XOXO (FILIPINO FUTURISM)
December 6-7, 2024
Presented by CPR – Center for Performance Research as part of OPEN STAGE | Fall Movement.
Images courtesy CPR. Photos by Elyse Mertz.
XOXO (FILIPINO FUTURISM) is a new movement, a manifesto. What if Filipinos we were able to move beyond relegated roles of subordination and service? What if we manipulate these roles to our advantage?
Assimilation and camouflage have been mechanics of our survival in America. This work investigates/restructures these systems to uplift our visibility; to simultaneously reconnect with pre-colonial indigenous practices and carry these into our vast imagined futures.
Using the Peep Show as a performative container in this reclamation of power, I simulate a kaleidoscope of identities in erotic exchange as a tribute to her vessel and its predecessors – the ways in which my ancestors have been perceived, used, exoticized, erased.
XOXO also pinpoints schisms between the homeland and the diaspora, evident in the heated debate over Filipinovs. Filipinx. Synthesizing personal video archives with movement, set design, and folk traditions, the work bridges generational and geographical gaps with discourse, intimacy, and absurdist panache.