HCMC – The Adventure of Color Wheel – Public artwork by Art Labor Collective

Permanent artwork, launched from Wed 21 Jan 2015, 3 pm
Room 3, Pediatrics Department, 3. Floor
Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital
280 Dien Bien Phu Street, District 3, HCMC

From the organizer:

The project ‘The adventure of Color Wheel’ is a project creating public artwork, which is initiated and realized by Art Labor collective from July 2014 to January 2015 at Pediatrics Department, HCMC Eye Hospital, with support from Sàn Art, Lions Clubs International Foundation, Kansai Paint, Mango Art Material, Prince Claus Fund, artists Lang Do and Dat Nguyen and architect Oanh Nguyen. The artwork is re-designing the whole space of Pediatrics Department, including mural paintings and drawings, signs, billboards, furniture and more.

For the first time in Vietnam, a health care institution has collaborated with contemporary art practitioners. Ophthalmologists of HCMC Eye Hospital shared their medical knowledge with Art Labor members, introduced the collective to meet their children patients and opened up their therapeutic space for the collective to transform interior architecture. This interdisciplinary collaboration – among visual art, children’s natural mind and medical knowledge has resulted in a unique and friendly environment for the patients, where they receive treatment inside the embrace of artworks.

On Wednesday 21 January 2015, ‘The adventure of Color Wheel’ will be open to the public. Art Labor collective will host a tour introducing the artwork process and guiding visitors through the artwork in this special environment.

Art Labor = art + laboratory = art + workforce

Art Labor, with 3 core members, visual artists Truong Cong Tung, Phan Thao Nguyen and curator/ writer Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran, work in between visual arts, social and life sciences in order to produce alternative non-formal knowledge via artistic and cultural activities. Art Labor’s practices often challenge the norm of exhibition in white-cubed gallery or museum. They change architectural structure of the space, question and transpose the roles of participants in an exhibition, when curator works in artist collective, artists design the exhibition as a curator, or doctors, architects, designers and anthropologists turn to be artistic collaborators.