Photograph of a detail from the second part of Roberto Chabet's two-part installation, Intermediate Geography, showing a painting of the Unabomber's cabin in an unnamed storage facility in the United States, where it was hidden after being confiscated by the FBI following the Unabomber's arrest. The painting, which is framed under tinted glass, was done by Chabet's former student, artist Geraldine Javier.
Other components of the second part of the installation are unpainted plywood walls, the title, 'Intermediate Geography,' in neon, and five upturned plywood houses, revealing interiors lined with mirrors. The first part is composed of walls made out of corrugated G.I. sheets, a neon text that reads 'Velvet Painting,' a black body bag on the floor stuffed with a black velvet comforter, and two box-framed objects - a clipboard with an uncaptioned photograph of a World War II secret police archive from the book, Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald, and a painting of the Unabomber's cabin in a forest in Montana, USA.
As early as 1995, Chabet used 'Intermediate Geographies' as a title for an unrealised group exhibition that he proposed to the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He wrote that 'Intermediate Geographies' 'explores the peripatetic nature of recent art and investigates nomadism and exile as realities of Philippine life, history, art, and culture. It investigates the physical and psychic aspects of 'place and displacement' and examines their local and global implications in contemporary art discourse.'
Intermediate Geography was first exhibited under the same title in one of Chabet's annual simultaneous exhibitions at Finale Art Gallery and West Gallery, SM Megamall, in 2005. This photograph shows the reconstructed version exhibited at Osage Soho, Hong Kong, from 4 March - 9 May 2011. The exhibition is part of 'Roberto Chabet: Fifty Years,' a year-long series of exhibitions organised by King Kong Art Projects Unlimited in various venues in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Manila from 2011 - 2012.
Online
2005
Philippines
Plywood, GI sheets, neon, mirrors, body bag with velvet comforter, box-framed clipboard with book, oil on canvas paintings
Dimensions variable
artwork documentation
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Intermediate Geography (Detail)
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