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The first 25 years of the 21st century is almost over, and the turmoil around us continues. A recent exhibit, Hardware 3: Resistance is Fertile at Kaida Contemporary, Quezon City, reflects on the country’s socio-political trajectories through 33 art works by 12 visual artists attuned to the pulse and sentiments of the streets and to the particularities of history.
A group of 16 tipos del pais watercolor paintings has been found by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London among its collection. While it was among the earliest works from the Philippines to enter the museum, it was only discovered and catalogued in 2025, as revealed by Cristina Juan in a featured exhibit, Everyday Satire: A Newly Found Tipos del País from 19th Century Manila at Mapping Philippine Material Culture, an open-access digital repository on Philippine Studies, where Juan is the principal investigator and main editor.
Echoing circles and swirls in polka dots, print-like collages with ghostly images, and lines, stripes, texture, and patterns on fabric, Marina Cruz presents seemingly abstract works in three parts in a solo exhibition, Fractured Fabric, at Silverlens, Makati until November 8, 2025.
A research paper titled Island Southeast Asia and ancient glass exchange: Insights from jar burial sites in Bacong, Central Philippines investigates the composition and origin of glass beads in Bacong, Negros Oriental dated 2,000 years ago. It also examines its origins and travel routes from and into the Philippine archipelago, and what local products did foreign traders seek in exchange for the beads.
Celebrating Botanical Art Worldwide 2025, ANI: Our Assets, Natural Heritage, and Cultural Identity is an exhibition by the National Museum of the Philippines (Museum of Natural History, Gallery XII, 2F) and the Philippine Botanical Art Society until November 2025
Researchers found a human grave on Ilin Island dated around 5,000 years ago, with the body in a fetal position and covered with limestone slabs, similar to the flexed burials found across Southeast Asia that suggested “shared ideological and social influences...”.
A recent Renacimiento Manila post by Diego Torres revisits several areas in Manila where waterways have disappeared by comparing maps of 1766, 1894, 1907, and 1915 with current satellite imagery.
The Ortigas Foundation Library presents an exhibit titled Early Philippine Picture Postcards 1900-1930s until August 10, 2025. Its address: 2nd Floor, McKinley Parking Bldg., Greenhills, San Juan.
In the Philippines, art deco found its way through the architects who had studied in America and Europe such as Juan Arellano, Andres Luna de San Pedro, Juan F. Nakpil, Tomas Mapua, Pablo Antonio, and Fernando Ocampo. They incorporated local motifs in their art deco designs of theaters and cinemas, hotels, apartments, mansions, schools, and government buildings.
A major exhibition of Baguio art, Gongs. Smoke. Blood.Earth explores “the history and cultural contexts” of Baguio art since the founding of the Baguio Art Guild in 1986. With the participation of 30 artists at the Ateneo Art Gallery, the exhibit will run until 20 July 2025. Kawayan de Guia and Nona Garcia are guest curators.
