2008 APEC ICT Poster Competition

KT Cultural Foundation and APEC Education Foundation are co-hosting the 2008 APEC Information Communication Technology (ICT) Poster Competition.

Under the theme of "ICT for Hope", the event will illustrate how ICT can better our lives as a tool of development and empowerment, and spread the hope of creating a prosperous digital world through effective and productive utilization of ICT in the APEC region.

It is expected to provide interested students, teachers and ICT practitioners an opportunity to convey their thoughts about how we can use ICT to better our lives while curtailing the negative side effects that accompany it. Deadline of submission is on May 12, 2008. A total of $18,000.00 will be awarded to the winners.

Click here for details.

Tissue Please

Update: Romeo Forbes Storywriting Competition 2008

Due to the number of the entries that were received (fifty), and the quality of the stories that made it to the finals (it has now been trimmed to the six), the decision has been taking a little longer than anticipated.

As with all previous contests, we have been amazed by the range and depth of originality that can be inspired by a single image. The finalists this year include a touching tale of a parent's search for magic, an imaginative environmental fable about the first jeepney, a dark and edgy story of a doll maker in Quiapo, a son's proud and truly Filipino tribute to a father, a funny and image-rich piece about an annual carabao's parade, and a tale centered on the last woman in the land.

We now hope to announce the final selection by the second or third week of May 2008. Thank you for everyone's patience. :-)

The Story of Feet

"THE STORY OF FEET" by Queti Azurin

Many years back, my husband and I were stuck in heavy traffic along Vito Cruz. There was row of commercial stalls on the right and something along that area caught our attention.

A man was arduously pulling up the metal roll-up door of a shop. He was pulling it up from the inside so the only thing we could see were his feet and his hands clutching the edge of the door. His feet seemed like it was bearing the full weight of the door and the mechanism was not working right. His feet would twist and turn...turn to the right...turn to the left...face each other...face the opposite side and sometimes maneuver in acrobatic positions. He tried with all his might. We watched this hilarious scene for about 15 minutes; when our car drove off he was still at it!

That scene was difficult for me to forget. It would run in my head repeatedly and i would burst into laughter everytime. I found it absolutely amusing that a pair of feet could actually tell a story. I never got to see that man's face nor his entire body but his feet did all the talking. I could tell that he was so bent on accomplishing his task that morning- pull up the roll-up door by hook or by crook. From that moment, I decided that sometime soon I would do a series on feet.

Now, the story of feet begins...

("The Story of Feet" opens on Saturday, April 19, 2008, 6p.m. at 1/of Gallery, 2/L Shops at Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines)

Real Life Told Beautifully

And these are a couple of ads that TBWA conceptualized for CANVAS. They're not done - the names of the artists and writers* will properly be credited in the final ads.

* Elias and His Trees, CANVAS' maiden publication, was adapted by Augie Rivera from Jean Giono's "The Man Who Planted Trees" with artworks rendered by the late Romeo Forbes. The Rocking Horse, written by Becky Bravo with artworks by Elmer Borlongan, was the winning entry in CANVAS' first storywriting competition.

Ad Campaign

Here's a poster/streamer/banner idea that TBWA\SANTIAGO MANGADA PUNO (Agency of the Year 2003, 2004, 2005) came up with for 1/of Gallery.

They're thinking of coming up with a series but are still looking for interesting, mind-boggling, (and preferably Philippine) truths and trivia about art similar to this one. If you have any that you'd like to share, we'd appreciate it!

There's another set of ideas for ads for CANVAS... we'll share those next time.

It's Decided! (More on our Pacific Rim Parks Project)

James Hubbell and Kyle Bergman, the two US-based architects who spearhead the Pacific Rim Park Project, flew in to check out the four sites being proposed by Mayor Hagedorn of Puerto Princesa City. The City is making a strong pitch to bring the Philippines' Pacific Rim Friendship Park there.

Site 1 was on a hilltop near the city proper with a spectacular view of the sea.


Site 2 was at the old, abandoned Sta. Lucia Penal Colony - overlooking and right beside the sea, which also had an old church nearby that the city plans to restore and promote as a special wedding venue.


Site 3 was at Puerto Princesa City's version of Manila's Baywalk.


And finally, Site 4 was at the pier that you would need to pass to visit Puerto Princesa's famed Underground River.


All fantastic sites. But there can be only one.

After conferring with Mayor Hagedorn, we settled on the Sta. Lucia site which will be part of their ecological estate and which will also eventually house a planned International School for the Environment.

We have a chance, then, with our proposed park, to play a critical role in helping to jumpstart this unique and important vision.


