EMERGING ARTIST-RUN SPACES ACROSS METRO MANILA AND BEVOND

Five years after the pandemic, it seems the local art scene has begun to find its footing again, and much of the most vital energy is gathering around a growing number of new artist-run spaces.

- LEVI MASULI

After being moved by 98B’s sprawling ESC Biennale in Escolta, I found myself thinking about the role of artist-run spaces within a broader, and often fragile, art ecosystem. 98B Collaboratory, perhaps the longest-running artist-run space in Manila after Green Papaya, has sustained a commitment to exploratory programming and a generosity toward critical exchange among artists, writers, and the wider cultural milieu. Small artist-run spaces like 98B do more than provide venues for emerging and non-mainstream artists; they are also keenly attuned to their marginal position in relation to the art market.

This awareness often makes them more careful and intentional in their curatorial and creative orientations, and more receptive to the rhythms of their immediate communities. In this way, they help cultivate meaningful linkages between cultural production and broader publics.

This list gathers some of the newest artist-run spaces that have emerged over the past year and late last year. A disclaimer: it is highly subjective, largely Metro Manila-centric, and far from exhaustive, shaped by my own fairly casual and recent engagement with the local art scene.