In this module, you will explore the various means by which art is circulated. You will read texts that examine the mechanisms that regulate how artists and works of art reach their audience. You will also be acquainted with issues surrounding the distribution of art in the Philippines. These issues covering artistic venues such as the Philippine publishing industry, film festivals, and international auction houses will help develop an understanding of the networks that determine the flow of artworks in specific contexts.

Learning objectives

After working on this module, you should be able to:

1. Discuss the various ways of circulating art; and
2. Describe how the distribution of art affects its production and audience.

The Art Establishment

The mystique associated with art fades when we consider how it is passed, through many channels, from artist to audience. Often, the driving force behind this mobility is capital. When audiences experience art as a commodity, the veneer of prestige, or “artistry,” or “popularity” momentarily makes us forget about the price tag attached to reading a novel, watching a play, or subscribing to a music-streaming platform. A work of art — whether it is a painting, a neo-ethnic ballet, or a Tagalog hip-hop track — belongs to a culture industry that is inextricable from the market that creates and sustains it.

We pay the museum entrance fee to view a painting or sculpture. We save up money for tickets to hear our favorite artists live. The retail value of a paperback, a movie premier, or a subscription to music streaming platforms purportedly sustains the industry that enables the production of artistic works. In many cases, it is not only the artist’s labor that produces art as a finished product ready to be distributed to different audiences. For large-scale productions such as film and theatre, an assembly of technicians, crew members, and staff collaborate with artists and their patrons to create work that can be marketed, or at least reach as many people as possible. In order for this to happen, the artwork must flow through a distribution chain, which involves publicists, theater owners, media outlets.

A writer of fiction or poetry also participates in a publishing industry in order to sustain his or her trade. In the Philippines, writing is not known for being a lucrative profession. Only a few succeed commercially, and those who do, particularly writers using new platforms such as the Wattpad, are dismissed, often by critics and academics, merely as popular fare (Angeles, 2004). Writers who wish to make a living of their literary opus must submit their work to literary journals or magazines to gain some traction with readers and editors; win awards to earn status; attend high ranking universities that offer degrees in creative writing; and get a literary agent who will submit their manuscripts to a publisher who, in turn, will print copies of the book and sell them in bookstores. Writers who rely on earning from writing will have to produce in the genre that usually sells more: romance, horror, science fiction, detective novels, and thrillers.

In the visual arts, young artists who wish to get their work distributed must first get an expensive art education, where their initial interaction with more established artists is made. Apart from gaining a different perspective in making art, which a master of fine arts degree supposedly offers, young artists also learn how to tread the industry that involves agents, gallery owners, art patrons, critics, museum curators, and many others who have their own place in the art market.

Thus, in order to establish a comprehensive understanding of art works as cultural artifacts, and as products of its time and place and economy, students will have to be acquainted with the art industry. The visual art market of the West can be viewed as an example of a prevailing system that influences art markets in other parts of the world.

Art distribution, class, and the economy

The problem of distribution has continually beset the Philippine movie industry. Cable television, corrupt business practices, and heavy taxation have been cited as culprits (Tiongson, 2010). Few producers are willing to go beyond the formulas and take the risk of producing exceptional films that are not only formally innovative but also relevant to Philippine society. Big budget Western-made films dominate the cinemas inside shopping malls owned by some of the wealthiest families in the country. Movies that perform well in the box-office are anchored by celebrities known for their commercial appeal. Moreover, media corporations, concerned mainly with profit, produce these movies.

Meanwhile, the recurring problem of dearth of quality local films is falsely attributed to the low-income class who are thought to patronize only commercial films, and therefore, producers give them only the kind of movies they want. In fact, the production and circulation of films are controlled by corporations who are in a position to dictate the flow of the market.

Recent developments in technology and institutional support have changed the course of film distribution in the Philippines. The introduction of the digital video camera, which costs significantly less than film cameras, has democratized the way cinema is made. Filmmakers no longer need to work under commercial studios. Instead, they receive support from government and international grants. Thus was born the Philippine Independent New Wave, composed of a group of young filmmakers who have brought some variety to local cinema.

However, independent films that contribute significantly to the education of an audience weaned on commercial fare often find limited distribution in film festivals and special screenings. When an independent movie manages to have screenings at shopping malls, they are removed after only a few days. Movies such as General Luna and Kita Kita are among the welcome exemptions that seem to signal a shift in the taste of audiences.

Thus, in keeping Philippine movies vital and relevant, it is important to reflect on the issues surrounding film distribution, the significance of an independent cinema, and the continuing patronage and growth of the Filipino audience.

Though independent films have flourished in the last fifteen or so years, signaling a revitalized Philippine Cinema in the age of digital technology, challenges remain in the way films are patronized by a larger swath of the moviegoing population, and in the way these so-called independent films depict realities that the more commercial and profit-driven moviemaking has supposedly neglected. A film may be considered “independent” for how it has eschewed the corporations and studios but may not truly be independent, i.e. emancipatory, in its form and substance.

After gaining insight into the system that governs the local film industry and using your own ideas as an audience and potential filmmaker, you can begin conceptualizing a film project that you feel addresses the challenges facing filmmaking in the Philippines.

Art by way of an independent movement

Institutions and venues responsible for the circulation of art are often seen as vanguards of tradition that sustain the ecosystem of contemporary art. However, the same institutions are also criticized by writers wary of a patronage system, or by writers working outside the capital and major cities, for cultivating elitist and backward practices (Cruz, 2017).

In the publishing industry, prestigious magazines and journals are accused of favoring a particular aesthetic that tend to marginalize other voices and affect the range of artistic production. This hegemony extends to award-giving institutions that always selects from the same pool of judges who give out prizes to younger writers they had mentored (Stuart Santiago, 2012).

Writers who are endorsed by university presses and creative writing programs in UST, Ateneo de Manila, UP, and Silliman University do not enjoy a wide readership. One concern is the inaccessibility of works written in English that have dominated literary discourse for decades, mainly because of the American system adopted by Philippine educational institutions. Another is the economic status of a large percentage of the population. Food, shelter, clothing, employment — and in the case of conflict and disaster-prone areas, safety — and other basic needs take greater priority over books, films, and art produced by the academe and art establishments (Cruz, 2016).

However, local writers have found alternative ways to introduce their writing to audiences. Self-publishing is encouraged and simultaneous books and zine bazaars are held across key cities in the country. The effort is powered by the growing sense of a collective that is hungry for diversity and quality in the literary market. In these zine fests, attending readers discover new writers and works not found in mainstream bookstores. The writers and artists behind this movement believe that the usual institutions have hampered the growth of literary publication. They launched their own publishing community in the hopes that it could bring about lasting change in the way literature is circulated in the country.