David Medalla
Author Archive

David Medalla

David Medalla is a Filipino international artist, who was born in Manila, the Philippines in 1942. His work ranges from sculpture and kinetic art to painting, installation and performance art. He lives and works in London, New York and Paris. At the age of 12 he was admitted at Colombia University in New York upon the recommendation of American poet Mark van Doren and studied ancient Greek drama with Moses Hadas, modern drama with Eric Bentley, modern literature with Lionel Trilling, modern philosophy with John Randall and attended the poetry workshops of Leonie Adams. In the late 1950s he returned to Manila and met Jaime Gil de Biedma (the Catalan poet) and the painter Fernando Zobel de Ayala, who became the earliest patrons of his art. In 1960s Paris, the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard introduced his performance ‘Brother of Isidora’ at the Academy of Raymond Duncan, later, Louis Aragon would introduce another performance and finally, Marcel Duchamp honoured him with a ‘medallic’ object. His work was included in Harald Szeemann’s exhibition ‘Weiss auf Weiss’ (1966) and ‘Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form’ (1969) and in the DOCUMENTA 5 exhibition in 1972 in Kassel.

autoportrait-David Medalla and Adam Nankervis Santiago Chile 2006
EventsLIVERPOOLMANCHESTER

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Merzman Merz Flaneuries David Medalla and Adam Nankervis have been comissioned as the official MERZMAN artists in residence. Between 5th and 13th March, to re-MERZ Manchester and Liverpool. And, acting as latterday flaneurs, to set out to re-trace the footsteps of Kurt Schwitters and his peregrinations around Manchester, Bury, St

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LONDONNEW YORKtexts

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https://www.1fmediaproject.net/2010/12/19/protest-the-censorship Ciao Raffaella! I give you my full permission to publish in 1F MEDIAPROJECT the entire text of my letter in support of the demo/protest against censorship in the arts. I believe that all artists – in fact, all people in the world- should have the right of freedom of

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EventsSAO PAULOtexts

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David Medalla e Adam Nankervis // The Secret History of Mondrian Fanclub – Part 3: So Pulo curated by Maria Baro and Adriano Casanova Baró Galeria Barra Funda, 216 | São Paulo Brasil 18/09/2010 a 20/11/2010 http://barogaleria.com/exposicao/david-medalla-e-adam-nankervis-the-secret-history-of-mondrian-fanclub-part-3-so-pulo-uma-homenagem-a-helio-oiticica-lygia-pape-e-lygia-clark/ A Baró Galeria recebe a primeira exposição de David Medalla e Adam Nankervis

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LONDONLondon Biennaletextsvideo film & live performances

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Text by David Medalla In the spring of 1960 I met a young English clarinetist in a jazz club on the Left Bank in Paris. When I told him that I was about to visit London for the first time, Chris, the young clarinetist, gave me helpful advice about social

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textsTop News

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ACEPHALE  by David Medalla When I saw the image of a headless man on the flyer of the multi-media exhibition ‘WHITE SNUFF’ which Adam Nankervis is curating at Ackerkelle in Berlin, I remembered a number of things. Firstly I remembered the time when Adam and I were in the centre

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LONDONLondon BiennaleSOUTH AFRICAStudio.ratextsTop News

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This year, 2010, the FIFA Football World Cup will be held in South Africa. Newspapers and magazines are teeming with articles and photographs of South Africa. There are extensive media coverage of the sports facilities which the South African government has erected to host this global event. I saw colour

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LONDONLondon BiennaletextsTheatre & Dancevideo film & live performances

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A Yuletide Pantomime by David Medalla Yesterday, Saturday, the 2nd of January 2010, I went for tea in the home of Hermine Demoriane and Hugo Williams at Angel in Islington, London. Hermine and Hugo are old friends of mine. Hugo, an eminent poet, won the T.S. Eliot Poetry Award, one

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