Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei

Project: Finding Home－Ronald Ventura Sole Exhibition is the first solo exhibition at MOCA, Taipei for a Filipino artist. Born in 1973 in Manila, Ronald Ventura is a celebrated contemporary artist in the Philippines. His earlier paintings incorporated realism techniques with his peculiar style, and he later diverged into diverse developments bringing together Filipino folk legends with traditional craftwork, with deliberate references to Western art classics and American, Japanese animation aestheticism. The result is a surrealism style mixed with playful pop and popular cultural semiotics. In addition to rich narratives, Ventura’s art also reveals Filipino’s unique ethnicity. On view in this exhibition are paintings and also installations, showcasing multiple scenarios depicting the diligent life of people working abroad. On the outdoor plaza are several dreamy rainbow bridges and a small straw hut grocery store. A moving installation of a carousel is placed at the entrance, leading to an interior space that is colorful, vivid, and full of fantastic lighting effects, as the exhibition opens up with modern nomads’ pursuits and desires for joy and wellbeing. Some repeated elements are seen in the exhibition space, including aircrafts, boats, suitcases, wooden horses, etc., directly and indirectly suggesting geographical journeys made, and the complex emotions and meanings behind “leaving home”. The area neighboring MOCA, Taipei near the Taipei Main Station and Zhongshan North Road is where many Filipino migrant workers in Taiwan are based in, and Ventura explores what “home” means emotionally, mentally, and socially to different individuals that have left the Philippines to work overseas. Home is the most fundamental unit in human civilization and also an issue of wide focus. Through the progression of time, lifestyles of nomads in today’s globalized world have also gradually become included in the parameter defined by “home”. Ventura travels a lot as an artist. Due to his sensitive nature, thoughts on social and cultural matters and creative inspirations are always evoked when his travels, regardless of the location or duration of his visit. The way modern nomads work or their lifestyles are examined by Ventura in this exhibition to investigate how the traditional definitions for home, origin, and belonging have shifted and changed. There are many migrant workers from the Philippines in Taiwan, and with Taiwan as their new place of living and development, the topic of “home to foreign land” is explored and expanded in this exhibition. Many Filipinos have come to Taiwan in the recent years to make a living. They work in factories, homes, on fishing boats, and other jobs, and have become an indomitable part of Taiwan’s labor forces. Many of them are seen gathering at the church, train station, or shops near MOCA, Taipei on weekends. They have come to exchange information or simply to have fun and connect with each other. With this in mind, Ventura has dedicated his artworks placed on the MOCA plaza to them, paying homage to Filipinos’ love for festivities. This exhibition is also an invitation made by MOCA, Taipei on behalf of the people of Taiwan to all the Filipino migrant workers in Taiwan. We believe that it doesn’t matter where we come from, but if we can treat each other with sincerity and live together harmoniously, a sweet and heartwarming home can be created!