Midterm project (repost)

— The Spanish have had a huge influence on Filipino culture. It considered that 80 percent of the Filipino cuisine or dishes are inspired and influenced by the spaniards. They brought different ingredients to the Philippines such as garlic, tomatoes, and olive oil. Spaniards introduced not just different cuisine and ingredients but they also though the Filipinos in using utensils such as forks, spoons and plates. The impact of the Spanish influence on local cuisine is very much evident and incorporated especially in different events and feast such as Christmas, when the Spaniards arrived, they brought with them labor-intensive cooking style, techniques and methods that were unknown in the Philippines. And since then filipinos came up with their adaptations of these various Spanish dishes in a much cheaper and much more affordable ingredients. The dishes may be budget-friendly versions of the originals but they are still referred to by their traditional names such dishes like Arroz a la cubana which usually includes ground beef picadillo. Philippine longganisa despite its name is more akin to chorizo than Spanish longaniza. Morcon is likely to refer to a beef roulade dish not the bulbous specialty Spanish sausage). Because of this influences fusion of different dishes from earlier traders, Asian immigrants and former colonizers and the Filipinos’ love for cooking resulted into a unique Philippine cuisine

— The Philippines has a larger and more vigorous artistic community than any other Southeast Asian nations because it has four cultural heritages — Asian, European, Mexican, and American. Different art works and designs of talented local painters, sculptors, muralists, and folk artists are being showcased to different galleries and museums so that different people in different places will see how talented Filipinos are, they are considered very imaginative and artistic they can come up with creative designs using different kinds of materials. Filipinos are making waves not only here in the Philippines or local scene but as well as in the international scene, particularly in the entertainment, creative, and design industries. The major sections of The Philippine Contemporary: To Scale the past and present. includes — Horizon, Trajectory and Latitude — which is the index the difference of styles, movements, collectives and institution that marked the significant changes in the Philippine art history from the early 20th century to the present. It as well focuses on a particular theme, artist or style. While with the two last sections — which is the Sphere and Direction — this exhibition keeps the diverse and dynamic pulse of artistic expression alive in the Philippine culture. This sections helps and gives young artists the chance to show off and present their creations and designs

— Philippines had a distinct and rich civilization even before the coronation of the Spain excavation all over the country had develop and turned up different gold and pottery pieces such as the city of surigao, Samar and even batangas. Since the ancient times, gold has been one of the main products of the islands. They are now a national artifact collection of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The gold collection started with beads and gold pieces that were used as means of exchange during early times. Its pre-Hispanic gold collection also includes “barter rings”, hollow gold tubes formed in a circle. These barter rings are bigger then doughnuts in size and are made of pure gold. This are displayed in the museum to show of to the people how important this are in the Philippines and how much it is, to show that this are more than just applied decoration and belong to the realm of expressive art, created within the discipline of style and in the context of traditions and it’s not just gold collections that doesn’t have any value or typical gold mined pieces. Gold works, are more than momentary creations, they are historical objects, that must be keep from which we may derive an idea of the economic, social and cultural development of the Philippine people through time.

— My visiting experience was excellent. I did not just see different art designs and collections but I learned a lot such as the importance and value of why different art displays are being keep. It preserves the value of an object and as time goes on it becomes more and more important in the history. Museums are the representatives of the nation’s culture and heritage. They display the rare collections and mater pieces from the history for the benefit of the future generation. From my perspective it is really very important to visit the museum of that nation while visiting that country for the first time.