On its 10th year anniversary, the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde launched a publishing initiative that specializes in producing monographs of contemporary Filipino artists and art practitioners. For the inception project under this program, MCAD presents curator and esteemed cultural theorist Marian Pastor Roces with its first released titled “Gathering: Political Writing on Art and Culture”, a collection of essays on politics, culture and art. The book was launched at Powerbooks at the Podium in Mandaluyong City on August 10.

The Book

The book is the first ever collection of essays by Roces who has written extensively about craft, art, museology, cultural theory and politics. It presents her “unflinching opinions, discourses of development in politics, culture, and art” that are laid out chronologically to to reveal the “expansion of her ideas, ever increasing complexity of thinking and evolving intricacy of language through the decades”. Furthermore, it offers a spectrum of subjects that calibrates the author’s position against the landscape of political and social development in the Philippines and the world.

Commencing with an introduction by Indian dramaturg Rustom Barucha, and Foreword by Dr. Elena Mirano, the collection presents 43 essays from 1974 through to 2018. In addition, the limited-edition book is co-published with ArtAsiaPacific Foundation. MCAD thanks PowerBooks and National Bookstore for generously hosting the Manila launch.

About the Author⠀

Marian Pastor-Roces embarked on her career in art criticism in 1974. Her ongoing research into the traditional art of the Philippines culminated in her acclaimed debut book, Sinaunang Habi: Philippine Ancestral Weave (1991). She has since continued to push the boundaries of the critical imagination through her research and curatorial projects exploring the nexus between culture, politics, and identity, as manifested in clothing, cities, and international art events. As president of arts consultancy TAO Inc, which she founded in 1999, Roces has helped to guide the development of numerous exhibitions and museums across the Philippines.⠀

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The book is available for purchase. For reservations, please email name, contact details and preferred quantity to mcad@benilde.edu.ph.