LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...

As always, better late than never. Kindly allow me to introduce you to the "artists-in-residence" of The Living Room for the months of May and June 2007. For the month of May, we had Mr. Jean Claude Girard (above), Swiss architect and partner of past Living Room resident, Marlyne Sahakian. He was in town for just three weeks after spending time in Australia researching the Sydney Opera House. And despite his short stint, he managed to hold a lecture (below) about the fascinating history of this Australian icon last May 11, 2007. Some of the topics discussed: The life of it's architect Jorn Utzon, Utzon's amazing designs for the Opera, Utzon resigning before the completion of the structure, and the analogies between the SOP and our very own CCP. This is Jean Claude's second trip to Manila and we certainly hope it won't be his last.

And for the month of June, allow me to introduce Miss Sally Gutierrez and Miss Yong Soon Min. Both are in town for the Trauma Interrupted exhibition at the Main Gallery of The Cultural Center of the Philippines (which I highly recommend that you all visit asap). Sally was in the 1999 Whitney Independent Study Program, graduated with a Masters in Media Studies from the New School back in 2000, and currently works in video. Yong Soon was also a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program and is currently chair of the Department of Studio Art at University of California Irvine. No artists' talks were held but a lovely party was held before Sally's departure (that's when these two photos were taken). Sally is now back in Madrid, Yong Soon is in South Korea for a short visit, and we miss them so.