An Exercise in Feeling Negative Space

Sat 07 Dec 2024
Session 1: 10 am – 11:30 am
Session 2: 01 pm – 02:30 pm
EMASI Nam Long
No. 147, street no. 8, Nam Long residential area, D7, HCMC
Registration link (limited 10 people)
Language: English

From the organizer:

Nguyen Art Foundation proudly presents ‘An exercise in feeling negative space’ – the next event in our series of education and public programs in association with ‘In absence, presence’, initiated by Le Thanh Thao. With support from Tắm Đêm and inspired by Linh San’s ceramic works, we invite you to together feel and fill in the negative space – inside and out – through a series of activities: mindful prompts, collaborative writing and clay-pressed secrets.

Notes from Tắm Đêm:

Are these blank papers made from ceramic actually… blank? What was on these pages, what is hiding in between the folds, tucking their shoulders into the corners, now fossilized, forever unspoken? And yet… its silence seems, somehow, so loud.

Linh San’s main practice was the written word before she looked for other materials into which to transfer her poetics. If Linh San attempted to find poetry in non-verbal forms, in this negative space she leaves us with, together, we will attempt to vocalize the unspoken and hopefully, discover what the silence is saying.

This collaborative activity will be held in two sessions, with 10 people per session.

About Tắm Đêm

Tắm Đêm is a fluid community space where poetry and words can transform into whatever the heart desires. Tắm Đêm’s community activities, diverse and ever-evolving, revolve around poetry and its infinite possibilities. Its core activities include performing poetry and listening-reading-writing poems in togetherness.

‘In absence, presence’ is not merely a one-dimensional experience, but rather a vibrant network between actors and actants* that are interlinked and constantly interacting. In this network, materials serve as both the main and supporting actors. Positioning art as a connector rather than the sole focus, the public programs revolving around ‘In absence, presence’ uses physical materials to respond to cultural and social issues beyond the white cube. Let your eyes be deceived, your sense of touch misled by illusory textures, to break down any preconceptions and embark on a journey of self-interpretation and continuous meaning-making.

This series of education and public programs in association with ‘In absence, presence’ is initiated by Nhi Duong in co-curation with Bill Nguyen.

*Bruno Latour, in ‘Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory’ (Oxford, 2005)

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