Chairporn: Breaking the silence

MANILA, Philippines - Let’s face it — we are a repressed society. We are limited in our discussions. Talking about explicit things like the pornographic side of sex is something that is often too private. Here, sex is seen as a list of don’ts, and open conversations about it are obscene things. The whole idea of bringing sex into a more familiar, more daily point of view is, in a lot of people’s minds, out of the question — but when you hear about something as bold as exhibiting it in a visible location, via objects that we know, the obscenity that we attach to it makes a complete turnaround and translates itself instead into a list of do’s.

The name of the exhibit is “Chairporn.” Basically, an amusing array of chairs by world-renowned designers stand, or rather sit, around the showroom, displayed alongside pornography from the ’30s and ’40s. It came about because Gary-Ross Pastrana, who put the exhibit together, and Clara Balaguer, the owner of the gallery, well, really like chairs. “I think they’re very sensual beings, sensual objects,” says Balaguer. “They’re meant to be sat on, to be touched. They have, you know, curves. They’re meant to cradle the human form. They’re sensual.”

And why “Chairporn?” She says that she loves chairs so much that she takes videos of the ones that she really likes, and her business partner told her that she was taking a sex video of them one time. She replied with, “Yeah, it’s chair porn.”

Dangerous curves ahead: Gallery owner Clara Balaguer enlightens us on chair sensuality.

There also exists in the concept the breaking of a stigma. “Normally, you associate sex with a bed. Now, it’s a chair and it’s more active,” says Pastrana. “It’s kinkier!”

Pastrana also draws attention to the chairs as being objects of simulation, in the same way that pornography is a simulation of actual sex. He recognizes that there is an authenticity that exists behind reproductions. After all, the best pornography is when the actors are no longer acting, and the act is so well simulated that it becomes real. The chairs are simulations, but because of function and because of the aesthetic behind them, the exhibit has the capacity to not only be viewed, but felt.

And with regard to the resistance that people have when the topic of pornography comes about, the exhibit supports the fact that an intelligent discourse on sex is much needed in our country. Balaguer says, “I don’t think it’s obscene. I think it’s beautiful. I think it’s exciting. Sex is only dangerous as anything is dangerous when used without having your head on straight.” And these objects in the exhibit, they are, without a doubt, entirely beautiful, and beauty is a thing to be addressed.

It’s an appropriate time for things like these to be put up. Balaguer puts it perfectly, saying, “In the same way that you can’t talk about black when you talk about white, you can’t talk about repression without talking about sex.”

Chairporn. You shouldn’t hesitate to say it.