Frozen in Time

a peek into Philippine prehistory

Filipinos may not be a museum-going lot but it isn’t stopping anyone from putting up museums to encourage people to start visiting and start learning more about their heritage. Last weekend, we had a chance to visit one of the relatively newer museums in town, the Light and Sound Museum in Intramuros, Manila.

It is a nondescript building located along Calle Victoria, and sits on what was once a Beaterio or a convent during the Spanish and American era. Although, the original structure may not have withstood the test of time, the museum was built to replicate the old convent, at least as far as the exterior walls go. Inside, however, is another matter.

At best, the museum is a decent attempt by the government to put up more cultural establishments in the country. The architecture and design of the lobby may not amount to anything much, neither telling people of the history of the place nor striving to bring anything new or of interest to the table with its rather blah state, but once inside the galleries, we can give its founders a point for their effort to make history more interesting.

the first Philippine hero, Lapu-Lapu, cast in bronze

No, there are no painting or artworks by the masters here in this museum. Rather are visitor go through galleries and vignettes that depict very specific periods in Philippine history. The brief history lesson start with Philippine prehistory and move on to a lengthy overview on the Spanish colonization and the valiant efforts of Philippine heroes to thwart the imperial power focusing on the life and works of Rizal.

a vignette depicting polo y servicios or forced labor

The museum helps people (especially those with short attention span) to relate to history on a visual and sometimes almost physical level through video, lighting, set design and animatronics. History buffs may not find the content any different from what is taught in schools but the presentation can be at times, engaging.

a vignette depicting the publishing office of La Solidaridad

The tour, however, conspicuously skips (leaps even) certain parts of our history, including that of the American and Japanese Occupation and contemporary history. Save for a video montage, contemporary history was reduced to scenes that showed all three EDSA revolts, and which showed prominently the faces of the more popular politicians of our time including of course, President Arroyo, Cory Aquino, and Dick Gordon…we wonder why.

The tour was followed by a short lecture by Dr. Fernando Zialcita, the director of Cultural Heritage in Ateneo de Manila University on the contextualization of history.

The Light and Sound Museum tour is organized by Youth Trip, an NGO geared to the promotion of Philippine culture and heritage.

Filipino Style

As the whole of America today is celebrating their pride as Americans, we, too, at Drunk on Design are celebrating our pride as Filipinos. So does this little store in Calle Real in Intramuros. Well, okay, it’s not exactly small, in fact The Silahis Center Arts and Crafts is a three-storey retail store, museum and art gallery all dedicated to the ingenuity and artistry of the Filipino.

For 43 years now, Silahis had been a repository for both cultural and historical artifacts, and catering to those who already have an ongoing love affair with Philippine arts and crafts, and developing a deeper appreciation for those who have yet to discover their passion.

Silahis has now four departments—the Silahis Arts and Artifacts, the Chang Rong Antique Gallery that displays Oriental ceramics, antiquarian maps, textiles and primitive art; Tradewinds Book for those who enjoy a good book hunt, Galeria de las Islas that deal with fine art, prints and sculpture; and located at the attic (and soon to be launched) is the Silahis Center Folk Crafts Museum. And it doesn’t hurt at all that all these departments are contained in a lovely package: a refurbished ancestral bahay na bato (stone house).

Whether you’re looking to buy or simply to reconnect with Philippine history and art, Silahis offers quite an experience and whole lot of inspiration, design or otherwise. After all, isn’t it about time we start living like Filipinos again?

Fabricated!!! Indigenous textiles aboud at Silahis Center

An antique style poster bed to add history and romance to your bedroom

Lost? Grab one of these antique maps to find your way to adventure

Our Cross to Bear

Navigating through the streets of Manila always brings a mixed sense of wonderment and dread. An accidental drive through Sta. Cruz and Binondo area reintroduced me to this historic area. But for all of its rich historical and cultural past, it couldn’t be saved and what remains is a grimy ghost of its past glory, hardly recognizable. It is now a labyrinthine world of small shops, hawkers, narrow streets, and a multitude of people, electric cables draping and crisscrossing through the plaza.

It makes one wonder whether the people milling about its streets, going through their business ever stopped to appreciate the beauty what they actually have. Are places and time like horses that lose their meaning once they’ve ran a good run? Or is it the fact that I am an outsider looking in that makes it easier to see what others have been sorely taking for granted?

It seems that as a people we are constantly waging a war with our past, and the means to win it is to obliterate traces of our history and reduce what’s left to something that amounts to as little as possible. And it begs the question when we could finally be at peace and reclaim our heritage and our past.

We found photos of the old Sta.Cruz District and some recent photos of the area. See for yourself what we’ve made out of this treasure, then what can we do to save it. – TM

old sta.cruz church postcard (photo courtesy of manilahub)

sta.cruz church now (photo from manilahub)

plaza goiti then (photo from manila nostalgia)

sta cruz plaza now (photo from nostalgia manila)

Live, Read Architecture

Reminiscing and reverie usually accompanies the New Year. As much as we try to look forward to the year ahead, we invariably look to the past to gain insights, or just to relive the wonderful and maybe even the not-so-wonderful moments. So we just thought it fitting here in Drunk on Design to feature a new book that takes you back in history, up to the present and perhaps even to the future of global architecture.

But Architectura: Elements of Architectural Style is more than just your average history book. It dissects what we call architecture, both in definition and the very elements that visually and physically define it. Walls, roofs, windows, doors, stairs and ornamentation, to name a few, are subjected to study and critique as we look at them from both a historical and cultural context.

But what’s wonderful about this book is that it refrains from the usual approach that most architectural books that deal both in concept and history take—that is from a Western perspective, and limiting it to architectural typologies of the West.  Architecture, vernacular and otherwise, from Asia and Africa are well represented in this book.

Architectura, also goes on further to include articles on iconic pieces of architecture such as the Parthenon, the Paris Opera, the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Italy, the Great Mosque of Djenne in Syria and the Hagia Sophia in Turkey.  Iconic architects, too, get the spotlight as Kenzo Tange , Glenn Murcutt, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Frank Gehry get their turns in this real page turner.

With over 600 photographs in full color and wonderfully-written articles, this heavyweight of a book (and we mean that in more ways than one), is a must-have for any lover of architecture, history, or if you simply wanna learn more about the great stuff