This is the 17th iteration of VIVA ExCon, and this is the first time for the three-decade-old biennale to be in Antique.

The center of the event will be in Antique’s capital, San Jose de Buenavista, with parallel events and shows in Sibalom town.

The VIVA ExCon usually gathers hundreds of artists and art groups from the Eastern, Central, and Western Visayas Regions every two years. The event is attended by art historians, critics, academics, cultural workers, government officials from various agencies, art institutions, art enterprises, collectors, writers, and media from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao Islands.

The event has an international following, with guests, collaborators, funders, diplomats, and artists from other countries jetting in, especially from nearby Southeast Asia.

ViVa ExCon Antique 2023 is rich in symbols and meaning.

The overarching theme for ViVa ExCon Antique 2023 is aptly phrased in Karay-a: “Suba sa Iraya,” meaning “going against a strong current of a river or a counterflow.”

This is an idea broached by Antique artists during a dialogue in San Jose on July 30, 2022. The province is home to the Kinaray-a speaking indigenous community, the Iraynun-Bukidnon.

The Suba sa Iraya may also be understood in English as a crosscurrent, and the event is considered a trajectory that needs further unpacking, for it is envisioned as an opportunity to look at their existing art practices and find resonance with those that are not familiar and popular streams of influence on the island.

The province of Antique has nine major rivers and endowed with more or less 70 river systems or tributaries that serve as channels for naturally flowing freshwater from the mountains, passing some 14 waterfalls before exciting the sea. This is the reason why the province adopted the tourism campaign slogan: “Where the Mountains Meet the Sea.”

A notable feature of the upcoming VIVA ExCon Antique 2023 is captured by the event logo. It  highlights the unique pattern and colors of the Visayan patadyong, a traditional wrap-around skirt, showing the sampaguita flower design.

This type of patadyong is distinctly hand-loomed in Bugasong, Antique, a third-class municipality 43 kilometers from San Jose. The stripe and plaid pattern of the patadyong offers rich symbols and meaning, for it simulates a current or a cross current when inverted. The subtracted pattern also suggests the letters V and A (also when inverted). The colors are the most common combination found in this patadyong from Antique.

ViVa ExCon in the last decade

For the last decade, the ViVa Excon has made rounds in Panay and Negros Islands.

In 2016, the VIVA ExCon Organization-Iloilo and the Iloilo Visual Arts Collective assembled the exhibition and conference, which was attended by more than 350 artists, art collectors, art experts, curators, critiques, reviewers, students, and advocates from different places in the Philippines and with guests from abroad.

The Iloilo VIVA ExCon was themed, “Hakos: Embracing the Art of the Islands.”

The event catalyzed the revival of Iloilo’s art community, which thrived even during the pandemic, and it continued to grow with regular art shows and the mushrooming of artists-run galleries and spaces in Iloilo City and nearby towns.

In 2018, VIVA ExCon was held in Capiz with the theme: “Don’t even bring water” or “Indi magdala sang tubig” in common Hiligaynon conversation. The curatorial theme was picked up from a line of a sentimental and nostalgic Visayan folk ballad, Dandansoy, which wittingly urged the delegates not to worry about getting thirsty or becoming dehydrated because water, including beer and wine, will overflow.

The Capiz biennale was the 15th edition of ViVa ExCon, and it was described with works that convey a consolatory testament to the economy of means as each artist searched for spaces and semblances of home that require no geographical anchoring.

The conference program was held from November 9 to 11, 2018, yet the exhibitions stretched up to January 31, 2019.

In 2020, the 16th iteration of the VIVA ExCon returned once again to Bacolod City with the theme: Dasun, a Hiligaynon word that means “next” and an idiosyncratic connective in everyday language to signify “and then” or what’s next?

The VIVA ExCon in Bacolod speculates on the things to come as it narrates stories of an ever-turning present while facing the prospects of the future.

This year, the VIVA ExCon is in Antique and it signifies that the art biennale has finally traveled in all of the provinces of Panay Island, considering that the Guimaras Island contingent usually joins in with Iloilo.

VIVA ExCon is 33 years young

The Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference was realized by the Black Artists in Asia (BAA), formed in 1986 by Nunelucio Alvarado, Dennis Ascalon, Charlie Co, and Norberto Roldan – respected names in the Philippine art circle and abroad.

It’s BAA who initiated the first VIVA ExCon in 1990 and it became a Visayas art biennale, which is rotated among island groups in the Visayas Region from Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Dumaguete, Bacolod, and Iloilo.

The first and second VIVA ExCon was held Bacolod in 1990 and 1992, respectively. The maiden or inaugural event was held from February 22-28, 1990 at Mambukal Resort in Murcia, Negros Occidental while the second event was held March 13-15, 1992 in Bacolod City.

It was followed by VIVA ExCon III in Dumaguete from December 7-9, 1994, VIVA ExCon IV in Iloilo from April 9-12, 1996, and VIVA ExCon V in Cebu City in 1998. It has become a regular event and with an increasing number of participants and guests.

The art exhibition and conference have established learning and cultural exchange, conversation and dialogue on issues besetting art movements, networking and linkage, and a venue for camaraderie.

This November, all roads leads to Antique for the longest running and artists-led biennale in Southeast Asia.