Exhibition: “Extended Realities”
Tues to Sun 04 – 25 Sep 2020, 10:00 am – 07:00 pm
Manzi Exhibition Space, No. 2 Ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hà Nội
From Manzi:
Manzi Art Space and the Goethe Institut are pleased to present “Extended Realities” – a group exhibition featuring works from five contemporary artists of Vietnam: Võ Trân Châu, Nguyễn Huy An, Phan Thảo Nguyên, Nguyễn Trinh Thi and Trương Công Tùng.
Through a minimalist installation, a video art piece, an ephemeral installation and a series of 10 multimedia paintings, “Extended Realities” examines how the artists are working with ideas of time, memory and history.
Drawing from literature, philosophy and daily life, artist Phan Thảo Nguyen observes ambiguous issues in social conventions and history. Nguyên’s work ‘Hunger Thread’ is part of her personal interpretation of the rarely discussed 1945 famine in Vietnam. This ephemeral installation consists of hundreds of raw jute balls scattered throughout the exhibition space. These jute balls can be blown away by the wind or kicked or stepped on by the viewers. In this work, the artist proposes a more nuanced approach to personal and historical tragedies using a new perspective on history and narration, and an artistic medium. Meanwhile, artist Võ Trân Châu recreates collective memories via her embroidery and mosaic artworks depicting long gone architectural structures or historical figures, in an attempt to access obscured or unwritten histories of Vietnam.
In contrast with Châu and Thảo Nguyên, artist Trương Công Tùng considers time as one medium for his series of paintings ‘The time of passing shadows (1 2 3 4…)’. In this intriguing series, Tùng sets out a layered narrative of time that is coherent yet tacitly perplexing, with images and information interleaved with fact and fiction
Time and history are always central themes in Nguyễn Huy An’s research. In this exhibition, Huy An presents a minimalist installation entitled ‘Exercise No. 2’ which forms part of his ongoing project inspired by the undeniable significance of Lenin as a political figure in the history of the country. The work is created following the artist’s study of the changing shadows of a public sculpture of Lenin over the course of one day, according to the time and position of the sun.
Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s practice as a moving image artist has consistently engaged with memory and history, and her work ‘Eleven Men’ is no exception. ‘Eleven Men’ is composed of scenes from a range of Vietnamese classic narrative films featuring the same central actress, Nhu Quynh. Spanning three decades of her legendary acting career, this multilayered work has created a personal connection with and contemplation of the complicated history of Vietnam.
“Extended Realities” will open from 04 to 26 Sep 2020 at Manzi, No. 2 Ngõ Hàng Bún. Admission in free.
Please note: In light of the current Coronavirus developments, we can only accommodate a maximum of 10 visitors per time slot at the exhibition. Visitors are requested to wear mask and wash hands before coming in.
The exhibition is part of Manzi’s Art Programme supported by the Goethe Institut.
Communications partners: Hanoi Grapevine
Participating artists:
Nguyễn Huy An
Born in 1982 in Hanoi and graduated from the Vietnam Fine Art University in 2008, Nguyen Huy An is considered one of the most dynamic and innovative artists of his generation. Huy An’s work has been a process of trying to dig into the darkness of psychology. Most of his projects have been underpinned by an obsession with memory and the complexities of a pessimistic perspective. From installations, performance art to paintings and sculptures, Huy An’s works are highly acclaimed by international art critics and curators for their introspective, simple and strong concepts.
Huy An has participated in a number of exhibitions and performance art festivals including “Âm Sáng”, Galerie Quynh, Vietnam (2019); Calculus Exercise #6/5, Manzi Art Space, Vietnam (2018); 78 Rhythms, Galerie Quynh, Vietnam (2014); Disrupted Choreographies, Carré d’Art – Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nimes, France (2014); If The World Changed, Singapore Biennale (2013); Sounds of Dust (somniloquy), 943 Studio Kunming, China (2011) among others.
