CHAPTER XXIII, PORTAL N°23 Self-portrait

by Gian Cruz and Gisela Marcelang

(23) CHAPTER XXIII, PORTAL N°23 Self-portrait, Attensee, Austria, 2020-2022: sa pagkalayo-layo ng nilakbay dito sa Europa…ang tangi ko lang hiling ay makatikim muli ng yema (alternately titled: Napagkaganda ng paboritong lago ni Klimt dito sa Attensee ngunit mas matimbang ang pananabík ko sa yema)

CHAPITRE XXIII, PORTAIL N°23 Autoportrait, Attensee, Autriche, 2020-2022: sa pagkalayo- layo ng nilakbay dito sa Europa…ang tangi ko lang hiling ay makatikim muli ng yema (alternativement intitulé: Napagkaganda ng paboritong lago ni Klimt dito sa Attensee ngunit mas matimbang ang pananabík ko sa yema)

Gian Cruz (b. 1987, Manila, Philippines), is a multidisciplinary Filipino artist whose artistic practice is heavily rooted in photography, architecture and diasporic studies of Southeast Asian migrant communities in Europe integrated with his institutional work and background in art theory and criticism. For the 2019-2020 cycle; he became the first Southeast Asian participant in completing the Independent Studies Programme at MACBA. Furthermore, he is the first student of Asian heritage in its 18-year history.

His practice extends to performance, translation, history, architecture, ecology, cinema, HIV/AIDS activism and several other fields and contexts that engage with his current preoccupations as an artist. Over the years, he has worked closely with the National Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Korea, Jeu de Paume, Paris, The Museum of Photography, Seoul, La Biennale di Venezia, Visual AIDS, New York, 4A Centre for Contemporary Art, Sydney, and Casa Asia, Madrid; to name a few.

Gisela Marcelang (b. 1988, Manila, Philippines) is a writer and photographer merging both practices and a background in design and communications to trace connections, messages, and meaning through image- and zinemaking in today’s limitless digital and physical visual clutter. She was a participant at the 2013 Angkor Photo Festival Workshop in Cambodia, and was part of Namamahay, a collaborative archiving project by Kwago in Threading through the Eye of the Needle, the first Trans-Southeast Asia Triennal Reseach Exhibition Series at the Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.