Behold Juan Luna’s España y Filipinas in a new light with Samsung’s FACETS App for Propaganda

The Propaganda exhibit (6 February to 30 May 2015) showcases how traditional artworks converge with technology using Samsung Smart TV technology and device to enhance the museum-going experience. It highlights unique digital experiences with traditional artworks and rare books found in the museum and the library.

Through Samsung Smart TVs and mobile devices, visitors will see ultra-violet scans of Juan Luna’s España Y Filipinas, revealing details behind the painting; flip through digital copies of the library’s oldest books in its collections dating back to 15th and 16th century and view a video of the process of restoring and preserving them; and see Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo’s several studies on Per Pacem Et Libertatem on a tablet device.


The Propaganda of Juan Luna’s España y Filipinas

The ethnographic, colonial and universal exhibitions with a commercial component which would be frequent in the Western world — is the context that prompted the idea of organizing a colonial exhibition of the Philippines in Madrid, which would be held in the summer of 1887. One of the many reasons given by the Spanish administration to justify this celebration was making known the economic and social reality of this overseas province and, while doing so, favor the unbalanced commercial relationship between the colony and its metropolis. Although a considerable effort was made to co-ordinate and present a global view of Philippine society, the organization of the exhibition could not conceal an inevitable colonial character.

In 1895, the image of España y Filipinas was used for the catalog cover of the Exposición Regional de Filipinas (Regional Exposition of the Philippines) with the requisite Royal Coat of Arms of Spain and the Ultramar of the Philippines. The exhibition opened on January 23 1895 and was held in the grounds owned by the State in the poor area of Ermita, where the School of Agriculture was located, that became the Central Pavilion. The program established six sections: 1. Orography, Hydrography, Geology, Anthropology, Mining, Metallurgy and Meteorology; 2. Hunting, Fishing and Flora; 3. Agriculture; 4. Manufacturing Industry; 5. Trade and Transport; 6. Fine Arts. The fourth section included demonstrations by blacksmiths, locksmiths and specialized textile workers (pine fabric).


Propaganda Exhibit is on view from 6 February to 30 May 2015

Through the activation of an integral segment of the Lopez Museum and Library’s collection, the World War II propaganda, and election-related archival materials, Propaganda fleshes out the idea of myth-making and its ability to inspire change in society, and conversely, the formation of a fantasy or outright fallacy packaged as a promise that never gets fulfilled.

Propaganda brings together works of featured artists Nune Alvarado, Santiago Bose, Joey Cobcobo, Don M. Salubayba, and Alvin Yapan along with a selection from the museum and library’s collection of Juan Luna, Félix Resurrección Hidalgo, National Artists Napoleon Abueva, Fernando Amorsolo, Jose Joya, Cesar Legaspi, and J. Elizalde Navarro.

For more information, please call Tina Modrigo at 6312417.



Source: Catalog cover image and info about Juan Luna’s España y Filipinas and the Regional Exposition of the Philippines 1895, Biblioteca Nacional de España.


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Samsung and Lopez Museum create new art experiences through “Propaganda” exhibit