Erwin T.
Romulo

Erwin T. Romulo (born 1976, Philippines) is a curator, writer, filmmaker and musician.
His body of work is a form of cultural production: merging genres, disciplines and media to examine how history shapes contemporary thought and experience.

In 2023, he curated Parallel Histories, a juxtaposition of moving image works from the Philippines and the United Kingdom from 1992 to 2013, organized with the British Council at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila and at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. The following year, he participated in Jumpcut (5): Videoke Philippinen at daadgalerie Berlin, where his collective Furball presented an interactive video installation. His most recent project Greatest Hits (2025) featured new musical instruments, stereo boomboxes, and the Furball videoke machine, all exploring Metro Manila’s soundscape from the 1980s to today.

Romulo’s curatorial strategies often bring together people from diverse fields, researching archives and pop culture, aspiring to generate new scholarship and public dialogue. To date, he has curated 20 exhibitions. His personal artistic practice experiments with sound and the moving image, reimagining the interplay between technology, performance, and the sonic textures of both urban and rural environments. He has exhibited in galleries and art spaces around the Philippines.

As a film composer, Romulo has received multiple awards for On the Job and Buy Bust (2013 and 2018, directed by Erik Matti), and Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis (2016, directed by Lav Diaz). He also supports a new generation of independent filmmakers, serving as producer of Martika Escobar and film scorer for Whammy Alcazaren. With film critic Philbert Dy, he co-founded Unconfined Cinema, an initiative that presents cinema through alternative platforms. Outside of film his music compositions range from collaborations with rock bands like the Eraserheads and Parokya ni Edgar to ballets such as Opera (2016) and Limang Daan (2024).

Romulo’s wide-ranging literary contributions include his tenure as editor-in-chief of Esquire Philippines (2011-2015) and a Don Carlos Palanca Award for Essay in English. His latest contribution is the introduction to the new edition of Erwin Castillo’s novel The Firewalkers (originally published 1992) for Exploding Galaxies; a publisher committed to republishing out-of-print lost classics of Philippine literature. He continues to write for art folios and various publications.

He is based in Pasig and La Union, municipalities in the Philippines.