03.22.07 kulturnatib

My rice is nice

The Outpost Restaurant in Veterans Drive, at the foot of Busay Hills and the start of the Cebu City end of the Transcentral Highway is becoming not only the scene for some great local music, but the site for great – as in interesting -- art as well.

In particularly, performance art where the management has been quite tolerant, if not actually very supportive, of this rather new art form, as far as art practice in the city is concerned.

The other venue that has also, of late, been hosting performance art is Tapas Lounge at Crossroads. But, it is at the Outpost Restaurant where a particular kind of performance art, the guerilla type, has been taking place. The guerilla type involves almost no preparation, except by the artist/s doing the performance piece/s and not much prior notice to the management and the clientele except for a few minutes prior to the performance itself.

Last Wednesday, the 15th, I received a text message from a friend. A series of messages, actually. In all, they asked for support for the campaign of Greenpeace Philippines to stand up for our rice that is threatened with the application for the introduction of GMO (genetically modified organism) rice in the Bayer LL62 strain.

This application was set to be approved by Department of Agriculture Secretary Yap. Greenpeace's campaign included asking concerned Filipinos to text Sec. Yap not to approve the application and that, on World Consumer's Day, to remind him that his paramount responsibility is to ensure that our rice supply is not endangered by the introduction of GMO rice that has been roundly rejected in other countries and has been approved only in one country, the U.S.

I had already been mulling about doing another performance art piece, once more in support of a fund raising drive some friends and professors of the UP Fine Arts Program were engaging in for a student who had recently succumbed to a non-fatal stroke. He and his family badly needed funds for medication and further diagnostic tests.

I did a performance art piece, among other performances, to start off this fund drive a day before, during the closing activity for an art exhibit at Tapas Lounge. The guests there responded very generously.

A UP Fine Arts based band was set to be relaunched at the Outpost Restaurant over the weekend and they had agreed to have their relaunch be a part of this drive.

These text messages clinched my decision to do another performance art piece. Here was the classic two birds with one stone opportunity. Three birds, actually.

First, I can promote appreciation of performance art, second, I can further contribute to the fund drive and, third, I can support the campaign led by Greenpeace for the rejection of GMO rice and the protection of our food supply from the unnecessary and insidious technology that contaminates the environment, threatens biodiversity, poses unacceptable risk to human health, and increases multinational corporate stranglehold on agriculture.

So, on Saturday, I did a performance art piece, entitled, 'My rice is nice. No to GMO.'

After a ritual-like gesture, the creating of a liminal space, that included throwing rice grain on the audience and playing the kubing, I continued with the main element of the performance. This consisted of my going around the tables and asking from those seated around for a small space among their food and drinks on the table.

In this space, I laid a place mat. On that mat were messages, one each, informing that our rice supply was under threat from GMO rice. Secondary messages outlining the nature of the threat, how it was discovered that imported rice from the U.S. was contaminated by an illegal GMO rice strain – Bayer LL61 -- was already being sold in local supermarkets, how we should stand up for our rice and others were also included.

On the mat, I then put a small paper box wherein put a handful of grains of organic wild red rice mixed with organic white rice. After which, I lit a small candle.

Those at the tables read the messages intently, wondering among themselves what this was about and, some, openly asking about it. To which I replied, further explaining the campaign, the issue at hand and, very importantly, the need for our vigilance when it came to protecting this most important of staple foods for us.

The evening ended late. But for many there their education on GMO had only begun. I am glad to have been a part of it.