TAMA tupada action and media art

  TUPADA is an artist-organized international performance art event in the Philippines which provides emerging artists a venue to engage ideas and art practice about new media; particularly human body, sound and site specific. Tupada has set venues for these instantaneous and independent performances, which has enticed and encouraged local artists from various disciplines—academe, research, design, social and community work, film, literature, dance, theatre, music and visual arts—to explore performance art as a less restrictive and more inclusive form of creative expression. .

Started in July 2002 at the Luneta Park, Manila in front of Kanlungan ng Sining (Artists’ Haven), Tupada has held ambush performances by artists from diverse disciplines in various public spaces, exposing the masses to creative articulation where they themselves were located – on an overpass, in open parks, streets, cafes and alternative art spaces. It has since evolved into organizing international performance events, creating connections with local and foreign artists in the spirit of meaningful cultural and information exchange, and melding concepts, directions and personalities together to create an independent ground for art expressing concerns. The succeeding events equipped underrated artists with valuable experience regarding contemporary creative practice.

Since its inception, Tupada has invited international artists from different countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, Taiwan and USA. Tupada Action and Media Art Inc., a non-profit, artist-run events. As part of its advocacy to raise awareness for live art performance in the grassroots level and decentralize art practice from Manila, Tupada Action and Media Art (TAMA) in 2005 began to partner with host provinces / cities in the regions as counterpart organizers, bringing Tupada to Lingayen and Baguio City in recent years, in cooperation with the local art groups Pangasinan Arts Guild and Baguio Vocas Artists. TAMA aims to hold an international new media-based performance art festival, bringing together performance artists from the Philippines with those from abroad to initiate cultural and information exchange and strengthen global ties in performance art, which is a relatively new discipline needing recognition and organization. This event aims to expose local audiences to this new venue of expression in the hopes of enlightening them and creating awareness of local and global issues, serving as a catalyst in the spirit of change. The event also seeks to decentralize performance art’s exposure in Manila, and introduce the genre to nearby provinces, giving the local art groups opportunity to participate in an international event.