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Profile 
C L A R EP-P-PEPPERONI is my art blog in which i blog about: My inspirations, art works, views on certain issues, experiences, etc. Yes, my name is Clare and no, i am no professional artist, just one who simply enjoys doing art. Without art, my life will lose its meaning and i will be square, so if you feel something sharp jab you, it probably means i haven't been doing art. Just kidding. |
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Monday, September 26, 2011
Address (Project: Another Country)
7:18 AM
Address (Project: Another Country), Alfredo Juan Aquilizan & Maria Isabel Gaudinez- Auilizan
 
An installation that caught my eye during the Singapore Art Biennale 2008
would be the ‘Address (Project: Another
Country)’ by the couple, Alfredo Juan Aquilizan and Maria Isabel
Gaudinez-Aquilizan, who are both not local. They used to live in Philippines
then migrated to Australia.
Inspired from the balikbayan
box, they began to “cube” objects they have been storing in their home for more
than 10 years. And by joining these “cubes” of objects together, the couple
managed to form a “room”. This “room” created has a door and a narrow
passageway for the audience to actually go inside the “room” and view the other
side of the balikbayan box.
I think that this idea is very
creative as you could walk through the passageway in the “room” without worrying
that the objects would start crumbling down or bits and pieces would fall on
you even though the objects are not glued together. These items are arranged in
an artistic manner such as the cubes were clearly defined even without a
separating line.
Balikbayan
boxes are used a lot by Filipino migrants to store and relocate their
belongings from one place to another. The Aquilizans used
these boxes to “cast” their own belongings as they migrated from the
Philippines to Australia. To me, this is a smart idea as instead of letting so
many items go to waste by throwing them away, the Aquilizans used them to
create an art work. It sounds abit peculiar but I feel that the outcome of
piling your unwanted objects in such a way is really interesting and something
new to many people.
I got a
shock when I looked closer at the items piled together as some of the
balikbayan boxes contain scary items. For example, glow in the dark pictures of
monsters, severed Barbie dolls, a baby doll’s arm sticking out of a pile of blankets,
etc. However, some items were really cute and it just creates a temptation
to pluck items from that “cubes”. Such items include: Mr Happy toy, teddy
bears, figurines, etcetera. Thinking about how the rest would crush my friends
and I if one item was taken out, the possible outcomes takes that feeling away.
Some
items that I found funny were naked baby dolls getting squashed by towels, a
Telly tubby toy behind a microphone and toy houses with toys living in them.
These items also reminded me of how much stuff I can have at home. It made me
want to clean up my house one day and donate unwanted stuff to the Salvation
Army.
Come to
think of it, being able to pack so many objects into such neat “cubes” really
takes a lot of effort, calculations and planning. Everything must be planned
correctly and stacked in an orderly manner or the “room” would be unstable.
Especially the stacking of objects at the top must a hassle as the couple would
have to climb up and down a ladder.
I
really enjoyed viewing this art piece and had a fun time studying each “cube”
of items. Though some were obscene like naked Barbie dolls, I still had a good
laugh at how strange the Aquilizans personal items were. The Singapore Art Biennale never fails to surprise me :)
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