We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joshua Marquez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joshua, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

There are so many projects I have worked on that are incredibly meaningful to me. Recently, I have worked on projects like “Recycled Soundscapes” which explore material waste and our relationship to waste culture. “Recycled Soundscapes” was completed during my artist residency at RAIR (Recycled Artist in Residence) in Philadelphia. During that residency, I collected recordings and musical materials from the waste stream at Revolution Recovery (a waste and recycling facility). I gathered these recordings and transformed them into music which culminated in turning a large, 40-yard dumpster into a speaker using tranducers. I ended my residency with a performance at Revolution Recovery using the dumpster as the sounding device – all sound came from the dumpster-turned-speaker. “Recycled Soundscapes” is going to be re-imagined as a sound installation at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey from September 2025 – January 2026.

Upcoming projects including my contribution to a long installation/performance at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. This project, “Ninuno” (meaning “ancestor” in Tagalog), explores my relationship to my ancestors told from the perspective of a future self. “Ninuno” is part of a collaborative work called “Philly Asian Futures” which is produced by the Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists (PAPA). This work will be performed numerous times throughout October 2025. “Ninuno” will involve a lot of electronic and acoustic instruments. I will be performing Filipino instruments including the kudyapi, bandurria, octavina, and guitar in addition to the Indonesian hasapi and my voice. The piece will also involve other contributing artists and community members lending their voice via electronics playback. “Ninuno” will explore a kind-of Pinoy-Futurist aesthetic which will focus on ancestral storytelling through technology.

These projects are meaningful, to me, because they explore topics that I feel are important. Cultural heritage and environmental collapse are both near and dear to my heart and really important for me to explore and share with audiences.

Joshua, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always been interested in music. When I was a really young kid, I would make short compositions with tape machines, gadgets, and instruments I’d find around. My family was in the antique business, so we were always around second-hand shops and vendors selling vintage items or quirky things.

I ended up going to school for music, specifically composition. I earned a BA, MM, and eventually a PhD in music. That conservatory training helped me focus my craft and learn skills. But, my interest in exploring and experimenting continued to drive me.

Currently, I spend a lot of my creative time composing, but also improvising. I perform through the US, but primarily Philadelphia and the northeast. I can be found performing composed works or improvising at least once or twice a week. My composed works are often performed by others, as well. Additionally, I am spending more and more creative time devising sound installations. Recent and upcoming sound installations have been at RAIR, Public Space 1, Becker Gallery, Gallery MC, Practice Gallery, and the Center for Visual Arts, among others. Presenting my creative work as a sound installation is always exciting and has engaged my creative energies in new ways.

I can always be found exploring interdisciplinary collaboration, too. From dance to theater to film and video games, I relish any opportunity to collaborate.

My work is very vulnerable and honest. I like to present music that is really sensitive and intimate. This comes from my exploration of culture and my Filipino heritage – I want to honor my ancestors and that happens by being as vulnerably expressive as possible.

For more information, please visit: www.joshuamarquez.com

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

As a creative artist, I find the most rewarding aspect is sharing. I love to share my work with an audience, a friend, a colleague, or anyone who will listen. For me, it’s not about getting attention, but giving listeners an experience and allowing them to take a moment for themselves. This comes from the idea of kapwa – a recognition of shared identity with others. It’s a Filipino concept of deep empathy or seeing yourself in others. I want listeners to share a listening experience with each other and with me. It’s not that I want people to give me something, in turn, I want to give them something. Music is an act of service to others, for me. Void of self, it is purely for the audience and the emotions that I can tap into through sound.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think everyone is creative. Everyone has something to give and everyone understands the creative process, whether they know it or not! For those who do not seek a journey as a creative artist, they may not know the sacrifices that we make or, rather, the choices that we may. For me, allocating time to my creative endeavors is not a “sacrifice”, but rather a choice. However, those choices have consequences. Often, that means taking time away from other activities in favor of spending time practicing or being creative. However, we must prioritize what is most important to us. Often, that means spending time as a creative.

That being said, when we are compensated for our creative energies, people don’t always factor that time into the equation. Not only do we need to be compensated for the actual time spent performing (or creating or improvising), but also the incredible amount of time we spent to develop our craft. Of course we are not asking for years of compensation, but we are asking for our craft to be respected. That also includes travel time and time we spend preparing for each performance.

In today’s world, it is increasingly easy to avoid live performances or engaging with real-life creatives. So, we must value that human connection with each other and understand that support comes in so many forms.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joshuamarquez.com
• Instagram: @joshuamarquezmusic

Image Credits

Adonis Morgan (main image, any of the ones with traffic swirling around me)