MCAD Manila: A New Museum Model in the Philippines

The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) at De La Salle College of Saint Benilde in Manila operates as a non-collecting, non-profit Kunsthalle, focusing on temporary exhibitions and experimental projects. Founded by director Joselina Cruz after curating the 2008 Singapore Biennale, MCAD rejects the traditional private museum model tied to collecting and patronage. Its building, designed by modernist architect Eduardo Calma in 2007, features warehouse-like proportions with extremely high ceilings, initially intended as a student laboratory. The museum embraces its monumental scale for temporary installations and experimentation. MCAD Commons extends programming beyond museum walls to improve accessibility, placing art in unconventional spaces like a sari-sari store in Lucban, Quezon province, and an Art Deco building in Chinatown. The exhibition "Moments of Delay," curated by Arianna Mercado, emphasizes process, temporality, and engagement over objects, featuring artists from activist collective Tambisan ng Sining to multimedia artist Celine Lee. The show avoids fixed notions of Filipino identity, instead exploring interstitial and contradictory spaces. MCAD faces funding challenges as a non-profit without a permanent collection, but Cruz sees these as drivers of creativity and flexibility.