Visual artist Lizza May David (*1975, Quezon City, Philippines) is based in Berlin, Germany. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (Germany), École des Beaux Arts de Lyon (France) and University of Arts Berlin. As a guest artist participating in 1335MABINI's Artist-in-Residence Program Manila (AiRPManila), she is working on the reappropriation of "Philippine" modern paintings - confronting formalist questions and abstraction, subsequently translating it into her own artistic language. She is also interested in how social and cultural capital is being represented, highlighting its marginal aspects, dichotomies of display and issues of visibility/invisibility. Much of her work in various media stems from her biography and investigates issues of identity and memory.

She will have an exhibition at the Cultural Center of the Philippines with the title Artist Unknown, where she deals with uncategorized works of the Visual Arts Collection. Her project is supported by 1335MABINI, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (VAMD Grant) and the Berlin Senate Cultural Affairs Department (Global Exchange Grant)

Some of her previous significant works are: The Uncomplete Project (painting and installation, You Have Every Right exhibition, Ateneo Art Gallery, 2013); Simoun (installation, Green Papaya Projects, 2012); The Photographer (archive materials, Litmus Community Space, 2011); and The Model Family Award (video, Galerie Metro, 2009).

Biography

born in Quezon City, Philippines
lives and works in Berlin, Germany

1999 Fine Arts | École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
2000 Fine Arts | Academy of Fine Arts | Nuremberg
2006 Media Arts | University of Arts | Berlin (Diploma, Meisterschüler 2008)

Shows and screenings (selection)

2019
Motions of this Kind: Propositions & Problems of Belatedness | Brunei Gallery at SOAS | London

2018
VIVA EXCON 2018 Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference | Roxas City, PH
INCARNATOR: MINIATURE VIEWING ROOM Bellas Artes Projects - Outpost | Makati, PH
PRECURSE | Curated by John Hodany | Park Place Gallery | Brooklyn, NY
Bastards of Misrepresentation - Planet Merde | Galerie Melike Bilir | Hamburg
Paintings must be meaningful | Pinto Art Museum, PH

2017
SCOPE:Pingpong | Space Ppong | Gwangju | South Korea
SONIC SOUNDINGS | VENICE TRAJECTORIES | Venice | Italy 
Digging For Fire | Art Anton | Pasay City, PH

2016
Mangrove | Galerie Michael Janssen | Berlin | Germany (SOLO)
Never Shown on Purpose | Circle1 | Berlin | Germany
They have come to escort me on the dangerous pathway of the intermediate state | Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts (AMNUA) | China (video screening, invited by J&K) 
Graduale 16: No new kind of Duck | Rosa-Luxemburg Platz | Berlin | Germany
Abortion of Cute | 8.Salon | Hamburg | Germany
TRIAS | NON Berlin | Germany (weekly solo-exhibition series)
Don´t Panic It´s Organic | Galerie Zimmermann-Kratochwill | Graz | Austria
Topsy Turvy | Finale Art File | Manila, PH
Electric Bulalo: Painting in Exile | Vinyl on Vinyl Gallery | Manila, PH

2015
UGAT-AGOS | NON Berlin | Germany
STOP LOOK LISTEN | 1335mabini | Manila, PH
Exoten-AdAptation_AdOption | WARP | Sint-Niklaas | Belgium
Contemporary Transnational Journeys and Liaisons | Metropolitan Museum of Manila, PH
Umwelt | Galeria Duemila | Manila | Philippines (SOLO)
Cycles of Care - screening | W3 | Hamburg | Germany
Mai im Januar | Schau Fenster | Berlin | Germany

2014
IWF Mördertreff | Spor Klübü | Berlin | Germany
Tabula Rasa | 1335mabini Studios | Manila | Philippines (SOLO)
Artist Unknown | Cultural Center of the Philippines | Manila, PH (SOLO)
On Surface | Green Papaya Art Projects | Manila, PH (SOLO)
They have come to escort me on the dangerous pathway of the intermediate state | Power Station of Art | Nikolaj Kunsthal | Copenhagen | Denmark (video screening, invited by J&K) 
PRO TEST SONG TEST | Litmus Community Space | Seoul (artist group Global Alien) | South-Korea
Kunst ist keine Privatmeinung | Zimma | Berlin | Germany (duo, with Alexandra Hopf) 
They have come to escort me on the dangerous pathway of the intermediate state | Power Station of Art | Shanghai (video screening, invited by J&K)
Die Ästhetik des Widerstands | Galerie im Turm | Berlin | Germany
Brave New Worlds | Metropolitan Museum of Manila, PH
Die Ästhetik des Widerstands | IG BILDENDE KUNST | Vienna | Austria

