Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan: ‘Somewhere, Elsewhere, Nowhere’ at Museum MACAN

28 Apr 2023

Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan will hold their first major museum survey exhibition at Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia in June 2023. The exhibition Somewhere, elsewhere, nowhere will include work from over 20 years of collaborative practice. The Aquilizans emerged as artists in the Philippines in the late 1990s and 2000s, a time of burgeoning interest in art and contemporary practice from Southeast Asia. Subsequently, they have contributed significantly to discourses of global art practice, and they have presented their work in major exhibitions and biennales of global contemporary art.

Their collaborative practice revolves around the spheres of home and family, exploring what it means to belong, and how identities are formed through journeys and human movement. Ideas of journey and displacement, and personal and historical memories that attach to objects, are key ongoing concerns. Cardboard, toothbrushes, blankets, and other household items are recurring materials which are also dominant in this exhibition – these are materials that cut across cultures, as well as social and economic classes.

Indonesia is of particular importance to the artists, as they have developed strong relationships with the artistic scene in Jogja, with one of their important series Belok Kiri Jalan Terus being inspired by previous trips working in Jogja. For Somewhere, elsewhere, nowhere, a new work will be commissioned – a life-size, 10-meter, aero plane wing, which will be made up from interconnecting teak-bird cages. This will be the most recent addition to the Belok Kiri Jalan Terus series.