An Education in Art, documenta 12 and Skulptur Projekte

skulptur projekte muenster…..an international exhibition of outdoor public art offered every ten years in Muenster, Germany.  This year’s curators proclaim its purpose is to “explore the relationship between contemporary art, urban space, and the public sphere.” 

 

documenta 12.…presented every 5 years in Kassel, Germany, this is the 12th international exhibition of artistic expression and experimental art.

 

 

 

 

AN EDUCATION IN ART

 

Explorations in Germany 

documenta 12 and skulptur projekte ‘07

 

 

Germany as the Palette 

 

Even today, history hangs heavy in Germany.  I felt it perched solidly on my shoulder, not like the ominous raven, but more like the wise, reflective owl, often quiet, but always present…….the weight of it unrelenting.  Germany is a country that has examined and reexamined itself, and it’s people have taken the lessons of history, and take themselves, very seriously.  It is in this context that Muenster and Kassel chose to open themselves up for yet more introspection, more public examination, more serious thought……….. through the  medium of Art. 

 

An Education in Art

 

I’m not an artist, nor am I an art critic.  It was my artsy son that convinced me to travel to Germany for this foray into the esoteric.  But then,  exhibitions of this scale are attended mostly by people like me, the curious tourist……as well as families for an enjoyable outing, and students for study and critique.   As a German man who had attended many previous exhibitions told me, “One must observe with a sense of humor and not take the art too seriously.”   Good advice for the accidental tourist, but having read many reviews from the critics, the art world takes these two exhibitions very, very seriously.  So I set out to bridge the gap, so to speak, between art critic and art tourist…………of stretching outside my comfort zone to embrace the weird, appreciate the folly, and delve inside the soul of contemporary art.

 

Cityscape as Canvas

 

The idea of either Skulptur Projekte or Documenta  taking place anywhere else but their respective cities is unimaginable.  Take Muenster, a small Westphalian town of about 260,000……… People of the region will tell you with observable reverence that Muenster is different from other German cities.  It is a university and banking town,  prosperous, cultured, refined.  As my first cab driver proudly told me in excellent English, “……..this is a city of white collar workers”.    

 

The historical center of the city was mostly destroyed during World War II, yet, the community chose to restore Muenster with its pre-war  gothic architecture  retaining the charm of antiquity and integrating it with contemporary infrastructure.  After the post war construction and transportation needs were addressed, the mid 70’s reflected a period of new beginnings and the undertaking of development projects.  A quarrel about the use of “urban space”  and “public art” ignited a critical discussion resulting in the conception of a large international exhibition named Skulptur Projekte.  Initially an unpopular notion, it has now become the defining image of the city and a blueprint for all subsequent art exhibitions set in public spaces all over the world.

Muenster now views its Skulptur Projekte as a long term study which every ten years assesses the political and economic climate.  Indeed, 39 works from previous years have now become treasured icons of the local landscape.  In this fourth incarnation, 36 artists create site-specfic works responding to the urban context.  Environmental issues take center stage in the form of Pawel Althamer’s “Path”, literally a dirt path representing “a way out of our ordered lives”.  Jeremy Deller studies the very German history of allotment gardens while Tue Greenfort’s “Diffuse Entries” addresses the problem of phosphates in Muenster’s Lake Aa by placing a liquid manure truck shooting an inoculation of iron chloride into the lake to combat the algae blooms caused by the pollutants.  Yes, you are right to conjure up an image of a huge silver truck spewing water into beautiful lake Aa as one of the installations.  Is it ART?  What exactly is ART?  If the purpose of ART and Skulptur Projekte is to be provocative, then, mission accomplished.   But there are other questions awaiting………

 

A free and clean public toilet was one of my particular favorites.  Hans-Peter Feldmann’s “WC Facilities on the Domplatz” addressed the issue of the rather unpleasant, but requisite, subject of public toilets.   The premise:  public toilets should be free, well looked after, and attractive.   Never one to pass up a free toilet, I walked down the stairs marked “Frauen” finding a pristine facility complete with a large piece of artwork and bejeweled chandelier.  Much to my horror, however, the male attendant rushed in to clean each toilet stall even before the flushing stopped.  Well, enough said about that.  

