SILVERLENS concludes the year with Martha Atienza’s third solo exhibition with the gallery, titled Equation of State.

Since winning the Baloise Prize in Art Basel Statements in 2017, Atienza has been extensively participating in international exhibitions, among which include 2018 Asia Project: How Little You Know About Me, MMCA, Korea (2018); No Man’s Land, MUDAM, Luxembourg (2018); Fair Isles, solo exhibition, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Center for Contemporary Art, Germany (2018); 11th Bienal de Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2018); Taipei Biennale: Post-Nature – A Museum as an Ecosystem, Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2018); 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane (2018); and Honolulu Biennial: To Make Wrong / Right / Now, Honolulu, Hawaii (2019).

Featuring new videos and kinetic mangrove plant baths, Equation of State finds Martha Atienza back at Bantayan Island in Cebu, Philippines, documenting how climate change is affecting the island and its inhabitants.

"In Equation of State, Martha Atienza examines the interaction between humans and the environment, documenting both their decline and resiliency. It is a tense relationship, expressed in the material and immaterial. In this new work, Atienza presents a survey of Bantayan Island’s coastline, highlighting climate change from a layered perspective. Referring to an equation that calculates the relationship between variables and a given set of physical conditions, Equation of State is an attempt to make sense of warming oceanic temperatures and subsequent rising sea levels.

Churches, bangka’s, basketball courts, sea walls and houses in various states of decay. All are observed as the camera slowly traverses the island group’s coast. Alongside this single channel video, is a 3-channel piece depicting fishermen as an allegory for resiliency as they struggle in rough waters. Surrounding the video works are nineteen mangrove plants whose movements are mechanically manipulated. An Arduino programmed mechanism pulls the plants in and out of water-filled pools, artificially mimicking tidal patterns that in their natural state would submerge the mangroves 30% of their lifespan. Known to thrive in warm waters, mangroves possess the capacity to store carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Rhizophora stylosa, the most commonly planted mangrove species in the Philippines, illustrates private and public sector intervention of ecosystems.

Through the documentation of Bantayan Island’s coastal conditions, both human and environmental, and the recontextualizing of mangrove plants, Equation of State creates an experience which asks us to question environmental management and socio-economic development." (Jake Atienza)

Equation of State: Perspectives on an Island in Transition

Martha Atienza’s Equation of State comes at a time when Bantayan Island’s future is fraught with uncertainty. The recent removal of the island’s Wilderness status indicates the political nature of law-making and the value it attributes to the sustainable management of human activity. Beyond economics, the island’s Wilderness status and other laws governing land ownership, ultimately become a matter of who controls the future of the island and its residents.

Grounding Atienza’s latest exhibition in Bantayan Island’s legislation is paramount in a nuanced conversation about climate change impacts she hopes her work is able to initiate. Video documentation of the island’s periphery presented in Equation of State gives witness to policy in action. Here, audiences see churches, bangkas, and homes all in a state of decay. The images ask the viewer to consider: Who lives on the coast? Who owns the land? Why is the ocean encroaching coastal areas? Combining video and relocated mangrove plants, Atienza’s four-piece installation is not so much a response to Bantayan Island’s legislative paradigm, but functions within this context. 

The various pieces in the exhibition bring attention to Bantayan’s rather silent struggle over land-use that ultimately led to the removal of its Wilderness status. Signed into law by former president Ferdinand Marcos in 1981, Presidential Proclamation No. 2151 declared over 51 islands and other parts of the Philippines as Wilderness Areas. Considered as lands of public domain, the Wilderness status prohibits its “sale, settlement, exploitation of whatever nature […] subject to existing recognized and valid private rights” (1). Following a November 2019 Congressional vote to remove Bantayan Island’s Wilderness status, around 13,313 hectares will now become available for “agricultural, commercial, residential, tourism, and other similar productive” activities (House Bill No. 3861). Land titles will also become available, granting conclusive ownership of land to individual entities (Anonymous).

While removal of Bantayan’s Wilderness status has been criticized, equally controversial is the capacity of protected areas to mitigate impacts of economic growth. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has consistently been under pressure for questionable approval of construction projects in easement zones (Lagura-Yap). While removing the Wilderness status ultimately aims to stimulate investment opportunities, it can be argued that the island has already seen significant construction (paved roads, airport) and infrastructure (residential buildings, resorts, restaurants) projects despite its previous protected status.

