An internationally acclaimed artist-led creative studio who have been redefining the boundaries of dance for over a decade.

ARCHIVO 1984 is an invitation into a private world where art, literature, film memorabilia, OPM and turn of the century records are preserved in seamless coexistence for those with an obsessive predilection for collectibles and beautiful objects.

Corinne De San Jose is an interdisciplinary artist and film sound designer based in Manila, Philippines. She works in a range of mediums, from photography-based processes such as printmaking and video, to sound pieces, and sound installations, often using found objects and outmoded forms of communication juxtaposing them with current and imagined technologies to create new systems of storytelling. Her work often involves the use of complex processes and repetition to document ideas around the female body and gaze, exploring other scopes of identity such as her own domesticity and habitation within the nature of systemic social values in her culture. She is currently researching on histories concerning the female narrative particularly within anthropological mysticism, and exploring our notions of and engagement with sound, and sound-based healing practices.

Erna Omarsdottir is the artistic director of Iceland Dance Company. Following her studies at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Brussels (P.A.R.T.S) under the direction of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, she has worked with choreographers such as Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Jan Fabre, Damien Jalet, and Les Ballets C de la B. She has collaborated with artists such as Björk, Matthew Barney, Ben Frost, Gabríela Fridriksdottir, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ragnar Kjartansson and Sigur Rós.

Lyle Nemenzo Sacris is a director and cinematographer. Working professionally since 1999, his work is characterized by an anarchic sense of humor and precise craftsmanship. He studied chemistry and molecular biology and biotechnology before shifting to experimental filmmaking. He co-founded Furball, a production company with other artists, and started directing music videos, mostly for non-mainstream artists. His work remains diverse, ranging from commercials to feature films, moving image installations and collaborations with visual artists, dance companies, and musicians. Sacris has exhibited moving image work in the Philippines, South Korea and Germany.

He is currently in development for his third feature film.

Mark Salvatus works across various disciplines and media, convening engagements using objects, photography, videos, installations, and participatory projects that present different outcomes of energies, meanings, and experiences. Calling his overall artistic practice Salvage Projects, a name that corresponds to the meaning of his surname, Mark has presented his works in different exhibitions and venues, including UP Vargas Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Ateneo Art Gallery, and Metropolitan Museum in Manila; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; MMCA, Seoul; Asia Society and International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York; Centre for Heritage, Arts, and Textile (CHAT) and Osage Art Foundation, Hong Kong and Hong-gah Museum, Taipei.

Salvatus’ work “Sa kabila ng tabing lamang sa panahong ito (Waiting just behind the curtain of this age)” is the official entry of the Philippine Pavilion for the 60th Venice Art Biennale 2024, curated by Carlos Quijon, Jr.

Renzo Navarro is a photographer based in the Philippines who specializes in themes of liminality and transience. By manipulating the shapes of different materials, and through a mastery of light, space, and the tense relations between, Navarro has developed a unique stylistic approach to the abstract—one that betrays a tendency to reckon with the ephemeral. Whether we’re talking about “I’m Sorry I Couldn’t Stay,” where a truck’s metal surface reflects the iridescent lights of an unseen, bygone world, or “Boy Who Eats His Feelings,” a series of still life images that recall the glimmering shores of mythical underworlds, Navarro has a way of capturing what does not stay. One could interpret his work as escapist, hungrily imagining hypothetical elsewheres. It is more than that. Through defamiliarization, Navarro more often than not makes the subject of his work not just what is absent, but absence itself.

Tarzeer is a gallery and creative production group based in Manila. They produce editorial & documentary content for brands across food, fashion, art, performance, tech, design and social enterprise. Their gallery & website are dedicated to the development and presentation of new photography & video works.

Alvin Collantes (he/they) is a Filipino-Canadian guest speaker, queer dance artist, movement explorer, choreographer, and Jungian life coach whose work navigates the emotional landscapes of migration, the upheavals of assimilation, and the embodied struggles of migrant bodies. His artistic research delves into queerness as a radical practice of embracing wholeness and self-acceptance, weaving these themes into his performances and community work. Based in Berlin, Alvin is a 2024 Soho House Fellowship member through the Creative Futures Collective.

Aze Ong wills fiber into forms of delicate structures that take lives of their own or that flourish into environments or bloom as installations. Her process is intricate as it is intuitive, shaped by thresholds of physical endurance or determinations of duration.

Ong was the recipient of the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship in 2016. Her works have been featured in institutional and gallery exhibitions in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Canada, the United States, among others. She completed an artist residency at Topaz Arts, Inc. and Bliss on Bliss Art Projects in Queens, New York. She was a part of the exhibition “Fabric of Being” organized by SEA Junction with UNFPA at the ICPD25 Nairobi Summit. Her works are included in the exhibit Threads at the Ukranian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago.

King Puentespina, known professionally as crwn, is a dynamic and versatile artist hailing from Manila, Philippines. Renowned for his innovative electronic music productions, crwn has rapidly emerged as a prominent figure in the local and international music scene.

Since embarking on his musical journey in 2013, crwn has consistently released captivating tracks that showcase his unique sound and artistic vision. His collaborative efforts with esteemed artists, both domestically and internationally, have further solidified his reputation as a talented and sought-after producer and songwriter. Notable collaborations include the acclaimed EP “How I Love” with singer Jess Connelly and the critically acclaimed collaborative project “Labyrinth” with August Wahh.

