Silent Concert sings tales of Ateneo de Zamboanga University Gym
“An icon was burned, but the Ateneo animo, or spirit, shall continue burning.” -Fr Karel San Juan SJ, ADZU President
Installation art, made from odds and ends of the burned Brebeuf Gymnasium, parts of the burned instruments of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Concert Band, archival documents of the Brebeuf Gym from many years past, and a unique series of photographs will line up the walls and fill the Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago in an exhibit that will run from December 1, 2016 to January 21, 2017.
Dubbed as the Silent Concert, the exhibit is Jesuit artist Jason Dy’s creative response to the fire incident that razed to the ground the near-70-year-old Brebeuf Gym of Ateneo de Zamboanga University on the morning of July 7, 2016.
Dy was a former regent at the AdZU High School from 2013 to 2015, and has an affinity to the gym and with the university band as some of his students “were band members […] and the gym had been a place where his students were inducted as leaders, competed in sports with other classes, showcased their creative talents, and the place where their parents witnessed their growth as participants of various co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.”
Prior to the exhibit, Fr Jason Dy SJ collaborated with ADZU Physical Plant Office and contracted workers to piece together an installation art made from burned and warped debris from the fire. This piece of art is currently and strategically located at the Brebeuf grounds. Intuitively, Dy disregarded the initial idea of segregating the materials used according to their texture, function, shape as well as sizes, and arranging them in a grid-like pattern on the cleared up and washed concrete flooring of the former gym. It would have resembled a scrap yard of raw materials for recycling and re-use. Conscious of how these burnt debris were constructed and assembled to provide spaces for incubating ideas, nurturing talents, and realizing potentials, he conceived a hybrid arrangement of three stylized concentric arcs that hinted at both a nest and an orchestra.
“Even when the instruments are destroyed, the music lives on,” says Dy when a former student asked him his inspiration for putting together the installations. In his blog named “batik batik na kariktan,” he elaborates that these art installations present “a stubborn insistence on creating meaning out of the fire rubbles that could either be just a cathartic expression of the unfortunate event or an affirmation of the indomitable communal spirit of igniting passion for rebuilding from the embers and ashes.”
Asked if the photographs which will be put up for exhibit at the Gallery are for sale, he says that these limited edition photos may be given to those who will donate to the ADZU Rebuilding Fund.
This event is in partnership with Ultra Digital Imaging, Jesuit Communities of Ateneo de Zamboanga University and Ateneo de Manila University, Boysen Philippines, The Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago, the Ateneo Physical Plant Office, University Communications Office, President’s Office, and GBPI TV 11.
Silent Concert will have its opening program on December 1, 2016 at 10:30am. Admission is free. For inquiries, visit or call the Ateneo Gallery of the Peninsula and the Archipelago at 9910871 local 4301 and look for Tricia Manulong.
