‘Start to End’ by Lyndon Santos
The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde presents Swipe Culture, a free three-day screening which investigates the shifting dynamics of video consumption in the digital age, to start on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
The selection was curated by artist Kaloy Olavides as part of MCADxMovingImage, a program which looks at culture, society, and politics through the media of the moving image. It presents a selection of hybrid documentaries, video essays, narrative experiments, filmed performances, and archival audiovisions.
“As audiences grow increasingly accustomed to rapid, bite-sized content, attention spans shrink, and the patience for long-form storytelling diminishes,” Olavides explained.
Olavides, an art lecturer at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), expounded on how this culture shift challenges video-making, and pushes artists and filmmakers to rethink narrative structure, pacing, and engagement.
“The rise of short-form content across media platforms transforms how visual narratives are created, delivered, and experienced,” he added.
To explore this evolution, Swipe Culture presents a diverse collection of works, two from each participating Filipino visual and multidisciplinary artist—one of their earliest pieces and one of their most recent.
“This juxtaposition offers a compelling lens to examine how the emergence of short reel videos has influenced the artists’ creative approach, stylistic choices, and storytelling strategies over time,” Olavides noted.
“By tracing these changes, Swipe Culture invites viewers to reflect on how our own habits of watching are reshaping the future of visual moving images.”
‘Catching What Fades’ by Mads Lamanilao
‘Pspspspspspspspsps’ by Mads Lamanilao
‘Face Busal’ by Lyndon Santos
‘Lonely Girls’ by Pam Miras
The roster includes advocates Christian Encabo, Mads Lamanilao, Lyndon Santos, and Pam Miras on Wednesday, July 23.
‘Apparitions’ by Christina Lopez
‘¶∑’ by Lyle Sacris
Experts Min Dacua, Lena Cobangbang, Alice & Lucinda, Christina Lopez, and Lyle Sacris are for Thursday, July 24.
’63’ by Idan Cruz
’78’ by Idan Cruz
‘Post Mortem Molotov Smell’ by Rico Entico
Artists Erwin Romulo, Idan Crusz, Vic Balanon and Ferdz Valencia, MM Yu, and Rico Entico are for Friday, July 25.
Swipe Culture is free and open to the public, and is set every noon on the scheduled dates.
It will be on view at the MCAD Multimedia Room, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) Design + Arts Campus, Dominga Street, Malate, Manila.
Interested attendees may email mcad@benilde.edu.ph.
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/MCADManila or mcadmanila.org.ph/.
