ILOMOCA: Eight years of seeing and savoring art

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By Ted Aldwin Ong

March arrives as a turn of season and for revisiting aesthetic encounters at the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Art as it celebrates its eighth anniversary.

Its inaugural year remains vividly fresh and how it introduced Ilonggos to works of international, regional, and local artists. It was a year of awe, seeing the enormity of art housed for the first time in a three-story modern museum with four galleries for exchanging exhibitions at the first and second levels; a permanent Adoracion Valencia Gallery at the third level; and an audiovisual and performance hall, The Box, which hosted art talks.

Outside the museum stands the 8.8-meter bronze equestrian statue of Ilonggo revolutionary hero Martin Delgado, created by Spanish sculptor Ginés Serrán-Pagán. The monument depicts the leader from Sta. Barbara, Iloilo, mounted on a rearing horse, holding a sword, with a dove perched on his shoulder, symbolizing his fight for freedom, as well as his authority and command in the struggle to emancipate the nation from Spanish colonial rule.

Serrán-Pagán worked on the statue for three years and personally attended its unveiling alongside Andrew Tan of Megaworld Corporation in January 2019. He expressed pride in the work, which commemorates the achievements of “Iloilo’s most famous son and hero.” The project also made him one of the first international artists to exhibit at the Hulot Gallery, where studies and related works for the Gen. Martin Delgado sculpture were featured.

The unveiling sparked conversations about the symbolism of a revolutionary hero immortalized by a Spanish sculptor, representing the very nation Delgado fought against. One prominent descendant of Gen. Delgado raised a thought-provoking point: while the monument marks a historical milestone for Iloilo, it also prompts an important question — why was the monument commissioned by a private corporation and placed on privately developed land, rather than in a public square?

This discussion highlights a broader truth about art. It not only commemorates history but also encourages reflection and dialogue. Art invites society to examine its values, collective memory, and the complexities of cultural representation.

In a similar spirit, ILOMOCA’s inaugural-year exhibitions also stirred conversation and helped define the museum’s early curatorial voice under the direction of Prof. Martin Genodepa and its first administrator, the late Dr. Cynthia Ticao, a family friend and colleague of my aunt, who, after retiring from UP Visayas, had managed a foundation together in the United States and traveled extensively around the world providing services before finally settling back in Iloilo.

Building on this vision, ILOMOCA hosted New York-based Filipino artist Jeho Bitancor for a solo exhibition titled “Poetic Dissent” in September 2018. Bitancor set the tone for the museum’s solo shows, offering the Ilonggo audience a firsthand experience of art, not as distant abstraction, but as a mirror reflecting both communal struggles and individual contemplations.

His collection of works embodied a delicate equilibrium between the personal and the collective, between the artist’s introspections and the human condition, or what he described as being “reflective of the Zeitgeist, or the spirit of the times.” This was exemplified in the colossal 7-foot by 11-foot “Polarity of Extremes,” which both amazed and overwhelmed the audience.

During an interview on the sidelines of the exhibition opening, Bitancor posited that art is not merely a vehicle for aesthetic display but a medium through which intellectual rigor, technical mastery, and imaginative exploration converge — perpetually attuned to the cultural and political mood of the times. He emphasized that art should reveal the “poetic potential” of subjects, engaging the audience with contemporary social and philosophical issues through visual allegories, ironies, parodies, and parallelisms, thereby bridging personal symbolism with universal motifs.

Continuing this momentum, Filipino social realist painter from Negros, Nunelucio Alvarado, presented “Songs from the Sea” in November 2018. The exhibition expanded on the poetic visual narrative exemplified by his monumental piece, “Kaupdanan sa Kampo” (5-foot by 8-foot), an earlier work from the Ed Valencia Collection. The piece reflects his enduring social critique of feudal society and the Negros elite class, whose wealth has long been sustained by the labor of farmers on sugarcane haciendas.

The title “Songs from the Sea” draws from the tranquil coastal town of Sagay, which he fondly described as a place where the sea seemed to serenade him. There, he found inspiration to create a home grounded in humility, while also healing from depression by transforming everyday objects — such as stones and pebbles — into art. Through this process, he fostered a new kind of prosperity within the community, one shaped by creativity and shared cultural expression.

The exhibition also served as a reunion between Alvarado and fellow Sagaynon, the towering violin virtuoso Gilopez Kabayao, who passed away in October 2024. Both Kabayao and Alvarado had been nominated for the Order of National Artist, and their supporters continue to await the results.

I have lost count of the many significant exhibitions and art talks that ILOMOCA has organized since then; however, two major exhibitions stand out, as they served as progenitors of Iloilo City’s bid for recognition as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

These were “Timplada: The Art of Ilonggo Cuisine,” presented in October 2021, and “Kaon Na Ta! A Melding of Visual Flavors,” which followed in May 2022. Together, these exhibitions laid the groundwork for a supplemental article in the book “Gastronomic Expressions of Our City, Iloilo: Nature, Culture, and Geography,” a project of the Iloilo City Government published in 2024 by Vibal Group in partnership with the Iloilo Festivals Foundation Inc.

Together, these two major exhibitions expanded on the ideas of Japanese anthropologist Naomichi Ishige, who described eating as an act of “ingesting the environment,” and the late Filipino food critic and cultural historian Doreen G. Fernandez, who framed food as “ingesting culture.” Building on these perspectives, the exhibitions proposed a compelling extension: the notion of ingesting “visual flavors” through themes on food and culture.

Moreover, the exhibition titles themselves drew from everyday language deeply embedded in Ilonggo social settings. The phrase “kaon na ta” is commonly heard at home, in neighborhood carinderias, workplace cafeterias, or food joints, which serves as an invitation to share a meal. More than a casual expression, it embodies a gesture of courtesy and reflects the Ilonggo character of warmth and hospitality.

Similarly, the word “timplada” refers to the blending of ingredients that determines a dish’s overall flavor. It is within this process that taste is evaluated and discussed — whether a dish is “manamit” (delicious) or, conversely, imbalanced, such as being overly “maasin” (salty) or “maaslum” (sour). Thus, timplada becomes a space for dialogue, emphasizing the proportionality of ingredients and the timing of preparation to achieve harmony in both texture and taste — an essential aspect of Ilonggo culinary sensibility.

At the same time, both exhibitions acknowledged the innate intuition of the Ilonggo cook, who learns the art and science of cooking through keen observation and experience. While many recipes present cooking as an exact science, seasoned cooks often rely on “tantyar,” a method of estimation guided by sight, smell, sound, and taste. This intuitive approach recognizes that ingredients vary in source and season, and that cooking conditions differ depending on weather, tools, and fuel — whether modern or traditional — and even the mood of the cook.

Ultimately, the exhibitions used food as a powerful metaphor for cultural consumption, conveying the rich traditions, innovations, and evolving practices that shape Ilonggo identity. The featured works transformed familiar dishes into visual experiences through paintings, sculptures, and installations, presenting them as forms of artistic consumption.

As ILOMOCA moves beyond its eighth year, it carries forward a vision shaped by reflection, experimentation, and a deep engagement with community and culture. Its journey affirms that art is not merely something to be seen, but something to be felt, questioned, discussed, and lived. Bridging the local and the global, the traditional and the contemporary, it remains firmly rooted in the stories and sensibilities of Ilonggos and Visayans. Through this approach, ILOMOCA ensures that art endures as a vital, shared experience, one that is not only encountered and savored, but remembered, reshaped, and carried forward across generations.