Manila (CNN Philippines Life) — This week, celebrate a creative hub’s first year, set your destinations to a “vacation essentials” store launch, attend talks on Southeast Asian photography on Manila and urban contexts, and drop by a museum’s “free day” to view their exhibits and hear talks by some of the country’s most curious creatives and media practitioners.
Tropa, a multi-brand lifestyle store, opens on Saturday, July 22, at 3 p.m. Carrying “distinctly local brands with a contemporary flair,” Tropa aims to be the newest “go-to destination for all your vacation essentials.” Tropa is not like your airport souvenir shop, offering “fresh perspective to tropical living.”
Celebrate their official opening with drinks by Joe’s Brew and Don Papa Rum alongside DJ sets by Anna and Erick Ong. Tropa Store is located at Unit 5, 117 Aguirre St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Visit the Facebook event page for more information.
Make your way to HUB | Make Lab (GF, First United Building, 413 Escolta St., Binondo, Manila) this Saturday, July 22, from 11 a.m. to 12 midnight, for a group show to welcome the space’s small renovations a year after first opening.
98B COLLABoratory presents a Makers and Creators-themed Saturday x Future Market with locally-designed and artist-made merchandise, crafts, and indie clothing and accessories. Catch Leeroy New’s “Travestries” presented through 98B’s ESC Projects and Kat Medina’s found ceramic line, “Twice a Vessel,” through GEN. MDSE. which will also present their “spruced-up shop and lifestyle products.” Also on display are exhibits by TDR and the 98BxEl Ranchito Artists-in-Residence Team.
See redesigned nooks by the HUB’s resident makers, go to The Den and celebrate their first year (and taste a coffee-based cocktail care of Fred’s Revolución, while listening to Major Chie, SubicBae, and BoyKillsRobot), and partake in Aira Hernandez’ “edible contribution” to 98B’s ESC Projects. Also starting at 6 p.m., catch performances by PIE, The Sleepyheads, Identikit, / (Backslash), Tarsius, and Sewage Worker.
For more information on this jam-packed day, check out the Facebook event page.
Photography in Southeast Asia Talk
Singaporean writer-artist Zhuang Wubin will be holding a talk called “Photography in Southeast Asia,” in conjunction with his book of the same name (NUS Press, 2016). Offering an overview of the photographic practices of the region, the book and talk also tracks the craft’s development since the late colonial period to its contemporary state, and delves into the evolution of art, conceptual work, photojournalism, and documentary photography.
Hosted by the Asian Center for Journalism (ACFJ), the “Photography in Southeast Asia” talk will be held on July 21, Friday, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at CTC 318 (3F Convergent Technologies Center Bldg., Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City). For more information, visit the Facebook event page.
Open Dialogue with Fang-Tze Hsu and Tad Ermitaño
Drop by the Metropolitan Museum of Manila on Saturday, July 22, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. for an open dialogue with Fang-Tze Hsu and Tad Ermitaño. Entitled “Manila: Hidden in Plain Sight,” the talk will involve Hsu’s talk on memory and image-making in relation to space making in the urban context (“Aesthetics of Oblivion: Urban Memory and Arts of Moving Images in the Post-Cold War Asia”) while Ermitaño will talk about the concept behind his recent work, “Gillage: History, Modernity, Conjecture,” which explores informal settlements and the cycle of habitation and adaptation through video documentation.
Registration begins at 1:30 p.m. The Metropolitan Museum of Manila is located at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Complex, Roxas Blvd., Manila. For more information, check out the Facebook event page.
Celebrate art, culture, and life in Ayala Museum and CNN Philippine Life’s Inspire Everyday, a one-day event on July 22, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., featuring free access to the museum’s exhibits, inspiring talks from speakers from creative fields, and other activities to spark curiosity, this year’s theme.
Among others, Dan Matutina will discuss the relationship between design and nation building (10:30 a.m.), CNN Philippines president Armie Jarin-Bennett will explain why it’s imperative to tell the story of the Filipino (1 p.m.), while actress Iza Calzado will talk about what makes a great actress (2:30 p.m.).
International voguing group House of Mizrahi Philippines will also hold special performances all throughout the day, and pop up stations by Design Dept., Craft Carrot, Power Mac Center, I Am Cardboard, and the Ayala Foundation will also be present.
For more information, visit the Ayala Museum’s website or Facebook page. The Ayala Museum is located at Makati Ave. cor. Dela Rosa St., Greenbelt Park, Makati City.