The unexpected summer shower Wednesday afternoon failed to stop the performance planned by artist David Medalla in Vicenza, an hour-long train ride outside Venice.
The Filipino kinetic artist is in Italy as a featured artist at the Philippine Pavilion of this year’s Venice Biennale.
As the train pulled out of the station, Medalla and his long time collaborator Adam Nankervis read from a Pigafetta fable before unspooling a length of colored string.
Medalla then asked the people in the shared car to tie something of their own to the string—a boarding pass, a cord protector, a friendship bracelet—to thank Pigafetta for chronicling his voyage and putting the Philippines on the map.
At Vicenza, we all gathered around the monument, sang the Filipino folk song “Sitsiritsit Alibangbang, and elicited bemused stares from passersby.
Today at 3 p.m., he performs at the Philippine Pavilion.
