This kinetic sculpture-a 3D-printed zoetrope-explores the Filipino diasporic experience with broader themes of identity, colonial legacies, and the seemingly inescapable cycles of capitalism.
Central to this work is a reference to the 'bahay kubo', the humble Filipino nipa hut or 'stilted house'. This particular displaced and malformed 'bahay kubo' is built on the 1980s departure gates of Manila International Airport. These unconventional stilts hold the promise of stability and progress in distant and often exploitative systems. The climbing tower and endless spinning underscores the disconnection and alienation that can result from the pursuit of upward mobility within a capitalist framework.
This piece is also a meditation on the delicate balance between exploring identity as an artist and critiquing the frameworks that commodify it. In an art world that increasingly values spectacle and "cultural experiences", works addressing themes of colonialism, capitalism, and identity can become subsumed, trapped in the cycle of cultural consumption. The zoetrope's spinning figures capture the tension between agency and entrapment, challenging both artist and viewer to question the cycle's inevitability and to imagine ways to counteract inertia (aestheticized or otherwise) and reclaim motion and move toward progress.
