Photo Hanoi ’25 | Discussion ‘When photography is beyond documentation’
03 pm – 05 pm, Wed 19 2025
Vincom Center for Contemporary Art (VCCA)
Floor B1-R3, Royal City
72A Nguyễn Trãi, Thanh Xuân, Hà Nội
From Biennale Photo Hanoi:
What happens when a photograph is no longer just evidence of an action, but a performance in itself? Who holds authorship when the artist’s body and gesture become the raw material of a staged image—the photographer, the performer, or both? How can artists and institutions balance the responsibility of archiving performance with the need to respect rights of authorship, while still ensuring its circulation and study? And if performance once arose as a critique of the permanence of the image, what does it mean for it to return today in collaboration with photography?
These questions of authorship, copyright and the conceptual intersections of photography and performance will frame the conversation ‘When Photography is Beyond Documentation’, bringing together Trần Lương, Quỳnh Đông and Vân Đỗ, moderated by Đặng Thuỳ Anh.
The discussion is part of Shutterscape, an exhibition that arises from the shared interest of Đặng Thuỳ Anh and Vân Đỗ in expanding the possibilities of performance practice—a key strand of Á Space’s program, where both are closely involved. Rather than positioning performance and photography as separate disciplines, the exhibition explores performative works that exist in photographic form as well as photographic works that take on a performative quality, creating an interdisciplinary dialogue that blurs genre boundaries. Alongside the exhibition, this conversation on authorship, copyright, and conceptual overlaps will take place, and artist Quỳnh Đông has been invited to contribute an essay on the relationship between performance and image. The exhibition also acknowledges the contributions of those who have recorded performances through photography—whether or not they identify as photographers—for their role in enabling performance to persist in another form.
The discussion ‘When photography is beyond documentation’, with the supports of Á Space and Vincom Center for Contemporary Art (VCCA), is part of the International Photography Biennale Photo Hanoi ’25.
Photo Hanoi is an international photography biennale, initiated and coordinated by the French Institute in Vietnam since 2021. Held every two years, the event operates under the patronage of the Hanoi People’s Committee. For its 2025 edition, the French Institute in Vietnam and the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports are co-organizing Photo Hanoi ’25, with support from UNESCO and a wide network of local and international partners. The biennale aims to position Hanoi as a vibrant and inspiring destination for photography enthusiasts from Vietnam and around the world.
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