Mark Ramsel Salvatus (Philippines)
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biography
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Interview: 10 questions
1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background
I am a cross-disciplinary artist based in Manila, Philippines. Working from different media from installations, drawings, video, photography, performance, graffiti to participatory projects that deals with everyday situations and experiences. I have a degree in Fine Arts major in Advertising Arts at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila and currently finishing my MFA at the same university. My works have been exhibited in different galleries and museums across Asia and Europe.
2. When, how and why started you filming?
I started just recently about a year ago, when I documented my performance in Korea, then I started filming everyday and banal situations- like a scene from a window, people walking, a jeepney ride etc. I like to capture those simple moments on film, the things that are neglected like bikes passing by, a flag being blown away in a still angle. Videos made my work more flexible in terms of presenting my concepts.
3. What kind of subjects have your films?
Mostly everyday experiences, the things that I see while walking- even if it is a dog while taking a poo, a lady praying inside a church or a busy street. I can say urban experiences, since I live in Manila
4. How do you develop your films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?
I just shoot what excites me, and the things very familiar to most of us- it’s not narrative, most of my works are very short clips, like a moving snapshots of our everyday environment.
5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
I’m not that too savvy about equipments, I just use ordinary video camera and digital camera with video function. I also use video phone for its compact use. Its very simple in an instant.
6. What are the chances of new media for the genre film/video in general and you personally?
It’s a powerful tool of communication and it’s a common medium – meaning most of the people now has access to the internet and TV and it can change your perspective even you are browsing while at home. For me it helped me to spread or show my works to the rest of the world using the net.
7. How do you finance your films?
On my own initiative, I do illustration and graphic design jobs and as a lecturer in an art school and my works don’t really need major production cost.
8. Do you work individually as a video artist/film maker or do you work in a team? if you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
I usually work alone and I can really focus when I do all the jobs. Since my work is more on conceptual works and not the narrative / production videos.
9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?
Nam Jun Paik, Bill Viola
10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker? Can works of yours viewed online besides on VideoChannel? Where?
Video is now vital to my works since I do cross-disciplinary projects. I do installations with video projections and its part of the whole exhibition/project. From now, I want to experiment more on video making and maybe collaborate with other artists. My other works can be viewed on Youtube and my blog
http://www.youtube.com/user/marksalvatus
http://marksalvatus.blogspot.com/