The Inner River | Under the shadow of ‘deserters’
03 PM – 05 PM, Fri 16 Jan 2026
Heritage Art Space Library
2nd Floor, Complex 01
Alley 167 Tây Sơn, Hanoi
Registration link
Deadline for register: 14 Jan 2026
From the organizer:
During their visit to Hanoi, curator Chao Jiaxing and Heritage Art Space invite participants to an intimate conversation about Xu Zhe’s artistic practice, examined through a specific case study: The Inner River (HD video, 8 minutes 26 seconds, 2021).
While in Hanoi, Xu Zhe was introduced by a scholar to The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh, a book that has had a notable influence on his practice. The Inner River unfolds layered imagery surrounding the story of a “deserter” soldier engaged in a process of self-destruction.
Event description (provided by the curator):
Born in Shanghai. Graduated from the École Supérieure d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence in 2006. Recipient of the Asian Cultural Council Visual Arts Fellowship (2016), Artist Xu Zhe did his research in Hanoi. His projects were less discussed after. As part of his research outcome, I specifically expect to share the film (The Inner River /Hd video / 8:26min / 2021) during my brief visit to Hanoi. For map a lot of overlapping images behind his dealing with a narration to bring out the story of a self-mutilating army ‘deserter’ in the filmInner River. The concept of ‘Deserter’ is an interesting and profound object, it’s shown in the Sinophone literature in the early 20th Century and also can be referred to by multi works from international artists.
In XU’s film, he imagined that these imageries defined our romanticized imagination of war when visual experiences were scarce. From today’s perspective, these pictures of’revolutionary romanticism’ have simplified historical events for propaganda, leaving us with what seems to be slogans and legends, without the actual impressions of the people. In Hanoi he was fortunate to meet a Chinese-American scholar who recommended me the writer, Bao Ninh’s semi-fictional novel The Sorrow of War. The story told through its protagonist, a surviving soldier from the Northern Vietnamese army, reduces warfare to a fragile human struggle.
*Languages: English & Vietnamese
**Limited to 15 participants. Fee: 100,000 VND / person
About curator:
CHAO Jiaxing (B.1984, Shanghai), curator base in Berlin and Shanghai. 2011-2015, she served as the director at V ART CENTER, founded by the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts. She was the senior curator at Start Museum, West Bund, Shanghai after. She edited the publication Under Construction: A History of Shanghai Art Institutions, 2008-2016 in 2021. Her curatorial interests focus on rituals as methods. she was awarded the ACC Residency Fellowship, Gwangju, Travel Grant of CIMAM 2019, Research Grant from Pro Helvetia and Tokas Research fellow. mentor of the Julius Baer Next Generation Art Prize in 2023 Her most recent exhibitions was held at the Ulsan Art Museum, South Korea, kurimanzutto Mexico, Tabula Rasa, Sun Blanket Foundation, Seoul and Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin.
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