 

Continuing on a theme of usefulness and practicality, a very popular installation amongst young families was Mike Kelley’s “Petting Zoo”.  While the children delight in petting goat, sheep, a pony, and a loudly braying donkey, their parents can ponder the underlying theme of Sodom and Gomorrah.  A life-size salt lick of Lot’s wife stands in the center of the circular barn while the animals are shown films of three different rock formations which are named for Lot’s wife.  As far as I know, the animals remained mute about Lot’s wife and her fate, unless, perhaps the donkey was braying his lament.  They just licked away, changing her form, which was, of course,  expressing the impermanence of life and art, or do I detect a sexual allusion here?

 

History is inescapable, and Muenster does not avoid the confrontation.  Gustav Metzger’s “Shattered Stones” gives us “randomness”.  For each 107 days of  the exhibition,  a man drives a forklift of stones to a particular location in the city.  A similar exercise was to be simultaneously articulated in the English town of Coventry, though it is still pending authorization.  In 1940, the Luftwaffe razed Coventry and in retaliation, the RAF intensified its bombing of German cities.  Metzer’s randomly dispersed stones represent the destruction in both cities.  The stones accumulate and then disappear, a representation of devastation and reconciliation.

  

In another reference to the painful past, Martha Rosler’s three part series, “Unsettling Fragments”, brazenly places the German Armed Forces Eagle affixed to a pole in front of a shopping arcade.  In front of the modern Public Library, she places replicas of the 3 cages from which the corpses of John of Leiden and two other Anabaptists were displayed as they hung from St. Lambert’s Church during the Reformation in 1536.  As a softening effect, she then constructs a Bamboo Garden leading from St. Lambert’s Church to the Library.  “From military to commerce to church to culture and to knowledge.  This is how Rosler reads the city of Muenster”,  states the catalogue.

 

The sometimes enigmatic installations of Skulptur Projekte 2007 suggest that  the term “art in public space”  is much too pedestrian a description for what has actually become an artistic laboratory for the discussion of the relationship between art and its public.   Thoughtful indeed.   But on a sunny autumn afternoon, strolling the tree-lined Promenade, watching ducks swim in the ponds, and bicyclists roll through the park, such big questions seem to dissolve into one overwhelming sentiment:  the most consequential ART is life itself.

 

Kassel:  The Ugliest City in Germany

 

I didn’t say that.  And I don’t think that either.  However, nearly every German I spoke to has mentioned it, unsolicited.  In its most recent history, Kassel was a manufacturing town.  During the war, except for a few historical buildings, the city center was completely destroyed and rebuilt with a 1950’s and 60’s architectural motif.  We spent the first evening in a local pub where the jolly owner and patrons seemed to have dinner together every night.  After my first German bratwurst, sauerkraut, and beer in the hearty atmosphere of this provincial pub, I knew I was going to like this town, architecture be damned!  In fact, Kassel has embraced this quintiennial art event with aplomb and hospitable grace redeeming itself from the faux pas of past design choices.

 

The Journey Within

 

If Skulptur Projekte causes one to look outward to the relationship of the individual in the environment, Documenta elicits an inward journey, and a demanding one at that.  One is often to forced to think about the unthinkable, confront the issues that haunt our fragile humanity.  The obligatory political themes of colonialism, loss of native culture, tyrannical governments, and war failed to lure my attention away from the aesthetically moving, innovative pieces which tell the story of the artist’s own journey through the creative process.  Piece by piece, the artwork begged the question, “What is the relationship of the artist to the artwork?”  The curators had their own questions that they hoped documenta 12 would address.  However, you would probably stop reading if I started to list them.  To summarize, “Is art the medium  for addressing the issues of the day?”

 

The exhibition is held in seven different locations throughout the city and takes a full two days to absorb, if you can last that long……..150 artists and 500 works later.  I had already read several reviews of the exhibition which soundly panned the curators’ vision and execution.  However, we are not art critics here, and we have no purpose but to enjoy the mystique and festive atmosphere  of one of the most significant international art shows.  Created in 1955 by the artist and art educator, Arnold Bode, the exhibition was initiated in response to the violence of Nazism with the intention of reuniting the German public with international modernity.  Every 5 years, the exhibition reinvents itself with a different curator with a different vision.  

