15 – 30 August 2026
125Projects Gallery, National Bookstore Park, Manila, Philippines 

For his first solo exhibition, Nicholas Tan transformed 125 Projects in Manila into an exploration of form, function and the shifting boundaries between fashion and contemporary art.

Extending the sculptural language developed through his work as founder of AUPEN, Tan moved beyond the functional object into sculpture, canvas and text. At the centre of the exhibition was a recurring silhouette derived from the Purpose bag, a form originally designed to be carried, reimagined as an independent visual language. 

Stripped of its original purpose, the silhouette became something else: a sculpture, a symbol, a memory. Through repetition and transformation, Tan examined how meaning persists beyond utility, and how an object can acquire a life independent of the function for which it was created.