In commemoration of its 50th anniversary, the Cultural Centre of the Philippines' (CCP) will be presenting once again some of its posters in the past—tracing back the premier institutions' important contributions in awakening the Filipino consciousness on arts and culture
CCP opened the exhibition "POSTER/ITY: 50 Years of Art and Culture at the CCP", featuring a curated selection from the country's premier arts institution's archive of over 2000 posters of exhibitions, performances, and other events.
Accompanied by a timeline of CCP’s history, the exhibition gathers ephemera of what can be ascribed as a national cultural agenda, tracing the institution’s various artistic directions—from the pursuit of a modern and international Filipino aesthetic in the 70s, to a more nationalistic search for a new Filipino identity after 1986, to today’s celebration of the diversity in Filipino cultural traditions and histories.
Unraveling the poster’s potential as a platform for communicating art and culture to the public, the exhibition also provides an opportunity for the study of Philippine modern graphic design. As a medium of its time, posters reflect not only political and social conditions, but also the coming together of art and design through the creation of new visual languages and technologies. While they circulate less in print and more through digital formats, posters continue to be an essential tool for visual communication while remaining a unique historical and artistic document.