1,000X Yes
I missed the opening of A Thousand Times Yes at Manila Contemporary last Saturday but I visited the gallery yesterday. It’s the Valentine show at Valentine’s gallery; naturally the theme is love.
Drawing by Christina Quisumbing Ramilo
Photograph of an installation by Ringo Bunoan
At that stupendous moment, he ate a watermelon.
My project—Anton Chekhov’s The Lady With A Little Dog, handwritten on index cards in a card catalogue box—was displayed on a pedestal as if it were something precious. No one had read it (though the curators had googled a synopsis). What was the point of all that labor if the viewers treat it as a museum piece and keep their distance?
I stuck a Post-It on the box: Don’t just gawk at it, read the story. Then I dragged the pedestal beside a bench so visitors can read in comfort. Please, it’s supposed to get smeared, dog-eared, crumpled. The ink and paper are just the medium, it’s the words that matter.
The most perfect love story ever written: no one prattling about love or falling into someone else’s arms in phony paroxysms of joy. Pure Chekhov.
A Thousand Times Yes is on view until 24 February at Manila Contemporary, Whitespace, 2314 Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati.
February 10th, 2010 at 17:24
Hi Jessica,
I visited the Whitespace exhibition on the Saturday and indeed wondered if the cards could be held in order to read the story. Now I have my answer. ;)
– Fabian
February 10th, 2010 at 23:43
Hi Fabian. Yes, please handle the cards. Plus you now have four dining options around Whitespace: Terry’s, Cantinetta, the outdoor carinderia in Whitespace which serves Cafe Bola food, and Kitchen’s Best next door.