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
Painting by Ugo Untoro
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.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
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.