An Open Studio by Hà Đào

Opening: 06 pm, Fri 19 Apr 2024
Open Studio: 11 am – 07 pm, Tues – Sun 20 Apr – 19 May 2024
Manzi Exhibition Space
02 Ngõ Hàng Bún, Hà Nội

From the organizer:

Manzi is pleased to present an open studio by Ha Dao, a photographer, writer and programme coordinator at Matca.

The open studio session introduces works grounded in real tragedies learned through the press and social media. As media sensations, both stories feature a female outlaw as the protagonist. Amassing two uncommon fates, this open studio session deals with romance, heartbreak and crime in Vietnam’s recent past. Entrenched are the artist’s ongoing inquiries into the creative and ethical implications of the camera, or more specifically, of appropriating stories not of one’s own.

Juggling with a variety of visual information (photographs, audio recordings, video footage, found and reconstructed materials), in this open studio, Hà proposes a narrative context in which the pure function endowed in the photography almost proved futile: the large volume of visual statement is exposed, the voice of knowledge is clear and directly perceived without any filter, vivid details constitute the very raw material of ‘that-has-been’ yet at the same time can very well say nothing at all as what represented can be immediately yielded to our perception but extremely elusive once one aims to process them to grasp the whole story.

Such interesting narrative context, in turn, provokes questions about what was not allowed / impossible to be represented, about the “blind field”- parts of the scene outside the frame, the after-the-fact, as well as reiterates an often overlooked issue of our age which is unfailingly manipulated by mass consumption of information and social media: every photograph/recording only tells a part of the story.
The pursuit of truth (in terms of informational aspect) is beyond possible, this open studio session, however, invites us, the Outsider of the story (including the artist as well) – in a role of ‘Spectator’, to embark on a journey of exploring the ‘sentimental’ reasons which once interested Roland Barthes in his research into Photography: “I want to explore it not as a Question or a Theme but as a Wound: I see, I feel, hence I notice, I observe and I think.” (Camera Lucida)

Note:
The event is not suitable for audience under the age of 12 and can only accommodates max 05 persons for each slot.

Follow updates on event’s page.