There/Not There

The new Silverlens Galleries by Anna Sy impresses then relinquishes our attention to the show.

- Angel Yulo

Drills burred, steel tape snapped to place, and lasers shot across white walls to level artwork. Artist Bernardo Pacquing fluffed cotton on an old piano installation in the corner while Ryan Villamiel’s paper cutouts sat bubble-wrapped on a table in the middle of the room. Gallery director Rachel Rillo stepped out of her office to savor the ongoing frenzy, which she dubs her favorite part of shows. “What’s still missing?” she then calls out. “One more Maria (Taniguchi)!” co-director Isa Lorenzo replies from the opposite hall. This hubbub is the setting up of Silverlens Galleries’ inaugural exhibition, held in their new space early this year.

Located at the Lapanday Center along Pasong Tamo Extension, and only a kilometer from their old space, the new two-storey gallery makes use of a former Pancake House commissary. This adaptive reuse was designed by Anna Sy of CS Architecture, who Rillo and Lorenzo have worked with all throughout the existence of Silverlens. “Successful but very unassuming,” Sy describes her clients. “I wanted the space to reflect that.”