Closing the Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino
21AM is the result of what was initially envisioned as the re-development of the Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino (MKP) and Asian Traditional Musical Instruments exhibits housed at the fourth floor of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Thirty years after it was mounted, the exhibition was closed permanently to prepare for a new exhibition envisioned to be mounted in time for the 50th anniversary of the CCP in 2019. Its closure in 2017 was also to ensure the better care, maintenance and conservation of the artifacts in the collection. The new exhibition project was bidded out publicly in August 2018, and was awarded to TAO INC. in November 2018. The permanent exhibition at the 4th Floor of the CCP Main Building was demounted under the supervision of the TAO INC. conservation team in 2019.
Prior to demounting, three workshops were held with the top leadership of the CCP and members of its board to explore administrative, conceptual, and mission/vision options for the Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino and the various collections of the CCP. Topics of the workshop focused on CCP institutional memory, 21st century Manila Museums, and the future of the CCP Museum.
The MKP exhibition, titled “Diwa: Buhay, Ritwal at Sining” (“Spirit: Life, Ritual and Art”) was created in 1987 by curator Marian Pastor Roces, as commissioned by then CCP Artistic Director Nicanor G. Tiongson. The MKP Collection includes artifacts and materials from the exhibition and other items that have never been exhibited. The Collection of Asian Traditional Musical Instruments was made possible largely through a donation of former CCP President and National Artist for Music Lucrecia Kasilag. It was installed after the MKP exhibit, and its display replaced the “Bayan” section of the original exhibition. In the 1970s, the fourth floor museum area of the CCP had on exhibit the Asian ceramic collection of Dr. Arturo de Santos and the Maranao and Maguindanao art collection of Potenciano Badillo. The exhibition was closed post EDSA and the loaned artifacts were returned to their owners.