 

documenta 12 ‘s curators endowed this exhibition with a theme of “formlessness”, and in this, they achieved their goal. Imagine………… in the newly constructed Aux Pavilion, excoriated for its vastness and “storage shed” appearance, one drifts from British-born Jo Spence’s photographic essay documenting her struggle with breast cancer to Lu Hao’s spectacular traditional Chinese scrolls recording the changes on Chang ‘An Street in Beijing to Romuald Hazoume’s amusing collection of African masks constructed of  plastic containers to a film presenting the oral histories of a Kurdish society by the voices of five men.  Whew!  Formlessness.  According to one critic, if you missed the relationship between the placement of the artworks, then you just weren’t looking hard enough.  Ruth Noack, wife and partner of  curator, Roger Buergel, also takes the public to task when she addressed the issue of including a number of older works dating back 600 years or more.  “The point is to help educate a lay public which knows woefully little about art.”

 

These are a few of my fav-or-ite things……

 

Benin based Hazoume’s “found object” masks were  particularly charming.  Having lived in South Africa where “found object” art abounds, I have long admired the ability to create beauty and whimsy from materials that most people consider disposable.  But no random whimsically exists here.  Hazoume draws on the 4,000 year old African culture and the ceremonial bronze heads for his inspiration while mourning the loss of ancient knowledge in favor of western ideals.   I liked the masks because they made me smile.  Somehow, I don’t think the curators would have approved.  

 

Throughout the exhibition, the public is invited to sit on one of the 1001 antique wooden Ch’ing Dynasty chairs collected and restored by Ai Weiwei, artist and antique aficionado.  At his invitation, 1001 ordinary Chinese citizens will visit Kassel in 5 stages to experience documenta 12.  Attendees were chosen from thousands of applicants, coming from different regions and never having visited a foreign country.  This undertaking, an experiment exploring knowledge transmission,  has the title of “Fairytale”, a regional reference to the Grimm Brothers who wrote their stories in Kassel between 1812-1815.

 

Film figures prominently in documenta 12 as it does in any contemporary exhibition of import.  I was particularly moved by Hito Steyerl film called “Lovely Andrea”.   Filmed in black and white with the author off camera, she documents a search for her own photo from some 20 years ago when she was a “bondage model” in Tokyo.

 

Zheng Guogu stands the ancient art of calligraphy on its head with his monolithic “Waterfall”.  Hundreds of amateur calligraphers produced thousands of texts which were subsequently dipped in wax and fashioned as a waterfall.  This ceremonious experiment releases calligraphy from its historical past giving it form in contemporary life.  

 

Epilogue

 

I am not embarrassed to say that in many cases, I just didn’t “get it”.  This is when I refer back to my German friend who told me to not to take the art too seriously.   Though we, the public, “know woefully little about art”, ultimately, we are present, we are engaged, we are curious.  And we desperately want ART to speak to us.  As my son noted, if art is not connecting with the audience and delivering its message, then perhaps the artists have become too insular, too caught up in their own world.  

 

So the question becomes, “Is art the medium for addressing the issues of today?”  According to current definitions of modernism, it would seem that the fragmentation and subjectivity arouse a bit of discomfort in our all too uncertain world of 2007.   Did documenta 12 work as a relevant exhibition, as a means of communicating the preponderance of today’s world?    Happily, I am not  an art critic who has to make this judgment. On this day in Kassel, it was a pleasure to be the woefully uninformed public enjoying a brat and beer at the local pub. 

 

 

 

First published in “Expat Travel and Lifestyle”, Manila, Philippines, Vol 2 No 1 2008

Berlin: Convergence of Past and Present

Berlin: Convergence of Past and Present
by Kate Baker

With one foot planted firmly in the past and the other decidedly moving forward, Berlin is a city of architectural wonderment.

 

After being bombed to smithereens, ripped in half for 40 years, and enduring nearly 20 years of reconstruction, Berlin has become one of the most sought after destinations for tourists in Germany. And it does not disappoint. Berlin is a virtual living history of architectural innovation and creativity. One can see examples of nearly every style from neo-Renaissance to neo-rationalism and everything in between including works by some of the most heralded modern architects of today.

Steeped in history, Berlin cannot escape its wretched past, nor has it tried. After reunification, the architectural development of this ravaged city was undertaken with a plan to reinvent itself as Germany’s capital and a world class European metropolis. Classical and neo-classical landmarks were restored to their pre-war grandeur and new construction developed befitting Germany’s fresh status as a unified country. Perhaps nowhere is the metaphor more visable than in the government buildings. Two sleek glass and concrete structures on either side of the Spree River joined by covered walkway high over the water represent the joining of East and West. If one looks closely, an outline of a large “D” lies across the outer facade of one of the buildings……a “D” for Democracy. Nearby, the Reichstag, built in 1894 and restored by British architect Sir Norman Foster, has been endowed with a glass and steel dome which overlooks the German legislature at work ……… a symbol of transparent Democracy.

