University of Antique served as one of partners and main venues of the 17th edition of the Visayas Islands Visual Arts Exhibition and Conference (VIVA ExCon), the longest-running and largest art biennale in the Philippines which is hosted by the Province of Antique for the first time, November 8-10.
 
Artists from across the Visayas archipelago and Manila, together with international artists from Vietnam, Myanmar, Japan, Thailand, Germany, Austria, and India convened at UA on the 33rd year of VIVA ExCon.
 
The biennale aims to serve as a venue for sharing knowledge, discussing issues affecting artmaking in the region, consolidating the Visayan art scene, and highlighting the critical condition of Antique’s ecology and natural environment with the theme “Suba sa Iraya.”
 
Since its inception in 1990 by the Black Artists in Asia (BAA), this is the first time that VIVA ExCon was held outside a highly-urbanized city./IU