KVT – Exposed and Stimulated at Nha San Collective

KVT, and lots of others investigates narratives of exposure

A nice end to 2014

I had two arty type experiences that stayed in my mind well into the first days of the new year

The first was the movie Under the Skin that will keep me drawing conclusions about it for a few months as I soak up its imagery, erotica, and social commentary.

The next was the following night at Nha San’s 16th birthday bash at their newish, upwardly mobile premises

The exhibition by young and precocious artist Nguyen Thuy Tien is also still niggling at my thought buds

Tien’s ephemeral display of mainly uncooked foodstuffs artfully displayed on performance stages in LaCa cafe-a la a buffet at a 5 star restaurant- were visually engaging and initially mouth wateringly inviting.

On the wall behind are glossy images of the food, usually as arranged on the tables, a sort of satirical take on today’s food porn book industry

Accompanying the individual food displays are text pieces, sort of poems that hint at life experiences. Interestingly neither the tables of food nor the photo plates are numbered but the word images are which requires the viewer to wriggle with a delightful jigsaw of connection

The question one asks is: is this a simple and innocent display of food and photography as indicated in the artist’s statement?

Or is it laden with tantalizing sexual imagery and innuendo that a young, up and coming avant garde, female artist who is intent on pushing anti authoritarian buttons and furthering the cause of a category of visual art that is only occasionally controversial and almost never censored in a host of enlightened places

Terms may infiltrate some imaginative viewers’ febrile minds-ovulation, ovaries, cunnilingus, vagina, ejaculation, penile erection, felatio, seminal fluids, intercourse, gonads, fertilization, pubic hair….all sorts of stuff that are not de rigeur in publically displayed, localized visual art!

Some images below of the real and the displayed images

Some of the accompanying word images:

Nguyen Thuy Tien’s concept could be a great success if exhibited in overseas art circuits and her personal narratives exposed to an extended audience

FOR A MUCH BETTER LOOK AT TIEN’S EXCELLENT EXHIBITION LOG ONTO THE NHA SAN COLLECTIVE FACEBOOK (from which I stole a couple of images)

Jamie Maxtone Graham’s SORRY CAN YOU WAIT ONE MINUTE? Installation was in its third incarnation. Its first was at Skylines With Flying People exactly two years ago when it went through its gestation, birth and initial public screening…..as from my opinion piece about it then:

Then there’s the bit no one should miss out on seeing…the brilliantly conceived video installation by Jamie Maxtone Graham which should be a smash hit when installed loopingly on a large gallery wall. Called …….

It was a delicious ploy by the photographer to invite passers by to pose naturally and be photographed (rather video-ed) while the photographer excused himself and said he’d be back in a minute… and then after to sign a waiver that their images could be used publicly. It’s so excellent to watch how people use that minute of waiting time. The piece has been edited and what you see is en edited cut and if you were a poser then you may be one of the lucky ones to feature on screen

Quite brilliant!….Here’s a couple of subject stills…..

In November Incarnation 2 was exhibited at Chula…with my opinion piece here and a few images below:

Now in its third incarnation it is screening accompanied by framed portraits of subjects featured in the video mounted and formalized in frieze or grid format on the walls

It’s now shown on a long, skinny screen and in a formalized gallery

The exposure to the narratives on the opening night was excellent but on a return visit the next day the exposure was a bit compromised by outside light

The format is interesting. First the characters are presented to us in short vignettes as they prepare for their pose- and the unexpected one minute wait. Then we see the subjects during the waiting period. A few for the full minute but most for edited durations of time

In less sensitive hands, the whole show could have been an extended Candid Camera scenario, but Jamie eschews such vulgarity and we are confronted with the poignant tensions and suggested interior monologues that are taking place. Occasionally when more than one ‘actor’ is present, the dynamics change enormously and these seem to be inserted at intervals so that the viewer can relax.

At the first incarnation of the video I giggled a lot as I empathized with the individual characters, sharing their bewilderment and embarrassment. Now I tend to gently squirm with the same sense of empathy

The other day I read an article in the Guardian about Annie Proulx who stated that she was sorry she ever wrote ‘Brokeback Mountain’ or specifically that she allowed it to be made into a movie, because she keeps getting requests and suggestions from readers and viewers-mainly gay men- about how they’d like better, happier endings or denouements to the story about the twenty year, concealed relationship between the two protagonists Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar.

I know that Jamie Maxtone Graham’s video installation will probably incarnate again as, like Nguyen Thuy Tien’s, it is one of those sets of narratives that deserves wider sharing and viewing. Thus I’ll keep my ideas rampant but private and look forward to whatever comes next

Congratulations Nha San Collective and thanks for a nice night’s intellectual enjoyment

I missed out on the experimental music due to a dinner engagement during which the plated food in the restaurant became erotically suggestive