Barikada art installation at UP Diliman by Toym Imao

“Barikada” is composed of two towers of bamboo, old campus furniture, and components of past installations. It is a work by Toym Imao, who obtained a Masters in Fine Arts or MFA at the University of the Philippines, and is a Fullbright scholar with an MFA in sculpture from the Maryland Institute College of Arts.

“Barikada”, which is Filipino and Spanish (barricada) for barricade, stands at the entrance of UP Diliman. It was initially a commemoration of the Diliman Commune, a protest against increasing oil prices that took place early February 1971. But in February 2021, after the government attempted to cancel an agreement that restricted police and military access to the campus, Barikada in some ways took new meaning.

The Barricade

Imao’s installation from afar looks exactly like its namesake, a barricade. Not only that, it looks as if it was abruptly erected to fend off some sort of immediate threat, like zombies, or the agendas of nefarious authority figures. With the former, you can see them coming. This I feel is the point of the artwork: a physical manifestation of concerns, particularly for young people and the future. To emphasize this, it is erected with the most available objects in any school campus: student desks new and old. Desks that can be said are used to elucidate or indoctrinate young people, depending on who you ask. 

Though it is a barricade, there is a large hole in it, and through this hole is the UP Oblation statue in plain sight. The UP Oblation, by National Artist Guillermo Tolentino, is a naked man whose arms are stretched to his sides seemingly flinging himself into the open sky. It is said that it represents the students of UP, who are asked to take what they learn from the country’s sole public university and give back to the country. To offer their whole selves to education, and to the nation.

So what is the point of the barricade? To deter those who want access to what the statue represents? Or to place the statue in plain view void of obstruction, to feature and focus in on it? As if to say, this is here for you to take, or to leave. What are we protecting, or calling attention to?

A reflection of the times

Recruitment of young people into the New People’s Army or NPA, a communist rebellion deemed terrorist organization by the government, is the primary reason why the Department of Defense declared the termination of the accord that restricted police and military access to the University. Despite this, no evidence or precedent was given when the announcement was made, other than a reference to 18 NPA members having been students of UP. When asked for the list of students, a list provided by the Philippine Army was found to be false.

And because the current administration, as well as previous ones, has a long tradition in conducting extrajudicial kidnappings and killings, how do we know if students will be protected from false accusations with the lack of transparency?

Perhaps a barricade, whether physical or otherwise, will be necessary for the time being. Only to be taken down, or terminated, when the nation is finally truly free from zombies, or the agendas of nefarious authority figures.

Additional trivia: Toym Imao is also the artist behind the 8-foot bronze statue of Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal in Carson, California.

Toym Imao does it again in his latest installation in honor of fallen frontliners: “Whispering Flowers Beds“, now up at the Philippine General Hospital.