have for current students studying architecture?

Architecture and design as a field, an industry and a discipline is complex and competitive, but at the same time exciting and impactful. You have to be tough to survive in this profession, but it also requires you to be sensitive and compassionate. As I have practiced for 25 years in architecture, interior design, exhibition design, fashion design, costume and set design, design research and graphic design, I always encourage my students to continually explore and try out different experiences. Design is never an isolated event, and therefore the more that you experience about various people, cultures and places in the world, the more you become a sensitive, empathetic and conscientious designer. Travel for me is an important aspect of design as it allows you to engage with different places and spaces. Learn as much as you can from other situations especially ones that are so different from what you are used to. And finally, I remind my students to always keep an open mind and heart to be able to design for different contexts, clients and users.