About Cultural Learnings
Created in 2019, Cultural Learnings is an archive project exploring the multitude of ways we understand culture, history, and politics.
The Cultural Learnings show has been broadcasting on Manila Community Radio since 2020. Described by Out of Print as radiating “the fond specificity of a mixtape smothered in fingerprints,” it takes a deep dive into the feelings behind music and sound.
Manifesto
We are people positioned at a specific time and place in history, which lends us to a specific type of insight.
We must strive for truthfulness, accuracy, and accountability for what we see, experience, and understand.
We cannot claim absolute objectivity, only openness.
It is our duty to study the ways people understand culture and how this understanding creates politics so divisive that it changes the course of history.
We must care about these issues because if we're not willing to respond to the emergencies in our culture, how can we steer the world into a direction of positive change?
About the Archivist
Sai Versailles’ work traverses the fields of art and multimedia journalism.
As a multi-genre selector, Versailles describes her approach as "referential." Her Refuge Worldwide residency, titled ‘Master Selector’ is influenced by jazz, rap, and dub, while her foray into music began in the 2000s with German trance and Balearic beat. Versailles' chameleonic club sets shuffle through densely layered repetitions of a tough and swinging sound that nods to her cross-generational understanding of dance music.
As an independent journalist and archivist, she investigates the sociopolitical dynamics of creativity, documenting the everyday lives of people and their communities. Sai’s writing is often reflexive, exploring issues of identity, labour, and intersectionality.
As a public speaker, Sai has participated in lectures and panel discussions on issues of art, culture, and creativity throughout the UK, Germany, and the Philippines. She earned an MPhil in international development from the University of Oxford in 2019.
