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Kulay Labitigan (Carl Irving Labitigan) is a Filipino multidisciplinary creative practitioner whose artistic practice spans from visual arts such as installation art and sculptural objects, to narrative environment, product design, and production design. Currently, he is taking his Masters in Narrative Environments at the University of the Arts London- Central Saint Martins as one of the recipient of UAL International Vice-Chancellor Scholarship in London.
Kulay was born in Tayabas Quezon. He remembers spending his childhood running to the local basilica doodling its murals on his handmade notebooks and crafting his improvised toys from random found objects.
In 2012, he graduated cum laude from the College of Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines where he gained an outstanding distinction for his final undergraduate work. Later that year he worked as an apprentice for award-winning Filipino production designer Gino Gonzales.
In 2013, he was selected to be one of the Philippine Youth Ambassadors to The Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program (SSEAYP). This cultural and diplomatic youth exchange program hosted by the Cabinet Office of Japan had ports of call in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Japan that year.
In 2014, Kulay became a member of Department of Humanities at the University of the Philippines Los Banos. He also took part at UPLB Office of initiatives for Culture and the Arts where he worked as Festival Director for SiLab:Sining Laboratoryo which is an experimental arts festival that aimed to showcase the fusion of science and the arts in the university at the foot of Mt. Makiling.
In 2015, he became part of 98B COLLABoratory an independent artist initiative based in Escolta, Manila. Where he participated as exhibiting ESCAPE artists, and managed and co-curated exhibitions for PAN program.
In 2016, he was chosen by British Council Philippines to be one of the UK Student Ambassadors for the creative field of Arts and Design. Furthermore, alongside two other London–based Filipino artists he opened the London leg of London Biennale 2016 with a multi-arts durational performance fusion which happened on the streets of London and ended at Eros statue in Piccadilly Circus under the mentorship of David Medalla.
In between these years he had relevant artistic collaborations with Philippine’s leading independent and contemporary art and performance makers such as Sipat Lawin Ensemble, Viva Manila, and Daloy Dance Company. He also took part on several local Arts Festivals such as Fete dele Musique Manila (2014), Karnabal Festival (2014), Project Bakawan Arts Festival (2015), and First Lucban Assembly(2015). Kulay has participated in several group exhibitions in Manila, London, Jakarta, and Venice, and is presently based in London, UK.