Enigmatic Objects: Notes Towards a History of the Museum in the Philippines

Join the Ateneo de Manila University Press for the book launch of Enigmatic Objects: Notes towards a History of the Museum in the Philippines by National Artist for Literature Resil B. Mojares on 7 October 2023, Saturday, from 2:00–3:00 pm at the Ben Chan ArtSuite, 2/F Areté, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City.

The book has Mojares tracing the beginnings of museums in the Philippines, from the gabinetes and museos of Spanish colonial–era educational institutions and the private collections of ilustrados, to the first attempts at institutionalizing public libraries and museums in the early period of American rule.

Through vignettes that take off from such eccentric and eclectic items as the earliest extant portrait of a Filipino, skulls of bandits measured to explain the phrenology of crime, the fabled pestle of an indigenous hero, and teapots made of coconuts, the book itself becomes a cabinet of curiosities where the act of collecting and displaying intertwines with narrating a nascent Filipino nation.

Seats are extremely limited; RSVP is required. Register at go.ateneo.net/EOBL.

Campus access is required for this event. A gate pass will be sent to your registered email address submitted in this form. Please ensure all details sent are accurate. For any changes in the submitted information, kindly send an email to aag@ateneo.edu with the subject line [ENIGMATIC OBJECTS] (concern).