Jonas Åkerlund is an internationally awarded director of feature films, documentaries, music videos, commercials, and stage shows. He is known for his distinctive storytelling and visually driven signature style that often pushes the boundaries of the status quo.

MAGIS Creative Spaces is a center for holistic mental wellbeing. It specializes in the professional practice and development of the expressive arts in various settings for social impact, including education, social work, and clinical therapy. It also offers a range of services and programs for the mental and psychosocial wellbeing of children, adults, families, teams, and organizations.

Micaela Benedicto is an architect, artist and musician living and working in Manila. She set up the design firm MB Architecture Studio in 2007. The work of MB Architecture Studio places emphasis on thorough planning and form finding to achieve a distinct spatial quality, informed by site conditions in the tropical context and the project clients’ individual stories.

Samantha Shay is a multidisciplinary artist, performer, director of theatre and film, and movement artist. As a creative instigator, catalyzer and master collaborator, her acclaimed body of work challenges traditional boundaries, creates new connections, and dances across the fault lines between disciplines. She is currently a Special Research Fellow in Theatre Directing at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, and is also the Artistic Director of Source Material, an interdisciplinary production company and artist collective, which she founded in 2014. From 2021 - 2023 Samantha was a Guest Artist & Researcher at Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, where she began as a Fulbright Scholar in 2021. During that time she created and launched numerous projects, some of which are still in development.

Wawi Navarroza is a Filipina lens-based artist recognized as one of the foremost names in contemporary Southeast Asian art today. She is known for her vibrant large format photographic tableaus, landscapes and self-portraits which speak of the hybridity of identity, photography, and place.

With 25 years of art practice in photography, she has developed her own visual language that combines tableau vivant with in-studio mise en scène, lighting and lens-work that create collage-like pieces. She plays with the medium and her hand is seen in all stages of the work including the hidden deliberate cuts-and-pastes within the digital image and in the choice of exacting artist frames.

Apa Agbayani is a Filipino writer-director based in New York and he’s working through his feelings with magic. Apa started out directing music videos for indie artists in the Philippines then continued towards films and commercials. Currently, he’s finishing a Film MFA at Columbia University.

His latest short “Abutan man tayo ng house lights (When the house lights come on)” was the recipient of the QCShorts production grant and premiered at the QCinema International Film Festival in the Philippines in 2023. Apa’s previous shorts are “Somewhere all the boys are birds” (2023), which premiered at NewFest 35 in New York, and “We kept warm” (2021), which was released online via Tarzeer Pictures.

Carl Jan Cruz is a Filipino brand based in Manila, Philippines. Carl Jan Cruz is also collection of visual autobiographies that aims to represent an honest dialogue between personal past and present.

Since its establishment in 2014, Daloy has made waves in the Philippine art scene with polymorphic productions that play with the boundaries of contemporary dance while inviting audiences to both question and celebrate societal culture. With its strong collaborative thrust, the company has worked with notable visual artists in various museums and galleries in the Philippines. Recently nominated for Most Outstanding Contemporary Dance Group by the Philippine LEAF Awards in 2023, Daloy is known for their innovative approach to dance-making. Led by artistic director Ea Torrado, the group’s reach extends far beyond the Philippines, having performed and toured in festivals across Thailand, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the USA. Their versatility shines through in the wide range of dance styles they’ve showcased, from performances at Miss Universe PH to collaborations with Vogue Philippines, Jewelmer, and Bench Fashion Week, among many others.

Damien Jalet in an independent French Belgian choreographer and dancer, whose work has been presented internationally. Interested in the capacity of dance to constantly reinvent itself by conversing with other medias; including the visual arts, music, cinema, theatre, and fashion; his works are often collaborative.

Mari Dance creates, develops and facilitates contemporary approaches in dance performances for artistic, entertainment, educational, and production platforms. Its founders JM Cabling, Michael Que, Abbey Carlos, Sarah Samaniego and Ricca Bautista, embody broad repertoire, knowledge and experience in the dance industry locally and abroad. We bridge the critical and creative ethos in movement making for the larger public to experience and appreciate contemporary dance.

NOWNESS ASIA is a sister-arm of NOWNESS, a movement for creative excellence in storytelling celebrating the extraordinary of every day. Since 2010, NOWNESS’ unique programming strategy has established it as the go to source of inspiration and influence across art, design, fashion, beauty, music, food, and travel. Our curatorial expertise and award-winning approach to storytelling is unparalleled. We work with exceptional talent, and both established and emerging filmmakers, which connects our audience to emotional and sensorial stories designed to provoke inspiration and debate.

Launched in 2020, NOWNESS ASIA continues the platform’s commitment to cultural storytelling by paying close attention to regional zeitgeists, and by working closely with a new generation of creative practitioners to present stories for a contemporary global audience. 

Somatosonic is a multidisciplinary art unit composed of Christina Dy, a visual artist and dancer; Tad Ermitaño, a media and sound artist; and Marco Ortiga, a sculptor and specialist in kinetic media.

They produce collaborative works that incorporate media and techniques drawn from the members’ various specializations. Alongside their collaborative artworks, Somatosonic also
performs with artist-made instruments, augmented by electronic textures and a sonified dance performance.