The forces of colonialism and neoliberalism intersect in Edson Cabalfin’s “The City Who Had Two Navels,” which serves as an inquiry into the relationship between Filipino identity and the urban landscape
During the pre-natal development stage, an infant is completely reliant on the umbilical cord, which provides support by supplying it with nutrients from the placenta. Once the cord is severed, what remains is the navel, a depression in the abdomen that marks where it was once attached to the newborn’s body. In Philippine National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin’s novel, The Woman Who Had Two Navels, the character Connie Escobar flies to Hong Kong to undergo surgery to remove her supposed second navel, an imagined condition that may have been brought upon by anxieties from her past. It is this inquiry into national identity that inspired “The City Who Had Two Navels,” the Philippine Pavilion’s curatorial concept for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. The exhibition examines, probes, and even confronts how the built environment contributes to the development of our national identity, highlighting two “navels”—colonialism and neoliberalism—which, according to curator Edson Cabalfin, are forces that affect not only the Philippines, but the world at large as well.
It was through the tenacious efforts of Senator Loren Legarda, in close cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Department of Tourism (DOT) that the Philippines made its return to the Biennale through Dr Patrick Flores’ “Tie a String Around the World.” The year after was once again, a cause for celebration, as the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale marked the country’s first official participation in the architectural exhibition (the Art and Architecture Biennales are staged on alternating years) with “Muhon: Traces of an Adolescent City,” curated by the Leandro V Locsin Partners (LVLP) team. Both exhibitions were housed at the Palazzo Mora.
For the 2017 Venice Art Biennale, the Philippines had the prestige of exhibiting at the Arsenale (“The Spectre of Comparison,” with Joselina Cruz serving as the curator), one of the two main locations of the Biennale, with the other being the Giardini. Of this impressive triumph, Legarda said, “The Philippines’ presence in the Venice Architecture Biennale is an advocacy in itself. Through our participation, we relate our truths while learning from the realities of other nations. It serves as a reminder of how architecture is not only about building structures but also about inspiring life, shaping society, and building a nation.”
Established in 1980, the Architectural Biennale has steadily developed its own identity—it now enjoys a popularity close to that of its Art counterpart—and amassed its own following over the years. In June of last year, an open call for curatorial proposals was announced, with the concept of each submission expected to serve as a response to the issues being faced by contemporary architecture in the Philippines as well as to represent an idea that would jive with “Freespace”—or “pookginhawa,” as coined by NCCA Chairman, the National Artist Virgilio S Almario—the theme chosen by Grafton Architects co-founders and Biennale directors Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara for this year’s edition. Out of 12 proposals, it was Cabalfin’s “The City Who Had Two Navels” that was chosen by the jury to represent the Philippines in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale.
“In coming up with my curatorial concept for the Pavilion, I looked to The Woman Who Had Two Navels by Nick Joaquin, which explores the dilemmas faced by the characters who are struggling with their identities,” Cabalfin shared at a press conference. “I find that this resonates with us Filipinos through our built environment because it is also affected by similar struggles. We as a people are embedded in our past; will we take it as a challenge to move towards progress or will we simply allow it to become a burden we must bear?”
