04/10/2023
When a small group of French supporters come to watch the final phase of the World Cup, in Manila, in September 2023, it is the opportunity to immerse themselves in street basketball. There is a legendary place for that in Manila: The Tenement.
The Tenement is a “public housing estate” built in the 1960s, in the municipality of Taguig, in the center of the vast metropolis of Manila, to cope with the demographic explosion and the influx of migrants from all over the Philippines. So of course at the Tenement, we practice basketball, in the central court and eventually on the rooftop, to defy the daily routine and also the threats of eviction orchestrated by developers eager to build a taller, more modern and more profitable tower.
On January 26, 2020 at 9:00 a.m., on the other side of the Pacific, in Calabasas, California, a helicopter crashed killing its 9 passengers and crew members. On board are Kobe Bryant, former Lakers player, and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna. The basketball world is in shock, and the Tenement is in turmoil. The basketball court was quickly transformed into a temple of Kobe and Gianna. In December 2022 the Tenement was voted the best basketball court in the world in a survey by the international federation, ahead of the rooftops of Dubrovnik and other iconic courts in Puerto Rico and Los Angeles. Today we visit the Tenement as we would visit a contemporary art installation, with added human warmth!
