ESC Biennale | 98B COLLABoratory

ESC Biennale is a biennial exhibition organized by 98B COLLABoratory, an artist-run initiative based in Escolta, Manila. It brings together artists, cultural workers, and the public through exhibitions, conversations, and creative interventions that respond to place, context, and community.

The project started as ESC Projects, an experimental platform focused on spatial negotiations, transformations, and interventions. It revolves around particular locations, contexts, and renditions—whether as flights of the imagination or bursts of creative energy. ESC artists are given the freedom to conceive and visualize new landscapes.

At first, ESC Projects took the form of one-day exhibitions and events happening alongside 98B’s Saturday X Future Market, mostly held at the First United Building in Escolta. These short-term, site-specific experiments gradually developed into something more layered. What began as single-day activations expanded into a format that now runs anywhere from a week to a month. The ESC Biennale is one of the iterations that grew out of these evolving projects.

The first edition, ILOVEYOU Virus (2016), used the idea of a virus as a starting point. The projects explored different aspects of the viral—from social and cultural to political and aesthetic. It featured local and international artists through exhibitions, talks, workshops, and walkthroughs.

In 2018, Saksi asked how artists and cultural workers bear witness to the world around them. The exhibition took stock of current realities and offered space for reflection, conversation, and response.

After a break due to the pandemic, the biennale returned in 2023 as Tuloy Kayo. This iteration focused on the idea of home, both as a physical space and as something more symbolic. The projects reflected on belonging, care, entanglement, and how our personal spaces connect to larger stories. Artists activated various locations along Escolta, inviting the public back into shared encounters.

Installation view of Wipo's work, "Reflect", part of "Experience Machine" curated by Mayumi Hirano, installed in the lobby of the First United Building. ESC Biennale 2018: Saksi

This 2025, the ESC Biennale presents Tambay Lang, an edition that explores the spirit of tambay—hanging out without a set agenda, and embracing spontaneous, casual encounters that builds connection, rest, and unplanned conversations. Rooted in 98B’s beginnings as a space formed through informal gatherings of friends, this iteration highlights how unstructured time and shared moments can give rise to community and creativity. As 98B marks its thirteenth year, Tambay Lang invites reflection on what to carry forward and what to leave behind in both art and communal practice..

The name ESC refers to both Escape, pointing back to the spirit of the early ESC Projects, and Escolta, the historic street where these projects continue to take shape. From quick interventions to extended exhibitions, ESC remains a space for creative exchange, rooted in place and open to possibility.