’a note of clay—Artist Talk by Linh San'
10 am – 11:30 am Singapore / 09 am – 10:30am Vietnam
04 May 2024
Online via Zoom
Register by email to [email protected] or DM Facebook page with your name, email, and organisation, to receive the Zoom link. (20 people)
From the organizer
‘a note of clay—Artist Talk by Linh San’ is the first work-in-progress session from The Substation’s remote incubator programme, Sub+ Incubator Collabs. This edition is presented in partnership with Á Space, Hanoi.
Linh San is an emerging artist based in Hanoi whose work spans across ceramics, film, and poetry. In this Artist Talk, as a way to conclude her two-month incubation, Linh San will share her process, as well as her past experiments with different materials and mediums.
Language: English
About the Artist
Prior to Sub+ Á Space Incubator Collabs, Linh San was selected for Á Space’s SoloMarathon 2022, a three-month residency that pairs a local artist with a local curator to realise a project of the artist’s interest, culminating in a solo exhibition. Linh San’s resulting exhibition, ‘mây bay là bay rồi’ (‘no longer holding a cloud’), presented a series of ceramic works that reflects her need for telling her story, as well as an inquiry into the possibilities replicating or demonstrating the material qualities of paper or fabric through the medium of porcelain clay.
Linh San’s commitment to materiality continues in Sub+ Á Space Incubator Collabs, this time unearthing the “characteristics” of clay in its raw form as she looks into the “bone” of a shape before it goes through the firing stage to become ceramic. This line of thought derives from an old saying that traditional Vietnamese ceramicists have lived by for generations: “Nhất xương, nhì da, thứ ba dạc lò” (“Bone first, skin second, third kiln built”). The saying refers to “bone” as the quality of the clay and its shaping method, “skin” as the colour of the glaze and decorative elements, and “kiln built” as the firing techniques.
Titling her incubator project as ‘a note of clay’, Linh San’s experiment extends beyond just materiality to how such material can form a dialogue with the artist’s studio withinan unfinished, raw house in the suburbs of Hanoi. On the floor, “filaments” of clay, each being neatly placed next to/onto one another — a result of time-honoured, careful repetition — reveal a pure white colour after drying up. As they dry, these clay filaments cling to the floor, part wobbly, part stable, alluding to gravity and texture in relation with space and time.
The artist as well as the teams at The Substation and Á Space would like to express their gratitude towards artist Jason Lim for his participation and contribution as guest mentor to Sub+ Á Space Incubator Collabs.
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