CURIOUS? ALRIGHT LETS GET STARTED! LETS GO!

During the week that the Typhoon Ondoy ravaged the Philippines, local artists and designers were called upon to create posters to inspire people to help out. Through social media, the posters spread like wildfire and resulted in a deluge of aid for the victims. The Design Downpour poster movement reinforced the belief that the creative use of images enables people and awakens in them a community spirit comparable only to People Power. The message was clear: one need not be a superhero to contribute significantly, that to lend a hand is in fact a privilege.

And so the seed took root. Why confine that oneness to just that moment of catastrophe? Because if one gets down to it, the Philippines is still very much mired in turmoil of a different kind, the size of which cannot be measured by the dark clouds that hover above it. Hence the birth of the Philippine Design Movement is actually another shoutout to designers, artists and even writers to do exactly what they did during Ondoy but on a grander, more continual scale. The movement dares them to imagine what a steady stream of positive, nation-building images can do for the Philippine society.

To be part of the movement is to take on the big responsibility and privilege of creatively inspiring Filipinos to be dissatisfied with the status quo and to work towards greater freedom, not freedom as anarchy but instead as a possibility to live better lives. The movement asks that the sensibilities, distinctions and complex semantics that swirl around separating the art forms be deliberately blurred. It is an invitation to come together as weathermen and collaborators for change. It is more than just trainspotting– it is a serious, culturally-aware and socially-intellectual movement that aims to make its concepts and collaborations highly accessible to the masses. Think Japan, Bangkok and especially Cuba where the art movement influenced by the works of, say, Eduardo Abela and Alberto Korda became social critiques of their times and society. With the tandem of the technological advances and the democratization of art and design in the country during the last decade, never before has such a phenomenal chance to make a difference been presented to local artists and designers.

The Philippine Design Movement is not a rebellion. It is free of any scheme and political overtones. It doesn’t want to provoke a massive argument that ultimately does nothing but create more factions. What it wants is to alter the whole basis of the conversation. It wants to be an ongoing thing where most everything is related: passion, work, family, society, country, life. The movement aims to be a hub of creativity and interactivity, of content and communication. But most importantly to be a space for the exchange and outlet of ideas that can generate, multiply and breed in Filipinos a culture of intentionally elevated pride and heightened nationalism on the premise that art, design and commentary are potent and can very well change the Filipino’s mindset and in turn result in the upgrade of his choices and values.

Art in all its forms is apparently the best language and the Philippines can be an art of identity and metamorphosis. The Philippine Design Movement aims to set the pace.

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