Nguyễn Trinh Thi
Nguyễn Trinh Thi is a Hanoi-based moving image artist. Her diverse practice, transcending the boundaries between cinema, documentary and performance, has consistently engaged with memory and history. Her works have been shown at international festivals and art exhibitions including Asia Pacific Triennial (Brisbane, 2018), Sydney Biennale 2018; Jeu de Paume, Paris; CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; the Lyon Biennale 2015; Asian Art Biennial 2015, Taiwan; Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial 2014; and Singapore Biennale 2013.
Võ Trân Châu
Born to a family of traditional embroiderers, Võ Trân Châu understands the power and materiality of threads and fabrics, and chooses textiles, particularly found fabrics and second-hand clothing, as materials for her artistic practice. By deploying these materials, imbued with their own personal stories, Châu portrays how strongly history reflects on the grand narrative of nation states and society. She delves into the social and cultural history of Vietnam to highlight issues surrounding labor, consumption and waste.
Châu’s selected exhibitions include: “Leaf Picking in the Ancient Forest” (The Factory Contemporary Arts Center, 2020); “Where The Sea Remembers” (The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2019); “Unfolding: Fabric of Our Life” (Centre for Heritage, Art & Textile (CHAT)/MILL6, Hong Kong, 2019); “Bodies Survey(ed)” (Sàn Art, HCMC, Vietnam, 2018); “Lingering at the Peculiar Pavillon” (Manzi Art Space, Hanoi & Salon Saigon, HCMC, 2017); “The Foliage” (VCCA, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2017); “Still (the) Barbarians” (EVA International: Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art, Limerick, Ireland, 2016); “Suzhou Documents” (Suzhou Art Museum, Suzhou, China, 2016).
Phan Thảo Nguyên
Trained as a painter, Phan Thảo Nguyên is a multimedia artist whose practice encompasses video, painting and installation. Drawing from literature, philosophy and daily life, Nguyên observes ambiguous issues in social conventions and history. She started working in film when she began her MFA in Chicago. Nguyên exhibits internationally, with solo and group exhibitions including WIELS (Brussels, 2020), Rockbund Art Museum (Shanghai, 2019); Lyon Biennale (Lyon, 2019); Sharjah Biennial (Sharjah Art Foundation, 2019); Gemäldegalerie (Berlin, 2018); Dhaka Art Summit (2018); Para Site (Hong Kong, 2018); Factory Contemporary Art Centre (Ho Chi Minh City, 2017); Nha San Collective (Hanoi, 2017); and Bétonsalon (Paris, 2016).
Nguyên is a 2016-2017 Rolex Protégée, mentored by internationally acclaimed, New York-based, performance and video artist, Joan Jonas and in 2019, she was shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award.
In addition to her work as a multimedia artist, she is co-founder of the collective Art Labor, which explores cross disciplinary practices and develops art projects that benefit the local community.
Trương Công Tùng
Born in 1986, Trương Công Tùng grew up in Dak Lak among various ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands, Vietnam. He graduated from the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University in 2010, majoring in lacquer painting. With research interests in science, cosmology and philosophy, Trương Công Tùng works with a range of media, including video, installation, painting and found objects, which reflect personal contemplations on the cultural and geopolitical shifts of modernization, as embodied in the morphing ecology, belief or mythology of a land. He is also a member of Art Labor (founded in 2012), a collective working between visual art and social/life sciences to produce alternative non-formal knowledge via artistic and cultural activities in various public contexts and locales.
Trương Công Tùng has exhibited extensively in Vietnam and abroad as a solo artist and as part of Art Labor Collective. Select recent exhibitions include Bangkok Art Biennale (2018), “Between Fragmentation and Wholeness” at Galerie Quynh in Ho Chi Minh City (2018), “A Beast, a God, and a Line” at Para Site, Hong Kong (2018) and Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2018), Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka (2018), Carnegie International 57th edition at Carnegie Museum of Art (2018), Cosmopolis at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2017).
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