MAGMA | we’re not counting sheep

07 pm – midnight, 21 Mar – 10 Apr 2025
Galerie Quynh
118 Nguyễn Văn Thủ, Đa Kao, D.1, HCMC

From the organizer:

Originally staged in 2006, Sue Hajdu’s MAGMA | we’re not counting sheep returns for 21 Years of Galerie Quynh. A room draped in lush pleats of red velvet, a mattress sinking into the floor, and rows of artificial roses overhead—this seductive scene would be striking enough on its own but, at its center, two sleepers lie motionless, eyes closed, as if oblivious to the world. And yet, the world is not at all oblivious to this mythical installation which draws in both art-goers and random nightcrawlers, lured in by the inviting red-glow emanating from the gallery entrance.

The room is at once a space of pure interiority (the inside of a ballerina’s box, the interior of a volcano, a uterine cavity, the dreamscape inside the sleepers’ heads), and a space that is radically open to the outside, literally on display. People gather at the windows to peer in like voyeurs, yet there is a disquieting sense that the room also gazes back at them, throwing out a mute accusation at us. You are all sleepers! Awake!

Visitors are welcomed to enter the courtyard and watch the performance through the glass doors
Artist: Sue Hajdu
Artwork: MAGMA | we’re not counting sheep
2006/2025
site-specific installation and performance
room structure; glass; LED light; pleated velvet fabric; customized mattress, pillow, blanket, and clothing; fabric roses; customized pendants; sequins; dressmaker’s pins; plastic beads; disco balls; chicken wire; zinc wire; fishing wire; two sleepers each night for 21 consecutive nights
dimensions variable, room: 295 × 250 × 500 cm

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