Here, Distorted presents a scene shot in a Bacolod strip club, where the ladies take their turns on the dance pole to entertain customers. It is perhaps not an unfamiliar scene in Philippines, especially Manila which has a lingering reputation for seedy clubs, nightlife and the sex trade. Yet the view offered by Montelibano’s lens provides a different window into the goings-on in the club – shot from a low vantage point in a single-take, the viewer presented a view of the women’s well-toned calves and glittery (but often ill-fitting) stiletto shoes, and the background where a Miley Cyrus music video plays. Rather than satisfying and playing into a voyeuristic view of a display of sex and flesh, the video turns the viewer’s attention to see the less-seen and heard aspects of the life in the sex trade – its mundane and banal – such as the DJ’s bored chatter, the cleaning before and after the show, and the bargaining over disputed wages. Manny Montelibano’s (b. 1971) work is focused on the psychology of contemporary socio-political, economic and religious structures. The artist probes through these subjects’ subtleties and intricacies by way of video or inter-media installations - often exposing macroscopic realities through extracts of local culture. In 2015, he represented the Philippines at the 56th Venice Biennale. He lives and works in Bacolod, the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines.
