Open Studio: “On Our Pathway vol.4″
Open studio: 06:30 pm, Fri 08 Sep 2023
Manzi Art Space
14 Phan Huy Ích, Ba Đình, Hà Nội
Open Studio featuring “Snowy Night” – a series of videos: 11 am – 07 pm, 09 – 30 Sep 2023 (except Monday)
Manzi Exhibition Space
No. 2 Hàng Bún alley, Hà Nội
Close studio – screening short “Sunny day” followed by an artist talk: 03:30 pm, Sun 01 Oct 2023
Manzi Exhibition Space
No. 2 Hàng Bún alley, Hà Nội
From the organizer:
‘On our pathway’ is an on-going series that Lê Xuân Tiến has been working on since the end of 2019, up until now, 3 volumes have been completed. In the upcoming open studio at manzi, Tiến will introduce the latest developments of this project – Volume no.4 which he described as “born from a concept of a man lying inside a frozen lamb bone, in the snow”. The volume is composed of two bodies of works – a twin named ‘Snowy Night’ & ‘Sunny Day’. ‘Snowy Night’ consists of 14 videos arranged as a multi-channel installation while ‘Sunny Day’ is a 30-minute short film.
Canned a single moment inside the closed space of the exhibition room, ‘Snow Night’ stages a nonlinear story. More precisely, its core setting is that time got stuck and unable to move forward as a matter of logic, leaving one isolated fragment of time bound. That moment was told over and over again by the co-presentations of various layers of scenes looping projected on one wall, reflecting a solely locus from different perspectives:
A man lying still on the ground;
A beast inside a cave;
A gunman confronted a swordsman in front of that cave…
As their fates entangled with each other, all characters, unable to do anything at their will, are forced to wait.
The opening act is manifested clearly, the ending destiny is disclosed already, causes and consequences are unfolded and how to go from one point to another also has been instructed explicitly step by step; nevertheless, all is in vain. Except loosely joining each other into a half-closed loop of a frozen moment, the scenes and the characters are stuck, no possible happenings can be played, yet the curtain cannot be dropped, either.
In contrast to such a discontinued fracture, on the opposite wall is a series of independent objects and accidental events – a scattered collection recorded over a long period of time:
a winter melon, a needle, a gun, spear of Longinus, sleep paralysis…
Though simultaneously projected on similar tablet screens, all reject to be imposed under any hierarchical system or connective structure. As much discursive as they seem to be, the collected images strangely echo each other, just like the natural resonance of a haiku poem. Neither logical rules nor conceptual chains can explicate these ‘elements/lines’; they also, above all, do not seem to be dependent on their author’s will, but were provoked by some intuitive feelings, unexpected emotional waves or some random triggers (such as visual pieces recalled from a dream and an ear-catching melody,…). It’s luck & fate that starts everything, then all just runs its course.
Adopting a paradoxical situation (but, interestingly, not disguised as a type of allegory or tragedy) as a starting point to frame the entire Volume 4, the artist does not attempt to propose any existential question or poignant reminder of the ‘fate and beings’ relation. Rather, he intentionally resisted the idea of a “Search”, aimed to do nothing but simply to “Find – Pick up” then “Offer” what remained to everyone.
“Trees bear fruit, fruit ripens, and then falls. I pick up some fruits and temporarily call them: On our pathway.”
(Artist’s statement about his project)
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