PURITA KALAW-LEDESMA PRIZES IN ART CRITICISM 2024

The 11th year of the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism welcomes entries on the theme of ‘Fluctuation.’

In the 1974 book The Struggle for Philippine Art, Purita Kalaw-Ledesma and Amadis Ma. Guerrero described the Philippine art scene of the time as “a fluctuating, flexible and wide-open field” where diverse trends were concurrently explored by the artists. Kalaw-Ledesma emphasized that an artist should “never [be] in a fixed state of mind” and should always experiment with new ideas and approaches as life continues to shift beyond one’s control and expectations.

In this state of fluctuation, Kalaw-Ledesma affirmed the essential role of criticism, for it points out the significance of the artist’s work and efforts in experimentation to both the viewer and the artist. She stated that, without criticism, the art movement in the Philippines would not develop.

Prompted by Kalaw-Ledesma’s perception of fluctuation as a realm of possibility, we seek entries anchored as criticism about artists, art works, exhibitions, projects, practices, or events that take a cue from irregular and unexpectable changes. Fluctuation alludes to the sense of unpredictability prevalent today, as intensified by war, inflation, environmental crises, technological developments, and divisive public opinions. Concentrating on fluctuation may create opportunities to reconsider the importance of art and, therefore, the role of criticism in the face of uncertainty.

The Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prizes in Art Criticism will have English and Filipino categories. A panel of jurors will shortlist a maximum of six (6) writers from each category. From these lists, winners will be selected by the editors of the partner publications. Winners will be announced during the awarding ceremony scheduled in November 2024.

Two winners will be selected from the English category. The winner of the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for The Philippine Star will be awarded a regular column under ‘Platforms’ in the Arts and Culture section of the paper, to be published once a month with a total of 12 articles for a year. The winner of the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for ArtAsiaPacific will be contributing to the bi-monthly publication, with a total of six (6) articles for a year.

One winner selected from the Filipino category will be awarded the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for Katipunan Journal and will be contributing to the bi-annual research publication, with a total of two (2) articles for a year.

In addition to the opportunity to have their written works published, one of the winners will be selected and offered a month-long writer’s residency with Orange Project in Bacolod City, one of our local residency partners. The residency will give the winning writer an opportunity to immerse and interact with the local art community.

The Ateneo Art Awards-Purita Kalaw-Ledesma (PKL) Prizes for Art Criticism was launched in 2014 by Ateneo Art Gallery and Kalaw-Ledesma Foundation, Inc. (KLFI). It was named in honor of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, art patron and founder of the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP). Kalaw-Ledesma believed in art criticism’s “vital role in the development of culture,” citing its capacity to “guide both artists towards new directions and public taste towards the best in past and current artistic output.”

QUALIFICATIONS OF PARTICIPANTS

  1. Employees, whether full-time or contractual, of the Ateneo Art Gallery, Ateneo de Manila University, or Kalaw Ledesma-Foundation, Inc., are not allowed to participate.
  2. Must be based in the Philippines.
  3. To avoid conflicts of interest, participants must not have a regular column and must not hold an editorial post in any broadsheet or local/international magazine. Regular columnists are not allowed to join but contributors, defined as any person whose written work is published with a byline but not identified as a columnist, may join.
  4. Bloggers defined as writers of online journals, websites, or whose written work is published in electronic social media may join.
  5. Past winners of the PKL Prize are not eligible to participate.
  6. Writers who have been shortlisted in the past for the PKL Prize may still submit an entry.

MECHANICS FOR ENTRIES

  1. Entries should be essays with no more than 1,000 words.
  2. Entries must reflect the theme of the Program. This year’s theme is Fluctuation, inviting entries anchored as criticism about artists, art works, exhibitions, projects, practices, or events that take a cue from irregular and unexpectable changes. Fluctuation alludes to the sense of unpredictability prevalent today, as intensified by war, inflation, environmental crises, technological developments, and divisive public opinions.
  3. The entry must be written on A4-sized paper. The font should be Arial, Times New Roman, or Book Antiqua, font size 12.
  4. Entries must be submitted digitally as both Word and PDF file attachments with no indication of the identity of the writer on the documents.
  5. Only one original entry is allowed per participant.
    1. The essay should not have been published before on any printed or online platform.
    2. Any entry that has been submitted for consideration in any other writing contest before 30 November 2024 will be disqualified.
  6. Entries must be collated in an accessible Google Drive and submitted at go.ateneo.net/PKL2024Entry with the following file formats with the writer’s last name and title of the entry (ex. Dela Cruz - Essay Title) as filename:
    1. Entry in Word document format (ex. Dela Cruz - Essay Title.docx)
    2. Entry in PDF format (ex. Dela Cruz - Essay Title.pdf)
  7. The deadline for submission of entries will be on 30 June 2024 (Sunday), 11:59 PM.
  8. Copyright of entries of the shortlisted writers (including the winners) shall be held by the writer jointly with AAG and KLFI. All shortlisted and winning essays will be published online in Vital Points after the awarding.

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Jael Mendoza

Jael Mendoza teaches at the Film Institute UP Diliman, where she has also completed her MA in Media Studies (Film). Her works have been shown at 98B COLLABoratory, Ayala Museum, Project 20, Lost Frames, Taiwan International Documentary Festival, and Gawad CCP among others. She has been published in Writing Presently, an anthology of recent writing on contemporary art in the Philippines, Kritika Kultura, and 3-ACT Cinema Magazine. Her ongoing research and moving-image works deal with low-fidelity images, memory, and rural surveillance. She is the co-curator of Nomina Nuda, a small, nonprofit and independent curatorial platform.

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Fabian dela Rosa, Portrait of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, Oil on Canvas | 1932