An island in the Spree River, Museumsinsel, has some of the most dramatic classic architecture of the city, some of which are still under reconstruction. The neo-classical Bode Museum and the Baroque Berliner Dom have just recently been re-opened after massive restoration from damage during WWII. The site, with its five museums and the Berliner Dom, was added to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list in 1999.

In 1789, Friedrich Wilhelm II commissioned the city with its most famous monument, the Brandenburg Gate, in the classic style of Greek Revival. The buildings around this square, called Pariser Platz, were totally destroyed during the WWII bombardment. City planners decreed that the new buildings should replicate the pre-war model, a decision which drew criticism from many corners. However, the plan was not to lose sight of the past nor forget its history, no matter how dreadful. “The Senate didn’t want to reinvent Berlin, but wanted to use the old buildings as a resource for the new Berlin,” said Hans Stimmann, the city’s building director.

One of the most visible and haunting landmarks is the Fernsehturm, a television tower built in the 1960’s at the height of the Cold War. It was supposed to represent Communist modernity, but East Germany had to hire Swedish engineers to build it. With an ironic twist, when the sun shines on the ball, the reflection forms in the shape of a cross causing Berliners to designate it as “the Pope’s revenge”.

Even “the Wall” has become an architectural destination displaying historical references near “Checkpoint Charlie”, graffiti art in Mauer Park, or just the stark gray segment recalling the brutality of the era.

Though not always listed in the tour guides, many architectural delights await the tourist who ventures out on the streets of Berlin soaking in its historical aura. From the “Arts and Crafts” movement to the austere Communist blocks, to classical buildings from the past to post modern architecture of today, Berlin is a feast for the eyes and the mind.

Originally published in Expat Travel and Leisure Magazine, Philippines, Vol I, No.4, 2008

We Begin in Nirvana

Jogjakarta in Central Java, Indonesia

Borobudur

 

We Begin in Nirvana

 

It  is 6:00 AM and the dark of night has not yet lifted.  We have grudgingly extricated ourselves from comfortable hotel beds for the one hour journey to watch the sun rise.   We will ascend to the uppermost level of the largest Buddhist monument in the world.    Borobudur, its very name as evocative as its history.   

 

Armed with flashlights and cameras, we trudge across the dew-covered sprawl that will lead us to this mysterious place.  In the dark, we can make out a shadowy monolith rising from the flat plain.  Architecturally, it appears as an unimpressive solid, black lump, a rather squat, spiky one .   We begin ascending the stone steps.  And as night begins to fade to light, we marvel at the massiveness of the structure ……an unending steep stairway, galleries lining either side, and a bounty of stupas as we near the top.  It is a relief to reach the summit and know that day break is near.   By now, the curiosity to see where we are and to examine the structure more closely is overwhelming.  Slowly, slowly darkness fades and, for a brief time, we are bathed in a magical pink light.  The panorama reveals green, mist-shrouded mountains,  two sets of twin vocalnoes which ring Borobudur.   We can see the faded outline of the rising sun. Though we are many who have come to witness morning at Borobudur, a spiritual silence seems appropriate and only the occasional whisper is to be heard.  By the time the sun has fully risen, we  take stock of where we are and realize that we have already arrived in Nirvana.  

 

Rather than a place of worship, the concept of Borobudur is a place of pilgrimage, appealing to the intellect, not the emotion.    Remains of a monastic complex were found nearby, and it is believed that pilgrims came to Borobudur for contemplation, meditation, and to achieve enlightenment.  The monument can be divided into three stages which correspond to the three stages of Buddhist thought on the journey to Nirvana.  From the bottom of the structure,  the student is guided along successive terraces moving upward each symbolizing a higher plane of consciousness. Along the corridors are more than 1,400 exquisitely carved narrative panels in stone relief which illustrate the life of Buddha.  In order to follow the panels all in sequence, the pilgrim must walk around the monument 10 times for a distance of nearly 5 kilometers, the journey designed to represent the arduous physical and mental experiences one must achieve to attain enlightenment.