Atienza’s video Panangatan 11°09'53.3"N 123°42'40.5"E 2019-10-24 Thu 6:42 AM PST 1.29 meters High Tide 2019-10-12 Sat 10:26 AM PST 1.40 meters High Tide (2019) follows the coastline of the islet Panangatan in Bantayan Island. By showing the state of the coastline’s decay, the film illustrates the complexity of land ownership and privatization. Following the harsh impact of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013, the local government has made a consistent effort to relocate its population of fisherfolk to government and nongovernment housing projects. Given the rising of tides, relocation efforts also attempt to comply with DENR regulations prohibiting permanent occupation in easement zones. While some have moved, some 240 residents remain on this 8,489 sqm island, refusing to leave a place they consider home.

Despite Bantayan Island’s visible changing coastline, attributed in part to rising tides, the artist says that for fisherfolk “the ocean is not a thing to be feared, it’s something you’re a part of”. In Tarong 11°16'12.0"N 123°45'23.4"E 2019-08-06 Tue 2:27 PM PST 1.50 meters High Tide Kaongkod 11°16'12.0"N 123°45'23.4"E 2019-08-03 Sat 12:14 PM PST 2.03 meters High Tide (2019), two generations of fishermen are filmed as they visibly breath heavily in rough waters. The video depicts a resiliency amidst impacts of an already changing natural and legislative environment. As the tides are rising, so is the pressure from government and land owners to push fishing communities away from the coastal areas they, culturally, belong to.

The composite material of Equation of State I Rhizophora stylosa (2019) sees Martha Atienza furthering a language she has developed since exhibiting Study in Reality #03 (Silverlens Galleries, 2015) and Endless Hours at Sea (Singapore Biennial, 2016). In what the she describes as “island systems”, this complex and frail mechanism is made of water, steel, nylon, pvc, filters, transformers, pumps, car wipers, microswitches and relays integrated in the workings of the installation. Working together with a Manila-based Arduino programmer and a karaoke machine maker, an electrician and a machine operator from Bantayan Island, she has created an Arduino-based system that operates a mechanism that physically — perhaps violently — pulls 24 mangrove plants in and out of water. In Equation of State II Rhizophora stylosa (2019), one of the plants is singled out, as it hangs above a water-filled pool, its reflection projected on the wall creating a pattern of light moving with the water. This physical intervention, Atienza says, is a portrayal of “human interference and control over mangrove systems as protective systems for shores and large carbon holders” (Atienza). Through these pieces, she is very deliberate in ways of playing with ideas around control within the exhibition.

Relocating the Rhizophora stylosa, Philippines’ most planted mangrove species, to the confines of a white space challenges the mismanagement of coastal areas Atienza has documented in Equation of State. Despite various protective measures, mangrove deforestation has taken place at a significant rate throughout the country (de Leon and White). Among the most carbon-rich forests in the tropics, mangroves contain an average of 1,023 Mg of carbon per hectare. Given that the Philippines holds at least 50% of the world’s approximately 65 mangrove species worldwide, sound management of mangrove forests can potentially alleviate impacts of climate change in coastal areas (Garcia, Gevaña, & Malabrigo). Bearing the removal of the Wilderness status in mind, this means that only easement zones will be protected. In Bantayan Island’s urban areas, easement zones will only safeguard areas three meters from where the sea water reaches its highest point. In Agricultural and Forest Areas, this is limited to 20 and 40 meters respectively (Pablo).

Through documentation of Bantayan Island’s coastal conditions, both human and environmental, and the relocation of mangrove plants, Equation of State depicts both the decline and resiliency of this small island group. Bringing together the material and immaterial, the exhibition fosters an experience asking the viewer to question environmental management and the almost invisible hand of legislation that governs territorial land and waters.

