THE longest-running arts and technology festival in the Philippines concludes its decade-long run with manifold events in multiple locations across Metro Manila, starting today, October 15, until October 28.
WSK Festival of the Recently Possible—or WSK, pronounced as wasak, the Filipino word for “shatter”—is dedicated to contemporary electronic, digital and experimental art; a “haven for unorthodox music tastes.” The festival is inspired by the motto “Art is not a mirror, it is a hammer,” and targets to blur, deconstruct, and reimagine the preconceived notions of how art, culture and technology diverge, merge, and work together.
“We want to create a space of non-ordinary reality and transport the audience there,” WSK Founder Tengal Drilon said. “Art does that, and music is one of the mediums.”
WSK was launched in 2010 as Fete de la Wasaque, a parody of the annual music festival of French tradition, Fete de la Musique. The event eventually found its own identity and crowd, and in 2013, was rebranded into its current form that presents a series of concerts, residencies, hacklabs, exhibitions, workshops, forums and open art science projects.
Organized by Sabaw Media Art Kitchen, a not-for-profit artist-run initiative committed to curatorial and research-based production toward the imminent intersections of art and technology, the festival primarily runs on a Do-It-Yourself and Do-It-Together ethic, and is mostly self-funded, with partial funding support from cultural organizations, such as the Japan Foundation Asia Center under the Grant Program for Promotion of Cultural Collaboration.
This year, WSK X brings wider global
collaboration through a joint program with Nusasonic, a creative collaboration between like-minded organizations across the globe. The multiyear project is designed to support artists in their practice, strengthen local networks, encourage cross-border and intercultural cooperation, and contribute to broadening the understanding of contemporary sound practices, not only within the Southeast Asian region but also with Europe.
“Bridging aural cultures across Europe and Southeast Asia in one huge festival is impossible to do alone,” Drilon said. “WSK has been doing various cultural initiatives for a decade now, but with the help of our network from Nusasonic, we can do more ambitious projects from this year and beyond.”
Behind Nusasonic are Yes No Klub from Yogyakarta, WSK Festival of The Recently Possible from Manila, Playfreely/BlackKaji from Singapore, and CTM Festival from Berlin. The project is an initiative of Goethe-Institut Southeast Asia.
“I am excited to see how people will resonate with the international contributions,” Dr. Ulrich Nowak, director and head of Cultural Programs for Goethe-Institut Southeast Asia, said during the WSK X press conference at Arete in Ateneo de Manila University.
Aside from discussing the particulars of the upcoming festival, a couple of experimental music performances and a workshop were also presented during the media event.
One German student who is on a two-month residency in the Philippines, performed with a tinkered telephone that played sonic waves and feedback noises. There was an immersive sound workshop as well that welcomed guests to toy with a makeshift sound table, which consisted of everyday items, including bowls, chopsticks, door-stopper spring, screw driver and a ruler.
WSK X kicks off today with Stay: Sine Wave Orchestra Exhibition, an interactive sound exhibition by Sine Wave Orchestra from Japan. Stay welcomes guests to interact with different sound devices in the space, making them the artist of the show. The event takes place at Arete, and is open to the public.
Drilon said WSK X is divided into two parts. The first half deals more with education programs, such as workshops, public talks and symposiums. One of these is MusicMakers Hacklab, wherein practitioners create, play and find new ways of exploring the current and future potentials that lie in interfacing music with technology and other fields of practice. The event runs from October 16 to 23.
Meanwhile, the second half of WSK X focuses on concerts, outdoor performances, club nights, collaboration and special programs. Among these is Floaters Stage, happening on October 26. The event rolls out simultaneous street performances on the streets of Poblacion in Makati City.
According to Drilon, this year’s WSK Festival may be its final iteration. In pursuit of presenting “meaningful experiences,” he said they want to end the decade with the familiar festival format and move forward with something that’s different.
“In the face of biennales and huge art spectacles, we always ask if our festival still engages people in a meaningful way,” he said. “We’re thinking maybe we should change the format, while still continuing international-based exchanges. We still don’t know the answer, but we definitely seek more lasting social impact in our programming.”
Drilon, however, made it clear that the goal for WSK is to continue: “We’re shifting to the more educational aspect and the active engagements. Our workshops and hacklabs are the highlight because it is where the public can learn and engage in an equal level, even allowing their art to be presented for the first time.”