Mang Emo / Mag-himo Grand Piano Project Closing Concert

Cultural Center of the Philippines and Galleria Duemila
Cordially invite you to a closing concert for the

Mang Emo / Mag-himo Grand Piano Project

31 May 2007, Galleria Duemila

Galleria Duemila
210 Loring Street
Pasay City, Philippines
Tel: +632 831 9990 / 833 9815
Email: duemila@mydestiny. net
Website: http://www.galleriaduemila.com

Western Australia-based Filipino artist Alwin Reamillo presents a 2-part commemorative installation project entitled Mang Emo / Mag-himo Grand Piano Project as part of his 4-month Asialink Visual Arts Residency at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This two-part project will present the documented development and restorative construction of an art case upright and parlour grand piano in collaboration with Filipino piano makers Jaime Pastorfide, Sabas Rabino Jr. and Tranquilino Tosio Jr., from the now-defunct Javincello & Company, maker of Wittemberg Pianos.

The completed instruments, made from found and recycled structural piano parts, will be presented as central components for a shrine/ piano workshop installation to commemorate the memory of the artist's father, Decimo Reamillo or Mang Emo, a piano maker and inventor who co-founded the family company in 1961. Included in the exhibition are 2 vintage Wittemberg Pianos, the first parlour grand and a prototype of small upright piano called the Maya. The final assembly of a new playing mechanism for the grand piano will be completed at Gallery Duemila during the exhibition. As local piano manufacturing has ceased to exist in the country, the project is a performative action to revive and new breathe life to this art and craft. Maghimo is a Waray word which means 'to make, to create, to craft'. Also presented are a series of mixed media works.

Supported by the Asialink Centre at the University of Melbourne, Australian Embassy Manila, National Commission on Culture and the Arts, Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Galleria Duemila