 

 Upon completion of the third stage, the pilgrim reaches the uppermost level of the monument, Nirvana………..Enlightenment.    And herein lies one of the many remarkable features of  Borobudur.  This physical expansion of space and light is meant to reflect the pilgrims’ newly acquired infinite view of the world.  While viewing the bas-relief in the galleries,  the student has concentrated on small details, sheltered from the outside world by the high walls; the open space at the top offers a vast panorama creating the sensation of universality,  a truly remarkable  genius of the design.   To celebrate this attainment, the pinnacle of Borobudor is crowned by a very large stupa surrounded by 72 stupas with crisscrossed design allowing a view of a masterfully carved Buddha image in the mudra position,  peacefully meditating through centuries of chaos.  Albeit, many of them doing so headless.    

 

Viewed from the air, Borobudur appears to have the design of a great tantric mandala, a sacred diagram used in Buddhist rituals.  It consists of six concentric outer circles, square in shape, three circular terraces, and a dome or stupa at the center.  The size is roughly 402 feet by 383 feet and stands 95 feet above ground level.  

 

Historical information suggests that Borobudur was designed and built over a period of more than 50 years, between A.D. 780-850 and evolved through 5 different phases of construction.  The bas-relief depicts a branch of Buddhism called Mahayana Buddhism.  It is believed that the powerful Sailendra kings of Central Java, who ruled from the 8th to the 13th century, are responsible for the design and execution of the monument.  And indeed, it would have taken a very powerful and wealthy kingdom to undertake such an endeavor.  Over two million volcanic stones fitted perfectly together, intricately carved by skilled craftsmen, and the agricultural support needed to feed such a workforce, suggests the dedication of an entire population of the surrounding area.

 

Studies of the region show that the monument was a center for pilgrimage only about 150 years.   In the 10th century, the population mysteriously abandons the area moving eastward towards East Java.  This is possibly because of the eruption of  surrounding volcanoes.  All building in central Java came to a halt during this time.  But no one knows what happened to the culture responsible for the monument, and, with their disappearance and no written record, its true meaning and purpose also remain a mystery.  

 

From this point onward, there is only passing mention of the site historically until Sir Thomas Raffles becomes the new British governor of Java.   Intrigued by exotic stories of ancient ruins, he commissioned and oversaw an expedition to explore this legendary mountain in 1814.  By now, Borobudur was nearly covered in volcanic ash and vegetation.  Throughout the next 150 years, attempts were made to preserve and restore this, the most unusual Buddhist monument in existence, often doing more harm than good.  

 

The restoration of Borobudur merits nearly as much praise as the building of it.  A young Republic of Indonesia, recognizing that one of its most important cultural monuments was in grave peril, asked  UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) for advice on preventing more deterioration of Borobudur.  The head of the Archeological Service of Indonesia, Professor Soekmono launched a “Save Borobudur” campaign in 1968 in an effort to organize a massive restoration project.  With the help of UNESCO, the resources of 27 countries were enlisted to save the monument.  Stone by stone, the temple was dismantled, a drainage system installed, relief carvings cleaned and treated for preservation.  Borobudur was closed for 10 years. The restoration, eliciting unprecedented international cooperation, took 8 years of labor and twenty-five million dollars.   Professor Soekmono personally oversaw the restoration work at Borobudur and is credited with the success of this massive project, requiring international cooperation and continued testing of new techniques which set new international standards for restoration work.  

 

Having completed the journey to explore the mysteries of Borobudur, we relax with a coffee on an outdoor verandah, reflecting on the monument which looms stalwartly in the distance.  It is an experience that requires time and contemplation to truly appreciate.  Even after two separate excursions, I feel drawn to return yet again.  Perhaps it is the pull of the ancient human quest for the ever-illusive Nirvana.  

 

 

Sources:

Periplus Guides:  Java, Indonesia

www.pbs.org/treasures of the world

www.buddhanet.net

 

First published in Expat Travel and Leisure Magazine, Vol I, No. 3, 2007

 

Rice Terraces of the Philippines

RICE TERRACES OF THE PHILIPPINES

EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD

Did you know that you can support the livelihood of traditional farmers, save a UNESCO site, and contribute to your family’s health just by buying a bag of rice? 

I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of compartmentalizing my lifestyle.  It’s easy to do.  Most of us who have grown up in the first world are so far removed from the sources that enable us to live……the food we eat, the water we drink, the clothes we wear.  We just go to the store and make our choices, often never thinking of the consequences, positive or negative, of our purchases.  Life is really easier that way.  However, the effects of global warming, the global food and fuel shortage, and globalization in general has made it more and more difficult for us to bury our collective heads in the sand.  So it was with great reluctance, though a sense of relief to finally address the issue, that I lifted one eye out of the proverbial sand and began to take stock of how my personal lifestyle effects the rest of the world.  Beginning with…….

