HCMC – City Textures, Vietnam

14 – 18 Apr, 09 am – 09 pm daily
PI-CHANNEL shop
31B Le Thanh Ton
District 1, HCMC

As both artist and architect, Archie Pizzini’s fascination in Vietnam is with the layers of textures that form the physical environment. As buildings are altered, new layers do not necessarily cover the old. In this way, each building, each modification, each new necessity, each repair, each curious and incomprehensible whim, is exposed and — quite literally — cemented into the story of the urban environment. Every time, a new pair of hands is involved in the process, thus making the cities of Vietnam elaborate collaborations stretching back decades, even centuries.

If urban texture is defined as the evidence of human lives intersecting, then buildings in Vietnam are reflections of the density of human interaction that exists here. Even in HCMC, we still know the person who collects our bills or who updates our bank account. Life is full of direct human contact. Looking at layered buildings, we are reminded of the problems and hopes in people’s lives across multiple generations and eras.

For Archie, this kind of urban environment is fertile ground for delight. Participating in albb Open Studio Program, he will respond to architectural texture and layering, working experimentally with mixed media and source photographs he has shot around the country. This is a great opportunity to see how an artwork evolves—getting bigger and more complex each day. If you live or work near Le Thanh Ton, why not drop by a few times and experience this process?

Of Hispanic background, Philip Faulks Archie Pizzini grew up in Texas and was educated in both fine arts and architecture. He spent most of his life in Houston, and also worked in New York for a few years before moving to Vietnam in 2005. In HCMC he is partner in the architectural firm, HTA + pizzini Architects.

Archie’s life has followed a double track in which the two strands of art and architecture always seem to be present. The best moments in his creative life are when these two viewpoints add extra dimensions to each other with ideas gaining strength as they bounce between the two sensibilities.

Originally, Archie viewed visual art as a way of trying to preserve what he most loves about certain places, moments or people. His thinking has now moved on to a more realistic position — he uses art practice to savor what delights him and to try to pass that delight on to others.

Life in HCMC yields many scenes of such delight as buildings in this city are almost immediately altered, added to or subtracted from by entirely different people, creating a wonderfully unexpected result.

Please visit albb’s blog for more information on the program and participating artist, or follow this project on albb’s Facebook page.

a little blah blah (albb) is an artists’ initiative that since 2005 has operated as a platform for contemporary art through a wide range of channels including projects, exhibitions & events, screenings, talks, a residency program, internships and an open-access archive of art books & catalogues. Our program has evolved in a pioneering spirit, in response to the gaps and needs of the Saigon art scene. Since 2008 we have re-focussed our program to presenting one major project each year, capacity building and the ongoing running of albb Reading Room.