2013
Collective Diary | Space Mass | Seoul 
Cold candy crush saga | Hinterconti | Hamburg | Germany
The Oracle: What is your prophecy for the future? | The Wand | Berlin | Germany
Defile | Galeria Duemila | Manila , PH
TEXT | tête | Berlin | Germany
YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT | Ateneo Art Gallery | Manila, PH
Migration/ Integration/ Diversity | Galerie “Zwischenraum” | Heinrich Böll Stiftung

2012
Rebus New York | Emely Harvey Foundation | New York (artist group Global Alien)
Compounds of a Prism | another vacant space | Berlin | Germany
Hauser XI | LOFT | Ansbach | Germany
Scrutiny Mutiny | Gartenstudio | Berlin | Germany

2011
Being on the move: Reflections on migration | Litmus Community Space | Seoul | South-Korea 
nothing2declare | Blanc Compound | Manila, PH
ENDLOS UMSTRITTEN, EWIG SCHÖN | D21 Kunstraum Leipzig | Germany
TOUCH ME | Hiraya Gallery | Manila , PH
the power to host | iscp | New York | USA (artist group Global Alien)
The American Dream | Gallery Homeland | Portland | Oregon | USA (artist group Global Alien)
Mothering, Domestic and Private | Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien | Berlin | Germany 

2010
Bastards of Misrepresentation | Doing Time on Filipino Time | Freies Museum Berlin | Germany

2009
TONGUE | Beyond Belonging: Translocal | Tongue Laden | Berlin | Germany
Asian Women‘s Filmfestival | Kino Arsenal | Berlin | Germany (screening)

2008
The Model Family Award | Galerie Metro | Berlin | Germany (SOLO)

Awards & Residencies
2014-16 Stipend | Fellowship Graduate School for the Arts | Berlin University of the Arts
2014 Artist in Residency | 1335Mabini , PH
2014 Global Exchange Grant | Berlin Senate Cultural Affairs Department
2013 Exhibition funding | ifa - Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations
2011 Travel grant | Berlin Senate Cultural Affairs Department
2007-08 NaföG grant (Landesgraduiertenförderung des Senats Berlin)
2007 DAAD (travel grant in combination with NaföG) 
2007 Artist in Residency | Sodaart/Nomad | Villa Arson/Nice and Vienna

Presentations, other roles and projects (selection)
2019
Panel | SEA Currents | Raven Row | London

2018
L-STELLEN | Performance-Workshop at Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart - Berlin

2017
Presentation | House of Memories | Transdisciplinary workshop/symposium at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM)

2016
Artist talk | ASIAN ART TALK SHOW 2016 | NON Berlin

2015
Initiator | Salon for Aesthetic Experiments: Tropes in Painting | House of the World Cultures Berlin
Initiator, Artist talk | Philippine Studies Series Berlin "Moments and Gestures: Capturing Subject and Gender in Philippine Cinema"| Graduate School | University of Arts Berlin

2014
Presentation | Soongshil University | Seoul

2013
Performance and artist talk | Cultural Centre of the Philippines | Manila, PH
Artist talk | ArtSpeak Ateneo Art Gallery | Manila, PH

2012
Essay | Unfixed - Postcolonial Perspectives in Contemporary Art
Presentation (as artist group member Global Alien) | Where we meet: Cultural Translation and Art in Social Transformation | ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen | Werkstatt für Kulturen | Berlin 
Presentation | As in Shop | Manila, PH

2011
Curator Philippines | Asian Filmfestival Berlin | House of the World Cultures | Berlin
Lecture at Class of Linda Wysong | Pacific Northwest College of Art | Portland | Oregon (as artist group member Global Alien)

2009
Workshop and Presentation (with Myriam Eckart) | Tongue Laden | Berlin
Presentation | Migration, East Asian Identity and Environmental Diplomacy | Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) | Berlin

2008
Presentation | Teams & Subjects - Über Autorschaft in Künstlergruppen | Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Sophiensaele | Berlin (as artist group member Global Alien)
Artist talk | We aren't commodities for sale - Filipino Overseas Workers in Japan and Hongkong
Talk and screenings by Kaoru Yoneyama, Moira Zoitl and Lizza May David |
Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien | Berlin

2008-2015 Member of artist group Global Alien