Unfolding

Opening: 01 PM, Wed 22 Apr 2026
Display: 11 AM – 07 PM, Tues – Sun, 23 Apr – 10 May 2026
Manzi Exhibition Space
No. 2 Ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hà Nội

From the organizer:

Manzi is pleased to present Unfolding, a special showcase by Nguyen Huyen Trang, who has spent nearly 15 years working in art publishing and book design, collaborating with numerous artists and cultural organizations in Vietnam.

In contemporary art practice in Vietnam, books and art publications are often treated as supplementary spaces—places where a work’s existence is extended or condensed to serve a specific purpose. The work of bookmaking is, accordingly, mostly known as a behind-the-scenes affair: technical, instrumental, and secondary.

But what if the person making the book refuses to stay within those limits and happens, unfortunately, to be a dreamer? One who is still meticulous about every concrete constraint—material and content structure, production costs and deadlines—yet remains driven by a harder-to-grasp question: How do you preserve, or further ùnold, the spirit of an artwork in another form?

For nearly 15 years, Nguyen Huyen Trang has worked alongside artists and cultural organizations across projects and events of all scales, pursuing that question in different ways. Unfolding is a look back at that journey: through more than fifty selected titles from publications she has directly produced, alongside a collection of books and printed materials she has kept as references and points of dialogue.

Rather than presenting itself as a linear archive, the display at Manzi opens as a network of relationships—between original works and their printed counterparts, between concept and material, and between reading an archive and seeing art. For Trang, the book is not simply a medium of documentation or communication but a space for experimentation—one in which decisions about material, structure, and rhythm actively reshape how a work is encountered. In this sense, the book becomes another possible form of the artwork itself: a place where the experience of art is extended, transformed, and met again.

Guided tours and accompanying workshops will take place during the display period. Further details will be announced soon.

Free admission. Please follow the guidance of our coordinators during your visit.

Manzi and Nguyen Huyen Trang extend their sincere thanks to all organizations, partners, artists, and friends who have accompanied and supported this project—through materials, resources, and generous spirit—throughout its preparation and realization: Vu Dan Tan Museum, Flamingo Contemporary Art Museum, Song May Contemporary Art Museum, Rabbit Hole, artist Ha Manh Thang and Luong Van Viet, ARB and architect Nguyen Ha, Huy Framing, and many others.

Follow updates on event’s page.