The French Embassy, Alliance Française de Manille and Rustans, together with the Musée Nicéphore Nièpce, the Quezon City government and the Intramuros Administration, has mounted the second installment in a series of photo and video exhibits through Kilometer 1.

Deviating from 2011’s Kilometer Zero, the featured artists’ works are on display in various locations in the metro such as the Quezon Memorial Circle, Fort Santiago and the Metropolitan Museum. The exhibits opened on October 29.

As part of Quezon City’s celebration of its 73rd founding anniversary, the city government is welcoming the arts in the Memorial Circle. Designed as a route through the venue, large photos on tarpaulins featuring the works of Filipina photographer MM Yu and French photographer Léa Eouzan are on display throughout the park. Eouzan’s works focus mainly on the perception of space through memorial and historical sites. Yu unveiled her best pieces of ironic landscapes presented through ordinary objects.

As a public park that attracts about 10,000 visitors on weekdays and 20,000 on weekends, the Quezon City Memorial Circle is the perfect venue for bringing artistic photography to the Filipino public and to raise awareness of the richness and variety of local cultures.

Meanwhile, video artist Manny Montelibano creates an In Situ artwork focusing on “Pinoy optimism” in key moments of the country’s history through an audiovisual installation at the Intramuros (Fort Santiago). Through this project, the French Embassy has been able to work closely with the Intramuros Administration for the first time.

KM1 aims to create a dialogue between Filipino and French artists. It endeavors to go beyond the conventional photo exhibit by bringing art to the people and inviting the audience to discover images outside the regular artistic venues.

Kilometer One is part of FrancoPhil 2012, the French-Philippine cultural season in the Philippines.

For more information, call Astrid Renoux, Cultural Attaché of the French Embassy in Manila at (02) 857-6935 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . To know more about FrancoPhil, visit www.ambafrance-ph.org or log on to the French Embassy in Manila’s official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FrenchEmbassyManila.