The question is whether ‘Kulo’ got a fair shake
By: Emily Abrera
Philippine Daily Inquirer
4:49 am Monday, August 15th, 2011
This whole episode has taken on a somewhat unreal aspect. Never in the almost seven years that I have served on the Board [of the Cultural Center of the Philippines] have we ever had such controversy over a presentation that it drew such ire, not to mention divisiveness and outright vindictiveness.
Does religion still hold our minds in such a vise that when it is challenged in any way, we can’t even put into practice what that religion stands for… and I’m talking here tolerance, understanding and, yes, charity is put to the test here, too.
I have tried to analyze the forces at work today versus the social climate from 2002-2007 when this particular work of Mideo apparently did the rounds in UP and Ateneo, without raising a whisper from the hundreds of young folk who must have visited the exhibits then. It also managed an entire month at the CCP Main Gallery in relative peace, before a TV station decided to feature not the full 32-artist “Kulo” exhibit, not even Mideo Cruz’s installation as a whole, but selected bits of it, just the special offensive parts, introduced with a reference to the RH Bill.
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