Photo courtesy of Jett Ilagan.
{Matutunton mo ba kung saan nanggagaling ang sitsit ng mga kuliglig?}
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Amidst the noise of a show band and drunkards, your gaze zooms in a white flower… you start to dance.
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Working primarily with sound, Jett Ilagan presents his first online exhibition, “Tugon ng Tunog, Tunog ng Tugon” which highlights visual and auditory details from his recollections of various locations and personal life events since 2015, creating tensions between memory and experience. A dive to the utmost of his being – watch the harmony of concrete birds and wind, passing through architecture of grief accompanied by unheard footsteps; to realize amazement in uncertainty, silence and noise brought by rain. This exhibition utilizes Instagram’s parameters and the reach for an audience unrestricted by time and space. And while image-based, there is emphasis on the ambient sound layered in each post as a response to a hearing dilemma, concerning a population’s inability to listen to reality.
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{Marahas ang pagaspas ng mga dahon ng Buko,
Ang lamig sa ugong ng Hangin.}
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This Generation Deaf has developed a dependence on smart phones, with an excessive use of earbuds/headphones at unsafe levels of volume over long periods of time. This habit can cause permanent damage. Based on a report by the World Health Organization, 1 out 5 teens suffers from noise-induced hearing loss due to increased use of the device. This also distracts the users with the tasks at hand, narrowing the attention, resulting to disengagement with the present, cocooning the self and being detached from its immediate surroundings.
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{Nagparamdam ang Ambon,
Nagbabadya ng Ulan.}
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[Earbuds on.
Volume level at 60%.
Timer at 60 minutes.
Proceed.]
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As you go through this exhibition, you get a sense of un/familiar places; listening to the sound of thoughts that life brings, perhaps even feelings. In your commute, you travel to uncharted territories of the mind. The world will seem silent.
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{Kilabot sa alingawngaw ng Kampana.}
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You could be one of the billions of people plugged into their own oblivion.
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{Kung sa Kamalayan ay
Matagpuan ang Sarili
Sa Kalsada –
Rumaragasang sasakyan,
Papalapit na Araw,
Pumikit ka at makinig.}
–Panulat ni Zeus Bascon
