Vietnamese Artist UuDam Tran Nguyen at Art Stage Singapore 2016
Art Stage Singapore, in its 6th edition, continues to facilitate regional art market development and the exchange of ideas. With a pertinent focus on South East Asia (strategically in response to the AEC Blueprint 2025 that promotes an integrated, cohesive and people-oriented economy amongst South East Asian countries), Art Stage Singapore introduces a ‘South East Asia forum’ that comprises of an exhibition featuring works by 19 socially engaged artists from Southeast Asia, and a series of talks by leading figures in regional contemporary art scene.
Titled ‘Seismograph: Sensing the City—Art In the Urban Age’, the Southeast Asia forum 2016 “… will explore the role of artists as seismographs of society’s pulses…” by featuring artists “… who delve into issues and sentiments relating to extremely rapid urbanisation and to the evolution of contemporary society in their own countries.”
UuDam Tran Nguyen, who transforms the boundaries between urban myth and popular legend, both celebrates and warns of the role and impact of human progress and its desire for social advancement. His newest 3-channel video ‘Serpent’s Tails’ 2015, is a vividly compelling performance where the motorbikes of Ho Chi Minh City act out a contemporary tale of danger in man’s search for immortality.
In the Forum’s talk series, San Art Curator and Executive Director, Zoe Butt will also moderate a discussion on the psycho-geographic challenges of leading art organizations in the 21st century with curator/directors from Italy, China, Japan, and The Netherlands.
UuDam Tran Nguyen (b. 1971) was born in Kontum, Vietnam. Initially trained as a sculptor at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art University, he went on to pursue a Bachelor of Art at UCLA and Master of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He now lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Working with video, performance, photography, sculpture and new media, Nguyen’s playfully provocative practice is today one of the leading lights of Vietnamese contemporary art. Nguyen has exhibited internationally, including but not limited to: Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; Asia Society, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Jewish Museum, New York; Bildmuseet Museum, Sweden; RISD Museum, Rhode Island. Nguyen is a co-founder of the experimental art magazine XEM. His art is represented in public and private collections such as Asia Society, NYC; Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, amongst other.
For more information on UuDam Tran Nguyen, San Art and our participation, please email [email protected].
