Pista ng Kapuluan: Archipelago Festival & Biennale is the first of its kind in the world to bring together indigenous and frontline youth, climate activists and advocates, cultural workers, scientists, designers, artists, chefs, civil society, and creative communities of all kinds to celebrate the extraordinary stories of what it means to embody the culture of an archipelago as a framework for sustainable systems transformation.

With the Philippines being one of the most climate vulnerable countries facing an ecological crisis, and yet one of the most mega biodiverse countries in the world, this makes us the idyllic playground for regenerating indigenous technologies and ecological design solutions that the rest of the world can learn from. Co-created over the course of a year and designed with 700 indigenous and frontline youth from across the Philippines and our diaspora, the festival’s exhibitions, performances and convention showcased stories from across our regions delving into how our shared culture of Kalikasan [nature], Kapwa [community], Kabutihan or Malasakit [goodness], Diwa or Kaluluwa [spirit], and Ginahwa [well-being] – are our greatest climate solutions. Our first edition in November 2024, was the inaugural exhibition at Balay Yatu, poised to be Asia’s first youth-curated creative space and cultural center for tropical design solutions, housed within Museo Pambata’s former ANNEX building which was transformed through adaptive reuse.



Pista ng Kapuluan was a project born from 2 years of on-ground fieldwork within one community in each region of the Philippines and in Hong Kong as representation of our diaspora, championed by a youth leader who in their own field, has worked on regenerating the climate, culture, and creativity of their home. The exhibitions were a result of cultural mapping workshops done together with the kids and youth of each community from Batanes to Basilan.  Each youth participant was given a camera to capture the essence of their climate realities and cultural solutions, while the others were given art materials to illustrate their stories on culture, food, and livelihood – which resulted in the Kalikasan, Kapwa, and Kabutihan photo exhibition made out of transparent textiles formed in a spiral to resemble the fluidity of the living stories from ridge to reef beyond the photos, and bamboo and recycled wire as tribute to the materiality found across the regions inspired by the ‘sampayan’ or fiesta banderitas found all over our islands.



The youth also culminated together to collectively draw on a canvas the spirit of their home— which resulted in the Kaluluwa tapestry installation which formed all 22 tapestries into a tent-like structure resembling the bahay kubo, or the make-shift tents post-typhoon. The exhibition design was 100% mobile and recyclable only using natural materials such as living plants, bamboo, and textiles that could be re-used. The stage was collapsible and utilised common areas for easy gathering inspired by the Dap-ay in Ifugao culture.