New in the MassKara

The Good Life with Eli F.J. Tajanlangit

There’s one question many people ask me these days: So what’s new with this MassKara?

It’s a question that puts me on the defensive: you want to answer that by spouting the litany of the new things that’s going to happen, but you don’t want to sound like a braggart. You want to play coy, and act like the shrinking provinciano that you really are and say: just watch. But then again, that also sounds like bragging, too, so you might as well go straight and say what’s new.

There are many new things in the festival, but there’s one we, on the MassKara team, is very proud of: the explosion of art activities in the city. We initiated some of these, but most are happening out of people’s desire to be one with their city in this festival.

We had called for a spotlight on the arts of the city for this festival basically to support this year’s theme, “Life’s Good in Bacolod,” which, in turn, is meant to emphasize the things that set us apart from the rest of the cities in the city, the most defining of which is our rich artistic and cultural heritage.

We never realized how much support this would generate from the rest of the city. As we were evaluating things last week, we realized the response to the art city idea was such that Bacolod has become one giant art gallery for the MassKara. Anywhere you go this week, you will find art: from the highfalutin to the highly entertaining, from the visual to the digital to the folk.

The malls take the lead, with most of their activities for the month anchored on the art theme: SM city will open today a masks show by Jojo Vito. Last Friday, Robinsons unveiled a mural by Ting Cristales and Jojo Regollo. Of course, at Gaisano City sits the sea creatures float of Majica MassKara; the other one, which carries mountain creatures, is at Panasiatic Solutions.

Our museums, the Museo Negrense de La Salle and the Negros Museum, both have several shows. Orange Gallery at the Art District is hosting 9D, the visual arts show of the nine who did the festival logo this year and another show of Negros Contemporary Artists. Also at the gallery is 180s and Over, a festival of short films.

La Consolacion College Bacolod, the breeding ground of artists, has an ongoing highly-entertaining show of MassKara dolls, miniature versions of the giant puppets it is deploying in a parade and show this afternoon from the Provincial Capitol Lagoon to the Public Plaza. Of course, aside from the dolls, the LCC show also has works by its students, alumni and even dropouts – the works are a stunning vista of what this city holds in terms the arts.

Some of the restaurants at the Tourism Strip along Lacson are hanging works by our contemporary artists. Since Oct. 1, Balay Quince has Arki Doodle, a show of the United Architects of the Philippines.

Aside from the visual arts, we have performances like UNO-R’s Tubo, which I understand it will bring to the Tourism Strip on Friday. Of course, we shouldn’t forget our streetdancing performances, which will showcase not just dance, but also our artful ways with masks and costumes.

We are rushing an Art Map that would guide the MassKara tourists where these art activities are. And while we bask on this art-full month of MassKara, it has simply amazed how this festival can, truly, really, bring most of us, if not all of us, together, in one direction.*

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