Preparation
The successful return of the country to the Venice Biennale after a 51-year hiatus was through the close cooperation of various agencies and people. The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) provided the newly-restored copy of Conde’s film Genghis Khan and gave permission to exhibit it in Venice. The Bank of the Philippine Islands Foundation (BPI Foundation) lent the drawings of Carlos Francisco.
Manny Montelibano traveled to Palawan to create his multi-channel video piece, where he filmed the life of people in the island, and recorded the radio frequencies that crossed the West Philippine Sea. Nicole Revel shared her recordings of the Palawan epic to the artist, and the U.P. Center for Ethnomusicology (UPCE) gave the artist access to their archives of epics.
Jose Tence Ruiz in collaboration with Danilo Ilag-Ilag and Jeremy Guiab created a mock-up exhibition of Shoal in the artist studio, which also served as a time study for the installation of the artwork.