HCMC – Exhibition “Choose to Move”

Opening: Tue 12 May 2015, 6 pm
Exhibition: 12 May – 30 Jul 2015
Artist talk: Thu 14 May 2015, 6 pm
Saigon Domaine

From the organizer:

You are invited to come and enjoy the works of resident artists Tran Tuan, Orawan Arunrak, and Ta Minh Duc from session 6 of our San Art Laboratory program. The exhibition is an investigation into the self reflection juxtaposed against distinctive social and historical contexts in Vietnam.

Tran Tuan (Hue) once again responds to the family story that has persistently followed his life and practice, only this time he chooses to experiment with video installation instead of sculpture to address the question of consequences resulting from the act of making a choice in a particular social context. Unique to Vietnam’s history and the artist himself, the work tells the story of his grandfather, father, and uncles, and the harsh decisions they had to make along different periods of wars. A long tale of games and rules of life that each and every one of us are bound to face once we step onto the realm of independent adulthood.

Orawan Arunrak (Bangkok) presents another evidence of curiosity into Vietnam’s history. Her installation is the result of a foray into the dream of Vietnamese people at the current period of development and peace restored after centuries of wars and invasions. The project started with a simple question: ‘Where would you like to own?’ addressed to a number of individuals of various age living across provinces from North to South, and with each answer provided, the artist herself travelled to the indicated destination and drew sketches of the place. Her journey to produce the work is another affirming sign of the fact that a number of contemporary artists no longer confine themselves in the four walls of studio to produce artworks, but instead venture and engage with the outside world through different means to discover and create their art.

Along the same line is artist Ta Minh Duc (Hanoi). This filmmaker made a trip to both ends of Vietnam to film stories that represent two extremes on the subject of trapping animals. From an old hunter’s story about a wild pig who bit off its leg to escape from a trap set up in the jungle, the first video excavates the farming of domesticated animals while the second portraits those in the zoo. We follow a story that may or may not be true, that speaks of the spirit of a wild animal with a very strong will of its own, to confined animals, and conclude with a herd of wild species now born and raised within the comforting boundaries of domesticity, apparently possessing absolutely no conscious of their entrapment and the deadly fate awaiting them ahead. Duc’s work poses the question: To what extent are we affected or aware of the fabrics of the place we are born in?