ARAYA





Project 6MANA12–12–2025 to 13-12-2025
MANA brings together four experimental short films from Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines - stories of intangible inheritance and generational memory.

Programmed by Ralph Barrientos, the 64-minute screening reflects on family, connection, and impermanence.

Stay for a post-screening convo with Mikael Joaquin, Mama’s Boy Collective, and Ralph Barrientos, moderated by Eya Beldia.

Featuring:

🇵🇭 Makoko sa Baybay (Mikael Joaquin, 2023)
🇸🇬 I am a beautiful beached whale by the Straits (Salty Xi Jie Ng, 2014)
🇵🇭 Si Ligaya (Mama’s Boy Collective, 2024)
🇯🇵Tulip-chan (Watanabe Saki, 2024)

Title: MANA
Location: -+*, Garapata store
 and Co.Lab in Quezon City
Programmer: Ralph Barrientos
Time: 7-9PM


Project 5Tadaima, Narito Na, Arrived02–12–2025 to 04-12-2025
tadaima, narito na, arrived is a three-day, multi-site program organized by ARAYA in coordination with Assistant Professor Szusza Velasco for visual artist MiaoChen Huang (TW), with support from the Japan Foundation Manila.

The program begins on Tuesday, December 2, in Makati City, the Philippines’ central business district, where pottery enthusiasts gather at the Pottery Sessions studio. This studio tour and conversation with potters, moderated by Eya Beldia, will be recorded and documented.

On Wednesday, December 3, the MiaoChen Huang shares her knowledge and skills through a demonstration at the UP CFA Ceramics Studio. The studio, located in the UP College of Fine Arts, is shared by the students of the sculpture program of the premier university. With the kind support of studio coordinator, ceramic artist Jezzel Wee, the studio team, and a homegrown ceramics collective from UP CFA.

On the last day of the program, December 4, a select group is invited to visit to a working pottery studio on the outskirts of the city. Located in the home of visual artist Marco Rosario, this is an intimate gathering by invitation only.


Title: tadaima, narito na, arrived
Location: Makati City, Quezon City, Rizal
Duration: 2 December - 4 December 2025

Supported by Japan Foundation Manila


Project 4I hope this finds you well28–11–2025 to 04-01-2026
ARAYA is grateful to have provided support for “I hope this finds you well” a solo exhibition by Roselle Perez at Spare Bedroom

Alice Sarmiento, founder of Spare Bedroom, writes “In 2024, Perez began working on a personal archive of her hometown. Through the deeply immersive craft of cyanotype printing, texture and haptics are surfaced as research methods – intimate ways of engaging with the fading and fragmented memories that spring from a lifetime of liminal spaces. Further narrated through video and scenography, Perez reanimates the past to correspond with an uncertain future, each print a dispatch from “a place on the brink.”

Poster by Allan Balisi

Title: I hope this finds you well
Location: Chapter House, Quezon City, Philippines
Duration: 28 November - 4 January 2025

Presented together with Spare Bedroom

(Upcoming) Public program
Project 3 Unreel Screenings 106–11–2025
Three academics, two filmmakers, a photographer, and a visual artist gathered in the pink room of Chapter House community space, watched films in silence. We were an intimate group of close friends and new acquaintances, volunteering our time together. During our introductions, Grace asked us to share what we loved about watching movies or which aspects of film we connected with. Some spoke of their preference for visual feasts and the aesthetics, while others focused on language and dialogue as ways to relate to a film. We discussed the joy of the shared film-watching experience: our preferences, likes, and dislikes, our critiques. I remember the quiet anticipation as I watched the others watching. I waited to hear from the next speaker, listening intently to their thoughts, and reflecting on how different their perspective was from my own. The learnings flowed through the night, continued well into dinner, and, for me, linger to this day. Then I wondered, if there are more of these conversation circles, what else could we learn and who else could we learn from?

“Please Read It For Me to Rest in Peace” (Brazil)
“At Home But Not At Home” (India, USA)
“Third Grandma” (China)

Title: Unreel Screening 1
Location: Chapter House, Quezon City, Philippines
Programmer: Grace Simbulan


Project 2Voluptuous Surrender13–06–2025
Bringing together an international lineup, Voluptuous Surrender sought to rekindle a lost sense of collective viewing and experience through experimental cinema, shown at SinePop

These films traverse universal themes such as grief, existence, capitalism, and the afterlife, each articulated through distinct cultural and aesthetic lenses. Together, they articulate a transnational sensibility that bridges local experiences with broader questions on contemporary life and our common humanity.

“Edge Dance” by  Yoochae Hwang (South Korea)

“Terrarium” by Robyn Victa (Philippines) 

“Why isn’t it a straight line?” by Waritsara Jirattitijaroen (Thailand)

“ Blurry Memori/Memori Buram” by Made Virgie Avianthy (Indonesia)

“Read-only Memory” by Kristine Camille Sulit & David R. Corpuz (Philippines) 

“POEM OF POEMS  TITLE FOR DAYS OF THE WEEK” by Liv Glascock, Neely Goniodsky, Jade Hawk, Alexander Kirshenbaum, Bea Mariano, Margot Murvihill, Natalee Ryan, Rana San, Hana Shiozaki, Ariano Simpson, Paul Siple, Chelsea Werner-Jatzke with poetry by Dao Strom (United States)

“Vox Pythia” by Nanna Gro Heningsen (Denmark)

Title: Voluptuous Surrender
Location: Sine Pop, Cubao, Quezon City, PH

Programmed with Em Manlapaz, Bea Mariano, JC Rosette in collaboration with @we_film_ph with the support of RESBAK

Project 1 Sounds/Scents Copenhagen/Manila07–04–2025
Where cities meet and senses gather — a journey for the soul together.

The first iteration of Scents/ Sounds Copenhagen/ Manila featured a conversation and a collective sonic and scent exchange  between both Denmark and Philippines. Two countries with seafaring histories, the project highlights notions of navigation and wayfinding in both Copenhagen and Manila. 

By creating this auditory repository, the vision is to capture  and make accessible cross sections  of these two cultures — linked by the seas and the stars.

Title: Scents/Sounds Copenhagen/Manila
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration: 7 April 2025

Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation
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