ITop view, Unearthing of a Funny Weather, Derek Tumala, 2023, Papier-mache, 10m x 5m x 8m, Adaptation: A Reconnected Earth, Museum of Contemporary Art & Design-Manila




Unearthing of a Funny Weather is a model of the Dipidio open-pit mines in Nueva Vizcaya, Luzon. Initially developed by Derek Tumala for the online project titled Tropical Climate Forensics, it follows the recognition that most of the mining companies in the Philippine territory are foreign. Historically, their operations have brought about devastating environmental and social repercussions. In light of the Philippines' status as a former colony, the widespread and conspicuous presence of these companies manifests how narratives of progress and modernization serve to conceal neo-colonial power relations. Unearthing of a Funny Weather represents a material exploration of Tumala's virtual project, which, among other efforts, deals with the impact of extractivism and plunder in the Philippines.




Unearthing of a Funny Weather, Derek Tumala, 2023, Papier-mache, 10m x 5m x 8m, Top view (left), Installation view (right)






Diorama of a Climate Crisis, 2023, size variable





A Hairy Blob Washed Ashore, Doomsday is Coming, toilet paper, acrylic gloss, sand, paper, 2023





Eating Gold Will Make Ours Eyes Mutating, papier mache, architectural plant models, paper, soil, 2023





What Looks Like Burning is Not Really Burnt, papier mache, architectural plant models, 2023



The three dioramas presented are physical versions of those in Tropical Climate Forensics and deal with a very different set of scenarios from their 19th-century counterparts: a globster washed ashore in Dinagat, indigenous kaingin farming practices in Palawan, and the upland rice field terraces in lfugao. The works harbor tension between a model intended to flawlessly preserve idyllic environments, and subject matter manifesting colonial legacies, indigenous alternatives, and environmental changes as an inevitable condition of our time.


Adaptation: A Reconnected Earth proposes an approach of determining the present within the realities of a changed climate, a despairing planet, and a recently renewed humanity. While climate agencies have warned that the global temperature rise this century should be kept well below 2 degrees Celsius to “save” the planet, we have artists speaking to the realities of our disrupted present climate and our daily lives lived in anxious oscillation between the enticements of capitalism and responsible conservation.

We must approach re-entering the planet, of peopling the world, through the modality of care and kinship. This proposal of having a thoughtful, kind, and considerate outlook is the consciousness we should strive for in order to survive the present and future of our own making.

Adaptation: A Reconnected Earth features Patty Chang, Agnes Denes, Josh Kline, Lui Medina, Issay Rodriguez, Deniz Tortum & Kathryn Hamilton, Derek Tumala, and Bartolina Xixa.

Derek Tumala’s work is supported by the British Council’s Creative Commissions for Climate Action, a global programme exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology.






Adaptation: A Reconnected Earth
28 March to 23 July 2023
Museum of Contemporary Art & Design-Manila
Curated by Joselina Cruz and James Luigi Tana


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