After Jose Maceda's Cassettes 100

This set of images documents an installation created by Ringo Bunoan in 2017, as part of the year-long celebration of the late Filipino composer and National Artist, Jose Maceda’s birth centenary. Bunoan’s installation attempted to recreate the aftermath of Maceda’s groundbreaking large-scale performance, Cassettes 100, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1971. For her installation, Bunoan used toilet paper that had been flung and unfurled from the upper balconies of the CCP to cover the lobby floor below, recreating the climax of the performance which had involved 100 volunteers carrying cassette tape recordings of indigenous musical instruments and environmental sounds. Cassettes 100 has been hailed as a ground-breaking and visionary work that combines Southeast Asian traditional music and Western avant-garde movements with modern technology, resulting in a looming, three-dimensional cacophony that recognizes the roots of music in the sounds of nature and its role in life of communities. It has been restaged several times since in Singapore, Japan, and Philippines.  

Bunoan based her installation on archival photographs taken by Nathaniel Gutierrez, and her photographs use similar overhead angles or long shots to capture her own work. By focusing on the aftermath of the event, Bunoan invites us to reflect on Maceda’s legacy and his contribution to art historical discourses in the region. The sea of debris becomes a visual marker of the passage of time, of human presence and participation, and of an immersive aural experience.