“6𝒗➡️¹/²” – A Collaborative Installation

11 am – 07 pm, Tues – Sun, 19 May – 08 June 2025
Manzi Exhibition Space
2 ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hà Nội

From the organizer:

What’s this fuss? What’s this strange cry?
Seven full spirits (*) – half slipped by.
Lost a half, not quite the whole,
Still enough to play the role!

“6𝒗➡️¹/² stretches beyond the idea of a group show; it is an unfolding tension — spatial, sensorial, and affective — between what masculinity claims and what it conceals.

Born from a passing joke in the haze of a drunken night, the work has grown into a porous assemblage of image, sound, scent, performance, and residue.

The space tilts, splits, collapses — invaded by bizarre forms, solitary presences. These objects appear not as universal signs but as private traces — too personal, too peculiar to be decoded through type or symbol.They linger between presence and reticence, between the compulsion to reveal and the instinct to withhold. This restless motion reveals itself in skewed shadows, shifting lights, simmering smells, murmuring machines, and faltering words — all suspended in the shared field: | the fragility & masculinity |—a condition that can reach neither a plenitude of meaning nor a truly stable referent.

Seven artists, one installation—sharing one stage, one play.
You’d think they speak in unison, share one spirit.
But well…

“One man, two ___
Three men got ___
Four men dropped their ___
Who dropped their ___?
Who left?
Who left?
Four men – no.
One man – not yet.
Half a man… no?
Who says yes?
Who want – ?
Who wants… not?”(written by Đào Tùng)

(*)Seven full spirits (from the original 7 “vía” in Vietnamese):
According to Vietnamese folk belief, a man is said to have seven vía (women have nine) — immaterial spirits or life-essences that govern vitality, luck, and emotional balance. The phrase “seven full spirits” echoes this notion while gesturing toward the fragility and flux of masculine identity. The humorous phrase “losing half a spirit” plays on this concept while teasing the idea of masculine instability. With just six and a half left — is one never quite masculine or ever more virile/effeminate?

About artists:

Đào Tùng (born 1982) is a multimedia artist whose practice spans sound, installation, and experimental video.

A graduate of the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City, Tùng has actively engaged in the roles of visual artist, musician, and director across performance and experimental theatre events in Vietnam, South Korea, and the United States. One of his notable projects is Erasable (2012), a performance exploring the blurred boundaries between art and everyday actions.

He is a co-founder and organizer of the Nổ Cái Bùm art event (Hue, 2020; Da Lat, 2022), and also co-founded Open Room and Nest Studio. In 2021, he was selected as one of ten recipients of the prestigious Dogma Prize, a prominent award in the field of portrait-based visual art in Vietnam.

Selected exhibitions include: Bờ Thành Project (Hue, 2022); Video Box, part of SWAB Barcelona Art Fair (Spain, 2020); Henosis at Baik Art Seoul (South Korea, 2018); Open Room II at Capa Studio (Ho Chi Minh City, 2016); and howdy cowboy at MoT+++ (Ho Chi Minh City, 2015). In 2017, he joined the Open Studio residency at 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, Los Angeles (USA).

Đỗ Thanh Lãng (born 1986, Ho Chi Minh City) graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts.

Approaching art practice with a rare instinct — visible through the craggy edges of his canvases, or the occasional insect fossilized by his resin pour — Do Thanh Lang is aptly positioned to extract lightness from a dire situation. In all their hazy strangeness, his artworks are akin to pieces of a memory — a visual journal of altered consciousness.

His work has been exhibited in numerous group shows in Vietnam and across the region, including Displacement (Gallery Rhim, Seoul); Salt of the Forest (Korea Foundation Gallery, Seoul & CUC Gallery, Vietnam Women’s Museum, Hanoi); Modern Wind (Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Association); My Sister (Sàn Art, HCMC); Fall (Cafe Trầm, HCMC); Falling from the Sky (Sao La, HCMC); March: Art Walk (various venues, HCMC); and the series mù dạ quang, Dăm Kết Mặt Trăng, Bồi Tích, Cicada Song in a Summer of Poppies, Lò Cò, and NGUCHONOBAY (curated by Sao La) at Galerie Quynh, HCMC.

He also participated in Spot Art Singapore 2014 (ARTrium @ MCI, Singapore) and the Brownian Motion artist residency at Heritage Space, Hanoi.

Nguyễn Ban Ga (born 1979) studied at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts for four years and left in 2004. He is a co-founder of Hanoi Link – one of the pioneering video art collectives in Hanoi in the early 2000s – and a member of Nhà Sàn Collective, the first artist-run experimental art space in Northern Vietnam.

Ban Ga’s practice spans various mediums including painting, performance, and video art. His work often explores the intersections of personal memory and history, while reflecting on the influence of political ideologies on the individual in contemporary Vietnamese society.

