WEEKENDER.

Byline: Sam L. Marcelo

The Promethean spark of creativity that separates man from beast has traveled a long way from the Lascaux caves in France, where prehistoric artists painted aurochs and equines, to a stage in Australia where a young woman sought audience with the entire universe. All around the world - the Philippines included - this spark is producing new forms of art that cannot be hung on walls.

Yelling at Stars, a performance first given by Willoh Weiland during the 2008 Next Wave Festival in Australia, was an audiovisual piece simultaneously beamed into outer space by Deep Space Communications Network in Florida, USA.

Designed to raise existential questions about who has the right to speak for Earth, Yelling at Stars was among the 61 projects presented during the multidisciplinary festival that included nearly 400 artists from visual arts, theater, dance, new media, and performance practice.

"Genre-busting" was how Next Wave artistic director Jeff Khan described the interdisciplinary collaborations arising from the biennial event where participants were encouraged to "push boundaries and forge connections among art forms."

Given the capacity to work outside of institutions, artists created site-specific work in places with their own …