Growing up at the turn of the millennium in Calaca, a small town around 100 kilometers from Manila, I remember boredom being somewhat endemic. Among the few things I would do to amuse myself was visit my aunt’s store, which was located in front of a public market, climb a stack of cardboard boxes of goods, and find the ideal vantage point, high up, as close to the ceiling as possible.
Strange to have this memory come flooding back as I entered one of the dimly lit rooms in The Listening Biennial 2023, held at Parola: UP Fine Arts Gallery, University of the Philippines, Diliman, and saw Benj Meamo’s (2023)—a stack of carboard boxes, each covered in familiar logos for cigarettes, milk formula, and snacks. The boxes were arranged in a
