Portrait Of The City Opening

The exhibit “Portrait Of The City” organized by the National Book Development Board and the Filipinas Heritage Library for the 11th Philippine Book Development Month officially opened this afternoon.

I was able to make it to the exhibit opening on time. It was smaller than I expected–the actual exhibit, I mean–though the location–in the middle of a park right across Glorietta–is a surprisingly prime one. The space is flexible enough to accommodate both intimate functions and more expansive gatherings.

The exhibit opening was quite intimate. Frankly I’d been hoping it would be better attended. There are still a series of activities on hand in the next few days though, and the exhibit is open from 10AM to 6PM everyday until July1, so if you’re in the Glorietta area, please drop by and show your support for the 11th Philippine Book Development Month.

Read or Die will be coming on Saturday (June 30) but honestly we don’t have any major events prepared. We’ll be giving away books and posters and talking about Libro.ph, basically. What we do want is for people to take the opportunity to pass by Glorietta 3 Park and visit the exhibit. Adarna will also be sponsoring a storytelling session on the same date.

I do wish that the gallery had been more extensive. The Filipinas Heritage Library donated prints and photographs from their holdings accompanied by captions with excerpts taken from the list of books chosen according to the theme “Portrait Of The City.” It’s a great concept though. Perhaps a more composite and curated exhibit can be held in the future, with other museums, libraries and galleries contributing from their own collections. Time and other constraints being what they are, the NBDB and the Filipinas Heritage Library have done a good job with the exhibit but I believe that it’s the sort of thing that can be built upon. At least it happened, a precedent has been set.

Also maybe we can generate a considerably more active interest in the NBDB’s activities for the rest of the year and not just for the next Philippine Book Month. It’s the only government agency we have whose mandate is to protect the interests of the literary industry as a whole. Admittedly it has its share of deficiencies. It’s under-staffed and the budget is only 1/3 of what the Department Of Education gets. They need more support and are really open to working with other people and organizations. There’s a lot the private sector can do in this regard. The current executive director–Atty. Andrea Pasion-Flores–is young, dynamic and hard-working and she has a serious understanding of literature, being a writer herself. I don’t know who the next executive director might be so let’s accomplish what we can while the right people are in the right places.

To go on: Invited writers came to read from their works. Butch Dalisay, Conchitina Cruz and Romina Gozalez attended (will talk about them more later). I also met Karina Bolasco of Anvil and Lirio Sandoval of the Book Development Association of the Philippines (which administers the annual Manila Book Fair). I was rather intimidated by Ms. Bolasco since she’s a publishing legend in her own right and I’ve heard stories of how scary she can get. Not scary as in having-you-for-breakfast scary, but scary nonetheless. Both she and Mr. Sandoval spoke at RodCon and I didn’t manage to even see or thank them during the event so I took the opportunity to do so at the exhibit. They were both very nice and approachable.

A new Book Watch issue was also released. Book Watch is the NBDB’s official quarterly publication. You can pick up your free copy at the exhibit. If you really can’t make it to Glorietta, the exhibit will be moving to the Trinoma Mall on July 4, 2007.

Again, watch this space for further developments. The USB port of my digital camera is acting up so I haven’t been able to take any pictures even though I’ve been coming to practically all the Book Development Month events. The ever efficient Ms. Erin Cabanawan has promised photos for further documentation though so I hope we can put up some sort of online gallery, at least. (I really need to start scouting for more volunteers when it comes to these things).

Tomorrow–June 28–will be the NBDB book club meeting, also at the exhibit. Charlson Ong will be coming to read from and discuss his book “Banyaga: A Song Of War.” (Mentioned it here). The book club meeting starts at 4PM and it’s open to the public. Please come–pass by Powerbooks or Fully Booked, first, though, to buy a copy of “Banyaga.” It’s really good.

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June 27, 2007 Written by: tin | Filed Under Latest, Events

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One Response to “Portrait Of The City Opening”

Read Or Die Weblog » Blog Archive » Portrait Of The Artist on June 27th, 2007 3:23 pm

[…] had planned to blog about the structure of the actual exhibit but as I said here the display itself was pretty straightforward though perhaps I should study it more closely. What […]

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