 

The food we eat……

 

A regular visit to the Organic Market on Sunday has become my current source of healthier food:  fresh baked bread, vegetables and fruits from Bagio and Tagutay.  I don’t know about you, but I love rice.  So when I discovered organic rice grown on the Philippine rice terraces at the market, it was a no-brainer.   After a few weeks of enjoying this wonderful product, curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to do a little research on the rice and the terraces.  And as is often the case, I got more than I bargained for.

 

History of the Terraces

 

The terraces of Ifugao Province in northern Luzon are estimated to be at least 2,000 years old.  Declared a UNESCO Heritage site in 1995, these high rice fields follow the contours of the mountains and express a perfect harmony between humans and nature.  Over many centuries, withstanding the threats of colonization, the Ifugao people have maintained their traditions through oral history and myth.  According to local elders, Bugan and Wigan were the first Ifugao, and God gave them rice.  He also gave them the means to grow rice in the harsh mountainsides, the terraces.   Evidence suggests that the Miao people from China may be responsible for the  architectural technology of terracing mountainsides  when they settled in the Cordillera Mountains.   An oppressive Emperor’s regime drove the Miao from central China higher and higher into the mountains.  Eventually, the diaspora spread the Miao groups to various regions including the land of Mu, what we now know as the Philippines.  Clearly, evidence of Chinese influence is in the faces of the mountain people, called Igorots by the colonialists, as well as the rituals, traditions, and dress.  

 

Terraces, or hillside development, is present in 6 provinces of northern Luzon.  The terraces have been manually carved out of the mountains and are held together by stone walls. Mountain springs feed the beds by a fairly elaborate irrigation system.  Clean water emerges from deep inside the mountain and is distributed to the paddies by canal system. Although the springs are often small, they provide sufficient water to most of the terraces.  An aerial image is reminiscent of a stairway leading to the heavens.  If connected end to end, the length of all the terraces would be ten times longer than the Great Wall of China! 

 

Symbiosis and personal choices

 

So what does all of this history have to do with the rice we eat today?   After thousands of years cultivating native rice, the people and the rice terraces are at risk of becoming redundant.   Young people are being drawn to the cities rather than farming and the rice terraces are crumbling due to lack of care.  Futile efforts have been made to uplift the condition of the local economy, but really what works best is what has worked for thousands of years.  Growing rice and vegetables and fish in the terraced paddies.

 

Enter Mara Pardo de Tavera, a self taught agriculturalist.   In an effort to secure the Philippine heirloom rice for her own family, Mara began to support a village, Chananaw, in Kalinga about 5 years ago by encouraging them to grow rice in the traditional methods.  The rice is sold at Rustan’s and Sunday’s Legapsi Organic Market, also a brainchild of Mara’s.  (Fourteen years ago, Mara created the first organic market in the Philippines and in Asia, itself.) Ironically, although the Kalinga people are very proud and protective of their native rice, they themselves cannot afford to eat it.  It is more profitable for them to sell their harvest and then buy the cheaper imported rice to eat, saving their heirloom rice for special cermonies.  Over the last several decades, the native peoples of the rice terraces have had to sell most of their heritage, their beads (they now wear plastic), their wooden artifacts, their weavings.  The one constant that has remained is the rice and the terraces, but without a market for the rice, it is also in danger of disappearing.  

 

 If you are accustomed to white rice and haven’t acquired a taste for the red or brown rices, try going to M Cafe at the Ayala Museum.  Order the Sagada Mountain Rice dish and you will be hooked!  Better still, buy the Terraces Rice and make your own.  This is my interpretation of M Cafe’s recipe.

 

Saute a small chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 c. chopped carrots, 1 c. pea pods, 1/4 c. chopped walnuts in 1+ Tbsp butter and 1+ Tbsp olive oil.  After a few minutes, add 2 cups organic red rice, cooked.  Then add 2 or 3 tbsp oyster sauce to taste, salt and pepper.  Delicious!  (Check label that oyster sauce does not contain MSG.  Use organic when possible!)

 

We are becoming more aware that the choices we make have an impact in the global arena.  Mara likens buying consumer products to voting.  She says, “When you buy a product, you are voting for that product.   When you buy rice from the terraces, you are not only voting for a healthy organic product, but you are voting for the sustainability of a culture. “