Exhibition text for Ciron Señeres' "Worse Code" a solo exhibition at Art Fair Philippines 2019
"The City Sends out an SOS"
"Worse Code" features delineations that transport its viewers to places that are telling of mismanagement of waste. These are scenes exclusive to areas where informal settlers or "Esteroristas" reside within Metro Manila. We try so hard to get away from these scenes that one would not expect to find them inside a space dedicated to art. The Ateneo Art Awards shortlisted artist, Ciron Señeres straightforwardly addresses garbage pollution by depicting scenes that serve as a distress call. With the recent clean-up drive of Manila Bay bringing hope to the city, it is likely that we forget that the rest of the metropolis is still in dire need of proper waste management. The artist renders unsightly imagery in black and white as if to state a fact.
Some of his works in "Worse Code" emphasizes the sheer amount of waste that we accumulate. In such works such as those that depict the Esteros of Manila and its accompanying garbage, the end and the beginning of a home and rubbish is blurred. To the unknowing eye, Señeres skillfully renders mounds of garbage that almost disappear into an abstract expression.
The artist also indulges his audience in word-play through the exhibition title "Worse Code", a modification of the word "Morse Code". Morse Code is an alphabet or code in which letters are represented by combinations of long and short signals of light or sound which Señeres employs in a supplementing installation made from bottles.
The artist recommences his visual narrative from his previous work presented in a group show "Indistinct Chatter (2018) that approaches decay and waste as pressing matter. In "Worse Code", Señeres challenges his audience with these choice scenes placed inside a space for art, a space that is often associated to conventionally pleasant imagery.
"Worse Code" installation photo courtesy of Art Underground Manila
