"Studio Shut Down" is a participatory art and graphic design project that I had envisioned to create new marks and visual identities for defunct cultural venues in the Philippines. STUDIO SHUT DOWN submitted by Michelle Angelica “Mica” Cabildo
I conceptualized Studio Shut Down for young artists’ group exhibition “Fffff...” at the Blanc Gallery Compound curated by J Pacena II (artist, curator, and professor at School of Intermedia Asia-Pacific College).
It was my response to a controversial event in the Philippine art scene in 2011 when the group exhibition “Kulo” held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines was closed down because of an installation that the public found religiously and politically obscene and offensive.
For Studio Shut Down, I intended to create new marks and visual identities for defunct cultural venues in the Philippines based on public memory. I intended to gather information from the public and use this information as a brief for visual re/branding.
I had consulted with a few friends regarding this project, and they expressed concerns about gallerists’ and proprietors’ possible reactions to the project.
I decided to try it out anyway, and for the opening of “Fffff...” I turned a small room in Blanc Gallery Compound into a personal design studio where I received audiences, served brewed coffee, and invited them to leave notes about their favorite defunct cultural venues. I had also put up accounts in various social media websites where I intended to upload realized output of new logos and brand identities for the venues discussed at the opening.
However, that was as far as it went. I never worked on rebranding the defunct cultural venues for the following reasons:
• information gathered was inconsistent
• there was a possibility of copyright infringement, according to sources
• lack of equipment
• it seemed impractical and ironic to work on graphic design projects that would never generate income, or whose output will never be utilized.
I have not entirely closed my doors on this project. I believe I will eventually find the right time to work on it again, possibly in a different format.
"Studio Shut Down" is a participatory art and graphic design project that I had envisioned to create new marks and visual identities for defunct cultural venues in the Philippines. STUDIO SHUT DOWN submitted by Michelle Angelica “Mica” Cabildo
I conceptualized Studio Shut Down for young artists’ group exhibition “Fffff...” at the Blanc Gallery Compound curated by J Pacena II (artist, curator, and professor at School of Intermedia Asia-Pacific College).
It was my response to a controversial event in the Philippine art scene in 2011 when the group exhibition “Kulo” held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines was closed down because of an installation that the public found religiously and politically obscene and offensive.
For Studio Shut Down, I intended to create new marks and visual identities for defunct cultural venues in the Philippines based on public memory. I intended to gather information from the public and use this information as a brief for visual re/branding.
I had consulted with a few friends regarding this project, and they expressed concerns about gallerists’ and proprietors’ possible reactions to the project.
I decided to try it out anyway, and for the opening of “Fffff...” I turned a small room in Blanc Gallery Compound into a personal design studio where I received audiences, served brewed coffee, and invited them to leave notes about their favorite defunct cultural venues. I had also put up accounts in various social media websites where I intended to upload realized output of new logos and brand identities for the venues discussed at the opening.
However, that was as far as it went. I never worked on rebranding the defunct cultural venues for the following reasons:
• information gathered was inconsistent
• there was a possibility of copyright infringement, according to sources
• lack of equipment
• it seemed impractical and ironic to work on graphic design projects that would never generate income, or whose output will never be utilized.
I have not entirely closed my doors on this project. I believe I will eventually find the right time to work on it again, possibly in a different format.