He has participated in several notable local art projects such as EXHIBITION (part of “Flying People 3” (Nhà Sàn Collective, 2016), The Clouds Will Tell (Nhà Sàn Collective, 2014), Five Years (Hanoi Link, 2012), and X second (Goethe-Institut Hanoi, 2010).

In 2017, Ban Ga founded Ga Mộc Studio, focusing on the experimentation and development of interior products made from dyed plywood. With a minimalist, flexible, and colorful design approach, he emphasizes material choices as a personal statement, aiming to reduce the strain on overexploited natural forest resources.

Nguyễn Đức Đạt (born 1979 in Pleiku, Vietnam) studied painting at the University of Florida. He is a member of the artist collective Sao La and co-founder of Cù Rú, an artist-run bar operating in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat. Đạt has curated for Nhà Sàn Collective and served as the artistic director of Nhà Sàn in Hanoi.

His works have been exhibited in numerous international and local exhibitions, including documenta 15 (Kassel, Germany); NGUCHONOBAY #2: 2,99999 WORLDS at 20/20 Gallery, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (New York, USA); Salt of the Forest at Korea Foundation Gallery (Seoul) and CUC Gallery, Vietnam Women’s Museum (Hanoi); Nổ Cái Bùm: Da Lat Dreaming (Da Lat); Nổ Cái Bùm (Hue); The Horizons Have Flyers 4 at Nhà Sàn Collective (Hanoi); and Falling from the Sky at Sao La (Ho Chi Minh City).

In addition to his artistic practice, Đạt has curated and organized various art projects such as March: Art Walk and March: Art Walk 2.0 at multiple venues in Ho Chi Minh City; địa/phương ~ local-liti at Sao La and Địa Projects (Ho Chi Minh City); NGUCHONOBAY at Galerie Quynh (Ho Chi Minh City); as well as the publication Art and Law.

Nguyễn Huy An (born 1982 in Hanoi) graduated from Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 2008. He 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 under-laid with 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 and simple yet strong concepts.

Huy An had 4 solo exhibitions: ‘The four subjects’ – Manzi Art Space, Hanoi – 2022, ‘Âm Sáng’ – Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City – 2019, ‘Calculus Exercise #6/5’ – Manzi Art Space, Hanoi – 2018 and ‘78 Rhythms’ – Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City – 2014; he also participated in numerous group exhibitions and performance art festivals (either as a solo artist or with his performance art group Phu Luc (Appendix) – which he co-founded in 2010) including: ‘Into Thin Air 2’ – the public art project, Manzi Art Space – 2018; ‘Looking for the Divine Beings’, Nha San Collective, Hanoi – 2017; ‘Vietnam Eye: Contemporary Vietnamese Art’ – Casa Italia, Hanoi – 2016; ‘14th Istanbul Biennial’ – Turkey – 2015; ‘Disrupted Choreographies’ – Carré d’Art Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nimes, France – 2014, ‘If The World Change’ – Singapore Biennale – 2013, ‘Sounds of Dust (Somniloquy)’ – 943 Studio Kunming, China – 2011.

Nguyễn Trần Nam (born 1979) is considered one of the second-wave contemporary artists in Hanoi closely associated with Nha San Studio – one of the first artist-led experimental art spaces of Northern Vietnam.

Since graduating from the Vietnam University of Fine Art in 2003, Nam has been producing a diverse body of multimedia work, which takes inspiration from his own experience coming from a working-class family, growing up in the countryside of Hung Yen and later migrating to the capital to study painting. At times dark and heavy, at others playful and sarcastic, his work makes visible both the past and present-day social, political and historical issues of Vietnam, while highlighting the individual tales of human relationships among people of different social groups.

Nam’s selected exhibitions include: ‘In everyscape, at time with no end‘ (2024), , ‘Through the looking glass’ (2022), ‘UNDONE…’(2017), ‘Broken Chapters’ (2013) – Manzi Art Space, Hanoi‘, Mise-en-scene’ – Nha San Collective, Hanoi – 2016, ‘Hinterland’ – Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco – 2012, ‘Gap’ -Nha San Studio, Hanoi – 2010.

Nguyễn Văn Phúc (born 1978) graduated from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 2003. He quickly developed a distinctive personal style, establishing himself as a prominent figure in contemporary Vietnamese painting.

His works feature a wide range of characters, often placed in peculiar and surreal settings, subtly infused with humor. Using bold, striking colors, Phúc draws on everyday life to portray his inner world—ongoing psychological struggles in response to the relentless social changes and shifting landscape of contemporary Vietnam.

In 2022, Phúc held a solo exhibition entitled “No-Think” at Manzi Art Space, he also participated in numerous group shows both in Vietnam and abroad. In 2018, two of his works were selected for the Salt of the Jungle exhibition organized by the Korea Foundation.

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