Literary & Cultural Programs

Philippines as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025
Cultural Program

The Philippines Unveils ‘Oculus’ as its Inaugural Cultural Program as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2025

Heidelberg, Germany — Heightening anticipation for its Guest of Honour role at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2025, the Philippines presents Oculus, an exhibition that brings together moving image, research and installation to reflect on what it means to “see things.”

Artists Stephanie Misa and Joscha Steffens work out how seeing, shaped by both ecology and imagination, can give rise to visions. Oculus immerses audiences in a space where scientific knowledge and aesthetic education intersect, and where the line between real and spectral blurs.

One of the entry points of the exhibition is Philippine National Hero Jose Rizal’s ophthalmological studies in Heidelberg and his novel, Noli Me Tangere, parts of which he wrote when he was in the same city.

Curated by Patrick Flores, Oculus is a central feature in the Philippines’ cultural program as Guest of Honour at the 2025 FBM. It resonates with the theme of the country’s participation: The imagination peoples the air (Fantasie beseelt die Luft), which was cited from the same novel by Rizal.

Oculus will open on March 15, 2025, at the Heidelberger Kunstverein and will run until May 18, 2025. There will be an Artists’ Talk on 16 March 2025, 2:00 PM, with Misa, Steffens, and Flores.

OCULUS

15 March – 18 May 2025
Opening: 15 March, 6:00 PM     

Heidelberger Kunstverein
Hauptstr. 97, 69117 Heidelberg

Stephanie Misa
Joscha Steffens
Artists

Patrick Flores
Curator

Presented by
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
National Book Development Board (NBDB)
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
Office of Senator Loren Legarda
Talking Heads e. V.
HdKV Heidelberger Kunstverein
Baden-Württemberg Ministerium für Wissenschaft Forschung und Kunst

Press Release