Muse(ing) the Archive, Archival/Exhibiting Turn

This chapter brings attention to the “archival turn” in the Manila creative scene in recent years. It argues that the popularity of “archive, archivist, archiving” among exhibitors, whether in conversations or in actual projects, could possibly be enabled by the current social atmosphere. The chapter begins with the exhibit series that celebrates the contributions of Jose Maceda, a National Artist for Music in the Philippines. As a form of reflection, the paper uses this series to define the exhibiting archive and identify the issues of this type of presentation.