HCMC – San Art, Galerie Quynh – transPOP

– 07-30 Aug –
transPOP: Korea Viet Nam Remix
Galerie Quynh and San Art

Opening Galerie Quynh: Thurs 07 Aug, 6 – 8 pm.
Opening San Art: Fri 8 August, 6 – 8pm.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam : transPOP: Korea Viet Nam Remix, jointly exhibited at Galerie Quynh and San Art, introduces a dynamic mix of six critically acclaimed artists from Korea, Viet Nam, and the United States, signaling an engagement with the rich historic and contemporary linkages between Viet Nam and Korea. The featured artworks explore interconnections between the two countries, including the intersections of history, trauma, and contemporary popular culture. To facilitate creative and critical exchange between Korea, Viet Nam and the United States, four artists from Korea and from the Korean diaspora–Sowon Kwon, Oh Yongseok, Area Park, and Soon-Mi Yoo — were invited to create and exhibit new work as part of a month-long residency in Ho Chi Minh City during the summer of 2008. Residencies in Seoul during the summer of 2007 by five local and diasporic Vietnamese artists, among them Tiffany Chung and Ly Hoang Ly, resulted in the creation of new work that was exhibited at ARKO Art Center in Seoul, the first stop of this traveling exhibition.

Since the late nineties, Viet Nam and Korea have witnessed a significant development of popular culture, fostering greater cultural proximity locally and abroad. V-Pop and Viet Wave, or Vietnamese pop music and film, has created an explosion of pop stars and media products in Vietnam and overseas. A global phenomenon known as the Korean Wave, has popularized Korean television dramas, pop stars, music, films, and fashion through East, Southeast Asia and beyond since the new millennium. As part of a growing inter-Asian flow of pop culture, the Korean Wave has had an impact in Viet Nam, spurring numerous joint efforts between the two countries. These popular representations of the negotiations between modernity and tradition, in addition to burgeoning consumer culture, suggest new subjectivities. The triangulated relationship between Korea, Viet Nam and the U.S. forged through war in Viet Nam is also manifest in the increased cross-pollination of cultural influence and exchange.

The Sai Gon residency program, exhibitions at Galerie Quynh and San Art and the related public program are part of a larger international tour that includes upcoming venues in Southern California and San Francisco in addition to venues in Seoul and Ho Chi Minh City. The full exhibition features 50 artworks by a diverse mix of 16 emerging and established artists from Viet Nam and Korea and their respective diasporas in the U.S. in which a broad range of approaches are evident, from playful interpretations of popular culture to reflections on violence and its vestiges, to critiques of modernity and memorialization.

contact:
Galerie Quynh: Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 6pm
San Art: Monday, 1 – 6pm; Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 6pm