LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) presents ANITO by CalArts alum Carlo Maghirang (Theater MFA 17). The public art installation will be on view at the River Station Roundhouse turntable at Los Angeles State Historic Park in downtown LA from this Saturday, Aug. 23 to Sunday, Sept. 7.
Maghirang is an LA-based installation artist, environment designer, and experiential art director originally from the Philippines. He specializes in sculptural and architectural interventions that bridge the gap between art object and environment.
ANITO is a continuation of a series about self, spirituality, and myth. His previous solo sculptural triptych installation was MA-NA-NANG-GAL, which reimagined a mythical Philippine monster using modern techniques like 3D printing and AI. It debuted at Lincoln Center in New York in March 2024.
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Inspired by the same idol he encountered as a child during near-death experience with his grandfather, this collection of figures and the parts that comprise them tells a playful narrative on identity-creation. ANITO is a continuation of a series that remaps his connections to his country through the self, linking memories to spirituality and myth.
ANITO refers to the spirits of ancestors of the indigenous Tagalogs in the Philippines, and the practice of carving figures/idols (called either taotao or likha) to represent them. These idols vary in size and use: some are the size of one’s palms, often kept in makeshift altars and prayed on for health and riches, while others are human scale and used as wayfinding posts or to bless a particular crop/field. Their use has been well-documented since before the colonization of the islands by the Spanish, and are often made with the natural materials found within the creators’ immediate surroundings (such as wood, limestone, coral, and gold). They are imbued with the spirits of the creator’s ancestors through ritual and offerings.
Two other Filipino American CalArtians will perform at public programs at the park in conjunction with ANITO:
- Saturday, Aug. 23 at 1 pm: A dance performance by CalArts alum Jobel Medina (Dance MFA 21). Born and raised in the Philippines, Medina migrated to the US at the age of 12 and is known for his solo series, Kill The Monsters, which was performed at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in LA in 2022 and his queer romance theatrical-dance, David, My Goliath, which premiered at REDCAT in 2021. Medina’s choreography has been presented at renowned institutions including The Broad Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art in LA, and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
- Saturday, Aug. 30 at 1 pm: A music performance by Anna Luisa Petrisko (Music MFA 14). Her experimental opera, All Time Stop Now, premiered at REDCAT in September 2023. She is a member of Naman, an LA-based Filipino-American collective. She has performed at LACMA, The Broad, and Lincoln Center in New York.
Support for the LACE program is provided by Karen Hillenburg, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, California Arts Council, and the National Performance Network.
