VICINITY MAP – Copy – INTERAKTIV 2026

Maria Taniguchi: Body of Work

14 December 2024 - 30 March 2025

This exhibition is the artist’s first survey show, bringing together works from 2008 to the present. Her gridded Untitled paintings challenge our thinking of time, dilated and distilled. Presents both paintings and sculptures, her dark monochrome paintings create a hypnotic interplay between uniformity and imperfection. These conceptual elements are also seen in her sculpture, distilled to the most basic of shapes. This exhibition also contained Tamaguchi’s video works

Vitruvian Figure

6th February – 16th April 2015

“Vitruvian Figure” was Paul Pfeiffer’s first solo exhibition in Asia and featured sculptures, video installations, and photographs that examined how media influence collective consciousness, often using the stadium as a metaphor for contemporary social structures. The exhibition brought together earlier works and new commissions created during Pfeiffer’s six-month residency, during which he engaged closely with students and faculty from the De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde. This show marked a significant moment as all works were exhibited in Asia for the first time, reflecting Pfeiffer’s ongoing exploration of spectacle, identity, and global culture.

Pacita Abad: A Million Things To Say

12th April – 1st July 2018

This exhibition presented a critical engagement with the artist’s distinctive trapunto paintings, stitched, padded, and quilted works she began in the late 1970s. Moving beyond narratives of self-exoticization, the exhibition explored Abad’s complex identity as a Filipina artist working across geographies shaped by her itinerant life as the spouse of a development economist. Her vibrant and materially rich works reflected themes of displacement, global movement, and marginality, often addressing realities beyond her own, yet deeply intertwined with her lived experience. By foregrounding process, material, and socio-political context, the exhibition repositioned Abad’s practice within broader discourses on contemporary art, gender, and Southeast Asian cultural production. A robust public program accompanied the show, including talks, workshops, and community events, further unpacking the themes of labor, identity, and memory embedded in Abad’s art.

Tropical Climate Forensics

22nd July– 22nd July 2023

This exhibition is inspired by Derek Tumala's residency at the Manila Observatory, one of the oldest meteorological observatories in South-east Asia. Using the form of a diorama as a mode, Tumala’s online project explores the climate crisis across the past, present and a speculative future. This project provides an understanding of how the climate crisis has evolved, and how nature has issued warnings over several decades. Tumala’s work enables the audience to go back and forth across time and dioramic space, and delve into historical precedents of weather events, click on more recent weather disruptions and events, then move forward to see how current actions are affecting the future. Tropical Climate Forensics is in a format of a web application similar to a video game using the Unity 3D with WebGL platform that is playable in desktop (dynamic) and mobile (limited). Its gameplay is like an exploratory sandbox with no predetermined goal.The project was part of the World Weather Network, a global coalition of 28 arts agencies around the world formed in response to the climate crisis.

Curatorial Conversations

7th July– 11th July 2025

The second edition of the Curatorial Incubator Program, organized by MCAD Manila in collaboration with the Center for Campus Art and Creative Industries Management Program of De La Salle-College, took place last 7 to 11 July 2025. Targeting emerging Filipino curators aged 35 and below, the program centered on the theme "Politics and Reflexive Practices," with discussions around ethics, social engagement, and curatorial approaches in today’s shifting global landscape. Participants engaged in dynamic talks, seminar-style mentoring, and visits to galleries and other cultural spaces, enriching their curatorial thinking through real-world encounters. The program featured a diverse lineup of mentors and speakers, including Con Cabrera, Alain Zedrick Camiling, Binna Choi, Joselina Cruz, Amanda de la Garza, Clementine Deliss, Lee Weng Choy, Kamini Sawhney, and Alia Swastika, who each brought unique regional and international perspectives to the sessions.

FSL Guided Tour

Since 2021

For the past few years, MCAD has been offering guided tours in Filipino Sign Language (FSL) as part of its commitment to accessibility and inclusion. These tours aim to make exhibitions more accessible to the Deaf community, ensuring that all visitors have the opportunity to engage meaningfully with contemporary art. The initiative reflects MCAD’s ongoing efforts to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for diverse audiences.

Acts of Life Residency

Since 2021

Acts of Life is a transdisciplinary critical research residency and presentation project jointly organized by NTU CCA Singapore and MCAD Manila, commissioned by Goethe-Institute in SIngapore and Manila. The project explores the evolving relationship between humans and their environments amid accelerated urbanization and digitalization. It brings together artists, writers, and theorists across disciplines such as art, science, philosophy, and urban studies to foster intellectual exchange and critical inquiry.

Pasinaya

Annual

Pasinaya is one of the Philippines’ largest and most inclusive multi-arts festivals, organized annually by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). It aims to make the arts more accessible through a wide array of performances, exhibitions, and creative activities open to the public. During the festival, special events are held across different partner venues throughout the city, encouraging community participation and artistic exchange. The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) takes part in this celebration by joining the network of cultural institutions that support Pasinaya’s vision of bringing art closer to broader and more diverse audiences.