Past Residents Lian Ladia
Lian Ladia (b. 1979)
Based in the Philippines, Lian Ladia is an independent curator, writer, and assistant lecturer in contemporary art. In 2011, She co-founded with curator Sidd Perez an artistic platform in Manila called Planting Rice. Aside from curatorial projects featuring emerging artists, repotentialized spaces (whether online, print, or actual public spaces), the curatorial team also aims to foster the rise of cross-pollination among artistic communities. The online platform, Plantingrice.com – a resource of writings on current discussions and collaborations that are developing beyond available publications or mainstream spaces in Manila is generated and accessible to an international community. Additionally, it recovers an archive relevant to the present climate of cultural interchanges in contemporary art with Manila as the center. Aside from the view of the “international”, it is aimed to nurture the growth of the “local” which is a strong thrust in her curatorial practice.
Very recently, Lian Ladia has been part of the curatorial team of Media/Art Kitchen: Reality Distortion Field (2013), a media art exhibition organised by the Japan Foundation in Southeast Asian cities of Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Bangkok. This year Planting Rice will organise Narratives of Archives at the Lopez Museum in Manila, an exhibition in response to broadening the discussion on the archives of critical text and self-reflexive artistic practice in Manila.
Ladia’s interest lies in project-oriented or idea-based practices and methodologies in art communities and alternative channels. Her HICP residency will focus on discovering and re-learning environmental sustainability to empower self-awareness and self-initiation towards practical and ethical systems of thinking in art practice, and in communities within Scandinavian and Southeast Asian contemporary artists.