Works Cited

Anonymous. Personal Interview. Registry of Deeds - Cebu Province. 17 Dec. 2019

Atienza, Martha. Personal Interview. 25 Dec. 2019

de Leon, R.O.D. and White, A.T. “Mangrove Rehabilitation in the Philippines”, Center of Excellence in Coastal Resources Management Silliman University, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999

Garcia K., Gevaña D., and Malabrigo P.,“Philippines’ Mangrove Ecosystem: Status, Threats, and Conservation”,  Springer, Nov. 2013 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258925724_Philippines'_Mangrove_Ecosystem_Status_Threats_and_Conservation

Lagura-Yap, Marilyn B. “Environmental Justice in Philippine Courts: The Story in Trial Courts and the Court of Appeals”, Sep. 2012 https://events.development.asia/system/files/materials/2012/09/201209-environmental-justice-philippine-courts-story-trial-courts-and-court-appeals.pdf

Pablo, Rolando R. “The State of Philippine Foreshore Land Management”. Land Management Division - Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Mar. 2019 https://www.doe.gov.ph/sites/default/files/pdf/eicc/eicc-planning-conference-materials-lmb-foreshore-presentation.pdf

Republic of the Philippines, House of Representatives. Proclamation No. 2151: Declaring Certain Islands and/or Parts of the Country as Wilderness Areas. Manila: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Dec.1981. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1981/12/29/proclamation-no-2151-s-1981/

Republic of the Philippines, House of Representatives. House Bill No. 1941. 16th Cong., 1st sess. Metro Manila: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Jul. 2013. http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_16/HB01941.pdf

Republic of the Philippines, House of Representatives. House Bill No. 3861. 18th Cong., 1st sess. Metro Manila: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Aug. 2019. http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_18/HB03861.pdf

Schmitt, Klaus and Thorsten, Albers. “Report on Coastal Erosion in Bantayan and Cebu Islands.” Jan. 2015.

Words by Jake Atienza

Jake Atienza is a Dutch-Filipino artist whose practice and research spans text, video, sound and installation. His work take cue from his personal history and grapples with issues of power, social marginalization and ecological impact that emerge from the exploitation of natural and social resources.

Rodgie Malagad; compressor diver in training

Orlando Abrasado; compressor diver

Ramon Alontaga Jr.; light and overall work

Roberth Fuentes; organiser fishing boats and cameraman

Ieusef Santillan; camera technician and post-production

Herogene Araño; mangroves, fish and filters

Avelino Villarosa; electrician

Gladys Regalado; arduino

Jozef Michael Heij; audio visual

Jasper Niens; build up

Born to a Dutch mother and Filipino father, Martha Atienza (b. 1981) has moved between both countries and cultures throughout her life. Currently she resides both in the Netherlands and the Philippines, dependent on where her projects bring her.

Atienza’s practice explores installation and video as a way of documenting and questioning issues around environment, community and development. Her work is mostly constructed in video, of an almost sociological nature, that studies her direct environment. Often utilizing technology in the form of mechanical systems, Atienza explores the immersive capacity of installation in generating critical discourse. Her work tends to be collaborative in nature, working with people from different backgrounds and expertise as well as residents of Bantayan Island, where her family is from, whose narratives are intricately woven into issues such as environmental change, displacement, cultural loss, governance and socio-economic disparities.

In 2017, Atienza won the Baloise Art Prize in Art Basel (Switzerland) for her work, Our Islands 11°16'58.4_N 123°45'07.0_E. In 2016, she was one of the five shortlisted artists for the Benesse Art Prize (Japan) in the Singapore Biennale. In 2015, Atienza was awarded the Thirteen Artists Awards by the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In 2016 and 2012, she received the Ateneo Art Award with studio Residency Grants in Liverpool, Melbourne, New York and Singapore. Atienza received her Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Academy of Visual Arts and Design in the Netherlands. In 2005, she also participated in the art program at the Kuvataideakatemia in Helsinki, Finland. Her works have been exhibited internationally at various art spaces, galleries, and video festivals. She is also the recipient of the first Mercedes Zobel/Outset Residency at Gasworks in London (2016).

Recent exhibitions include 2018 Asia Project: How Little You Know About Me, MMCA, Korea (2018); No Man’s Land, MUDAM, Luxembourg (2018); Fair Isles, solo exhibition, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Center for Contemporary Art, Germany (2018); Bienal de Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2018); Taipei Biennale: Post-Nature – A Museum as an Ecosystem, Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2018); 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane (2018); and Honolulu Biennial: To Make Wrong / Right / Now, Honolulu, Hawaii (2019).