So join CANVAS next year, when 25 students from all over the world fly in to Puerto Princesa to design and build the Philippine Pacific Rim Friendship Park in 30 days!

This is going to be fun!

YOU'RE INVITED!

The Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS), in partnership with the University of the Philippines College of Architecture, proudly invites you to a talk by world-renowned environmental architect James Hubbell, at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 11, 2008 at the UP College of Architecture.

James Hubbell is visiting the Philippines for the first time in connection with CANVAS' project to build a Friendship Park as part of his Pacific Rim Parks Project. So we're taking advantage of the opportunity to have him speak, both on his unique and important work, and on our project.

We hope to see you there! For more information, please email info@canvas.ph.

*** Please feel free to forward to anyone you think might be interested in this event. Thanks!


ABOUT JAMES HUBBELL

Artist James Hubbell has developed projects all over the world for more than 40 years. His method is to explore form, matter, light and shadow at building sites, then incorporate the play of these elements into each unique building and landscape that he creates. He works to develop aesthetically pleasing, ecologically sound building designs that support sustainable ways of living.

James sculpts unique living environments from nearby materials, providing beautiful shelters for humans to dwell in harmony with nature. Over his distinguished career, he has shared an inspiring vision of the spirit of nature made tangible in glass, wood, metal, concrete, and stone, in homes, schools, gardens, pavilions, nature centers and peace parks around the globe. He is also founder and guiding light of the Ilan Lael Foundation.

ABOUT THE PACIFIC RIM PARKS PROJECT

The Pacific Rim Park Project is a nonprofit organization that has as its mission the creation of friendship parks around the Pacific Rim as a means of fostering understanding and goodwill. The Pacific Rim Park organization has built four parks to date and is planning to create the fifth park in the summer of 2009. Over the long-run, we envision the construction of parks in all of the countries that border on the Pacific.

The organization is based in San Diego, CA and works in cooperation with partners in the region, including in Russia, Mexico, China, the United States, and South Korea.

The Pacific Rim Parks act as a way of bridging cultures, establishing new connections, and helping define what it means to be a member of the emergent Pacific Rim community. Each park has a pearl, adding to a string of pearls that will connect our shared region of the world. In contrast to a "ring of fire," we envision the Pacific as draped with a "string of pearls" through the Pacific Rim Park Project.

The parks are designed and built by architecture students under the artistic supervision of leading artists, architects and urban planners. The students come from several countries, and transcend their language and cultural differences through a shared vision to design and build the project within a time frame of 30 days. After a new park is completed, it is given as a gift to the citizens of the Pacific and to the sponsoring organization or institution in the host city. All parks are for the public, and are directly connected to the Pacific Ocean.

* The photo is of the Tijuana, Mexico Friendship Park "Entre Corazon y Mar."

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

"The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznic is one of the top 25 children's books on Amazon and is the winner of the Caldecott Medal Award as the best children's picture book of 2007.

For the rest of April, search for it on Amazon (or click here) and see if you notice anything.

Clue: Check out the best value section. :-)

CANVAS at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship

CANVAS was present at the by-invitation-only 2008 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, an annual event held at Oxford University's Said Business School, that has been described as the "Davos of Social Entrepreneurship."

The Forum focused on the theme of “culture, context and social change” and was attended by around 700 social entrepreneurs, academics, financiers, politicians, policy makers and others from over 40 countries around the world, including no less than Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, and CEOs from leading companies in design, finance, new technologies, and media.

It's extremely difficult to describe what it feels like to be there, but blogger Rob Katz captures it a bit in his account which you can read here.

We were fortunate to have been more than a mere participant (which would have been fantastic on it own if only for the ideas, energy and networking opportunities that permeated the whole event) as CANVAS was able to present its history, programs, and challenges at the Forum's Consultancy Clinics. This particular session gave CANVAS a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive feedback from an esteemed panel of leading experts and thought leaders. To ensure that the panel felt unconstrained in giving their thoughts and advice, the rules of the Clinics required that no attribution of organizations or comments be made - but click here to see how one of their bloggers reported on our session.

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P.S. On the way to Oxford, we met Charmaine Aserappa at London's Heathrow Airport. Charmaine is the author of the international bestseller, IN A JAPANESE GARDEN (Council Oak Books, 1999), and, as we mentioned before, she wrote "Message in the Sand" - an original children's story that reaffirms the power of one person, even a child, to make a difference.

Written especially for CANVAS, the story will be paired with works by artist Roel Obemio, and published by CANVAS this coming October.

It was great to finally put a face to her name - we had found and only corresponded with her on the Internet previously. It also gave us a chance to present her with one of Roel's original watercolor studies as our small expression of gratitude for her generosity and support.