RENDERZINE 1: A Convergence

As we bring the future closer to us, we witness how our apparent differences as individuals and communities have been barring us from making collective and impactful choices for the common good.

When I say future, I am referring to a material and abstract spatio-temporal scene where creatures can exist and, as much as possible, ecological balance is preserved. However, this scene is threatened by the ever-haunting and atrocious effects of climate change. We know that a future has always been there because we live in a present but the certainty of having a future manifesting itself to us blurs as our present tells us that our chances of making it when the future bestows itself to us are becoming smaller. 

Climate change itself also divides us. It exposes, perpetuates, and exacerbates multifaceted inequality between people and communities. Its effects disproportionately storm the poorest and the most vulnerable.

What's ironic is in these trying times, what divides us can be the same reason we're brought together. The changing climate has driven us to use these dividing elements to our benefit.

Our differences allow us to see the things around us uniquely. When we read poetry, our interpretations of it depend not only on the text but also on us who read the text. The unspoken thoughts between the written lines are threads from our veins as we subconsciously own the world in the poem. When we look at a painting, it does not only present itself to us, we also present ourselves to it. 

Our effort to unlock the meaning of art is the same effort we exert to discover ourselves—this is what makes art a powerful tool to convey stories and stir up urgent conversations such as climate change.

As an experimental climate mitigation platform housing creativity and climate advocacies, RENDER aims to serve as a launching pad for unique and impactful projects bridging science and people. This year, it has launched one of its flagship projects, the RENDERZINE.

RENDERZINE is an anthology of art and literary pieces focused on conveying climate and energy messages. It is a convergence of climate advocacies of 17 creatives from the fields of Science, Art & Literature, Law, and Communications. It is both a celebration of craftsmanship and a commencement of proliferating impactful stories of our aspirations and apprehensions as humans facing climate change. This project invites us to converge our climate advocacies through art as climate change is universal and so is art. 

Derek Tumala’s model of the sun entitled a warm orange coloured liquid poses a weighted question of who we use our technologies for. The installation was made available for public viewing on Feb 9-18, 2024 at Ayala Tower One Fountain Area, Ayala Triangle Park, Makati during the Art Fair Philippines. The project is powered by 800 watts of energy generated by four solar panels. This amount of energy has the capacity to power an average Filipino household for a month. The potential of transitioning into solar energy is illuminated by this piece. As the climate crisis rages on, we find ourselves urged to realize that potential. 

Charles Rosal’s Ginawa ya tuo provides us a glimpse into a future if we keep burning fossil fuels at high volumes, cut down trees, quarry mountains, and live anthropocentrically. It serves as a commentary on the world leaders’ priorities to invest in hyperindurstrialization as a sign of progress and war weapons as a sign of power. In such trajectories they choose to take, the unfortunate constituents of developing countries get disenfranchised. This can be observed in Kai Tan’s What makes a good life as the bare minimum of what a good life should be has grown to be the ideal. And while this sounds bleak, the comic shows us the potency of a tiny decision to achieve one’s hopes. Individually, choosing to live a low-carbon lifestyle may not have a significant impact but collectively, this decision can go far. 

A materialized hope was conveyed poetically in Nivea Urdas’ Siyete as it tells a story of the impact of developing devices using unconventional energy sources such as saltwater. When technology introduces itself as a tool to solve problems, the underprivileged beneficiaries rejoice. This is the burden carried by our scientists as they are called to solve problems and not create more. 

There is a greater force that can make the world run than fuel. It is us. Hindi Lamang Langis by Edbert Casten reintroduces us to various energy sources such as solar, hydroelectric, and wind but emphasizes that there is no greater energy than a united world making change work.

Contributors

Alpine Moldez, Andre Alfonso R. Gutierrez, Anj Cayabyab, Charles Rosal, Chelsea Villasista, Derek Tumala, Edbert Darwin Casten, Eduard Gabrillo, Iris Shiela A. Crisostomo-Lopez, Ivie Urdas, Jhio Jan A. Navarro, Kai Tan, Kryzelle Pasion, Natalie Pardo-Labang, Pochacho Patatas, Romel G. Samson, Troy Casupanan.

Special Thanks

Klima Center, Manila Observatory

Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo, Inc.

AGINI 

Hey X Youth