Arianna Mercado
b. Manila, Philippines
aczmercado(at)gmail(dot)com
Curatorial projects
2022 Isles and islands: Cultural flows between the UK and the Philippines (co-edited with Rafael Schacter, Deirdre McKay, and Malaya del Rosario), British Council Philippines
2022 Ópera de Balcón, Cell Project Space, London
2021 Tools of the Trade, Kiat Kiat Projects / Online
2021 Pigeon Pavilion (co-curated with Izzy Waite), Bangkok Biennial, London
2020 Till We Meet Again IRL…Best wishes, AAA (co-curated with Annie Jael Kwan, Cường Phạm, and Howl Yuan), Asia-Art-Activism, London
2020 Harurot (Acceleration), Enclave Lab, London
2019 More light than heat, Calle Wright, Manila
2019 Pizza Party, Kiat Kiat Projects / Shakey’s Loyola, Quezon City
2019 Underbelly, Calle Wright, Manila
2019 Ray Albano: Aleator (Project coordinator), Silverlens Galleries / Art Fair Philippines, Makati
2019 How To Prevent Hair Loss, Kiat Kiat Projects / Email
2018 school of love, Calle Wright, Manila
2018 Spin Cycle, Kiat Kiat Projects / 25 Humabon St. Magallanes Village, Makati
2018 Thirteen Artists Award (Project coordinator), Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila
2018 Moving House, Unpacking a life of critical art making, Calle Wright, Manila
2018 Never is a Promise, Calle Wright, Manila
2018 Whisper into a tree and seal it with mud, Silverlens Galleries, Makati
2018 Juice, Lucinda Unlimited Cooperative / DULO Manila
2017 Flatlands (Project manager), Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila
2017 Diwa: What it means to be human, University of the Philippines, Quezon City
2017 You are Here, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila
Published writing
2023 Rustling in the Leaves, Power Naps Post #2, Para Site Hong Kong
2023 Show Us the Money: ‘The Accursed Share’ at Talbot Rice Gallery (with Elisa Adami), Afterall
2022 “How does the world define Filipinos?”: Conversation with Baby Ruth Villarama, British Council
2022 Leiko Ikemura: 'I prefer to leave unfinished traces of imperfection', Ocula
2022 Charles Lim Yi Yong Maps Singapore’s Reclaimed Land, Ocula
2021 For Pow Martinez, Painting Is Still Emerging, Ocula
2020 On ‘Dear Yu Chu 玉珠’, The Art Columnist
2020 Dancing to Budots and Being Chased by a Dog, Green Papaya Art Projects: PapayaPost
2020 More light than heat (Catalogue text), Calle Wright, Manila
2020 Bird watching, tractions: experiments in art writing Issue #2
2020 Cosmic Grounds (Exhibition notes and catalogue text), Silverlens Galleries, Manila
2019 labor pains, Ctrl+P Journal of Contemporary Art Issue #19
2019 Another look at Venice Biennale: Living in interesting times, The Philippine Star
2019 Love letters to the unseen: Works by Fr. Jason Dy and Costantino Zicarelli at Vargas Museum, The Philippine Star
2019 Bulong at Sigaw: Mga Kontemporanyong Kulam, Dasal, Anting-Anting at Ritwal (Exhibition notes and catalogue text), Artinformal, Manila
2019 On higher ticket prices and deeper regard for artists: a postscript to Art Fair 2019, ANC X
2019 Old habits die hard: Liv Vinluan on repetition and permanence, The Philippine Star
2019 Of tragedy and indulgence: Ian Fabro’s ‘Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso’, The Philippine Star
2018 Market in flux: ‘Nam June Paik in Manila’ at León Gallery, The Philippine Star
2018 Equivalents (Exhibition notes), Silverlens Galleries, Makati
2018 spin_cycle.txt (Catalogue text), Kiat Kiat Projects
2018 Lost and found in translation: ‘Incarnator’ by Paul Pfeiffer, The Philippine Star
2018 No shade but your shadow, Artissima, Turin, IT / Silverlens Galleries, Makati
2018 ‘The Hand, the Secretary, a Landscape’ at the CCP, The Philippine Star
2018 That 70s movement, The Philippine Star
2018 The earth rotates at 1670km an hour, Art Basel Hong Kong / Silverlens Galleries, Makati
2018 I was told to do this, The Philippine Star
2018 countercurrents (Catalogue text), Silverlens Galleries, Makati
2018 Conduits for sale, The Philippine Star
2018 Tileworks (Exhibition notes), Galleria Duemila, Manila
2018 Lyra Garcellano, Amorsolo, and the Spectre of Comparison, The Philippine Star
2018 Bea Camacho’s poetic take on memory as forgetting, The Philippine Star
2017 Horizon (Catalogue text), Silverlens Galleries, Makati
2017 Bernardo Pacquing (Catalogue text), Silverlens Galleries, Makati
2017 Dalena’s Curtain Call, Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation, Inc.
Residencies
2022 Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2022 Sandbox Residency, Areté, Quezon City
2020 Koganecho Bazaar (AIR Manager Intern-in-Residence), Yokohama, Japan / Online
Talks/Panels
2023 Precarious Solidarities: Artists for Democracy (1974–77), Afterall, London
2022 Home Truths Setting the Southeast Asian Art Scene Symposium, Museum of the Home, London
2022 Isles and islands anthology, SOAS, University of London
2022 Surplus as Strategy, SOAS, University of London
2021 Di Balik Punggung Peneliti (Behind the Stage of Researcher), riwanua, Makassar, Indonesia
2021 Do It as Art Practice and Pedagogy, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design Manila
2020 Above*About~Across: Diasporic Hyperrealities, Asia-Art-Activism, London
2020 Art and Democracy, Depot Kunst, Vienna
Awards/Grants
2019-2021 Departmental Fee Waiver (MFA Curating), Goldsmiths, University of London
2017 Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Award for Art Criticism, Ateneo Art Awards
2016 Exhibition Venue Grant, Cultural Center of the Philippines
Education
2019-2021 MFA Curating (Distinction), Goldsmiths, University of London
2012-2017 BFA Art Management and AB Psychology (Honourable Mention), Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines
Press
Carlotta Cerruti, Ópera de Balcón: A celebration of coded messages, Artefact, Mar 14, 2022
Dominic Zinampan, Alternative Toolkits: Interview with Kiat Kiat Projects, ArtAsiaPacific, Sept 17, 2021
Marz Aglipay, A Site of Curiosities: Soft Power Peripherals, Cartellino, Sept 9, 2021
John Alexis Balaguer, More light than heat: Lesley-Anne Cao and Lao Lianben, ArtAsiaPacific, Oct-Nov 2019
Marz Aglipay, One Spin-cycle, Art+ Magazine, Oct 1, 2018