Sentimental Materials 

Sat 27 May 2023, 03 pm
Art Space, EMASI Nam Long
No. 147, Street no. 8, Nam Long residential area, D7, HCMC

The sentimental materials of Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai

The smooth surface of wood worn down through years of skin contact, the fire ash that leaves clothes riddled with holes, the rot of wood submerged in water – these surfaces, impossible to recreate by human hands, are rich with emotion and carry with them singular narratives.

This exploration of Thanh Mai’s works led by gấu thiên thể is an effort to delve deeper into the relationships between materials and people, clothing and the body, driftwood and a peaceful home. Anchoring gấu thiên thể’s storytelling of the exhibition is what the duo calls the sentimentality of materials.

This journey will unveil the traces of human presence within Thanh mai’s artworks that are unique to a community floating on the vast waters of the Tonlé Sap.

Let’s explore ‘No more, not yet’ with gấu thiên thể!

gấu thiên thể is a public arts project focusing on contemporary art in Vietnam. The project aims to foster connections between the public and creative community, and engage in discussions about the arts using approaches from the two founding members’ disciplines: the social sciences and humanities.

*gấu thiên thể literally translates to celestial bear in English.

Community Takeover

Following Nguyen Art Foundation’s main theme in 2023 – Compassion and Community – aside from hosting talks, workshops and tours that revolve around this topic, we are also inviting individuals and collectives that have created, or are part of a community that is passionate about specific art forms. To reflect how community engagement is constantly evolving, we wish to highlight diverse practices that do not shy away from experimentation, and that take an alternative approach to familiar media. The individuals and collectives invited here are inspired by, but also empower their respective communities – a give-and-take that is essential for sustainable community work.

Exhibition: “While In Japan”

19 May – 04 June 2023
The Japan Foundation
27 Quang Trung, Tran Hung Dao, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi

The series of photographs of Japan by Hai Thanh were taken when the artist visited the country for the first time in 2016 with his family, as a way to record his personal experience and memories during his six-month stay in a country with such a rich and distinctive culture. The strong impressions of his first visit propelled him to return to Japan, to observe and learn more about the lifestyle, the urban landscapes, the people going about their orderly and logical ways of life, and the harmonies and contrasts existing side by side in everyday situations.

During his time in Japan, while having the opportunity to take photographs of several other places, the artist was most impressed by the capital city, with the unrivaled diverse and uninhibited nature of its cultural expressions. The photographs of the exhibition, hand-picked by the artist himself, give us a glimpse into his private and subjective perspective during his visits to Japan in 2016, 2018, and 2019.

The exhibition “While In Japan” is an event in the framework of Photo Hanoi’23 – International Photography Biennale

Circo Pobre – a live performance by Passepartout Duo

May 19, 8 pm
️Manzi art space, 14 Phan Huy Ich Street, Hanoi
Manzi & Passepartout Duo are pleased to present a special experimental music performance Circo Pobre

Circo Pobre is the latest project by Passepartout Duo – a contemporary music group from Italy established in 2015 by pianist Nicoletta Favari and percussionist Christopher Salvito. It was during the tour through South America that the Duo were introduced to the Chilean expression “circo pobre”, a phrase that refers to a situation in which you might need to fill the shoes of presenter, tamer, and trapeze artist all at once in order to finish the show. The phrase immediately spoke to the Duo’s independent spirit: from making their own instruments to presenting the music itself, taking a self-reliant path has guided many of their artistic decisions.

This live performance at Manzi is the 5th show of the Duo’s Vietnam Tour this year. The centerpiece is the “Chromaplane”, a new electronic instrument the Duo has created over the past year. With a pickup coil in each hand, the performers trace shapes above the instrument’s flat surface to unveil its hidden landscape of oscillators buzzing in the electromagnetic field. The four parts are defined by taking both a temporal and spatial approach to the sound and create the arch of a listening journey.

Exhibition :”A Reunion with Vietnam”

May 19 – 26,
Lan Vien Co Tich 2, 94/96/98 Bach Dang Street, Hue City

Thomas Billhardt (*1937 in Chemnitz) is considered one of the most important documentary photographers in the GDR. He was a freelance photojournalist and became world famous through publications in international magazines and through exhibitions in numerous countries. His pictures documented the horrors of the Vietnam War for the first time, especially in the faces of the children he photographed.

Thomas Billhardt traveled to the bombed and fighting country six times between 1962 and 1975, and many more times later. His photographs have been published in several illustrated books. “Pilots in Pajamas” (1968), »Longing for Peace: Vietnam« (1973), ‘Hanoi. The Day Before Peace” (1973) and “Faces of Vietnam” (1978).

”Facing”

Until May 22, 12 pm – 10 pm, Wed & Weekend
Anatolia, 7 Alley 437/2, Ngoc Thuy Street, Long Bien District, Hanoi

The sculptural installation “Facing” is the fruit of Julia Schleicher’s first experience in Vietnam during her residency at live.make.share. The compositions explore feelings of displacement, precarity and faith experienced in confrontation with foreign systems. Unfamiliar materials balance in playful unison, voicing silence and challenging trust.

Julia is an artist born in Cologne and residing in Halle, Germany. She is trained in both Theater Sculpture and Fine Arts Sculpture, and is concluding her first residency in Vietnam supported by the Kunststiftung des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt.

Songs of Singularity

Until June 3, Tues – Sat, and by appointment, 10 am – 05 pm
Galerie Quynh, 118 Nguyen Van Thu Street, D1, HCMC

An exhibition of new work by Brussels-based artist Trong Gia Nguyen. For his third solo exhibition at the gallery, Nguyen will exhibit four distinct, but connected bodies of work that foreground ideas of conservation, accessibility, reproduction, and attribution of artworks.

Adrian Sauer – Light and Dark Stars

Until May 20
University of Fine Arts, 42 Yet Kieu Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi

Adrian Sauer is an artist from Leipzig, who in the last 20 years has been involved with and paid attention to developments in the medium of photography. His work deals with the changes and consequences of digitalization in photography. Sauer critically engages with whether Photography can still be seen as a reliable and unbiased image of reality. In the exhibition „Light and Dark Stars“, which is part of Photo Hanoi 2023, Adrian Sauer’s work can be seen in the University of Fine Arts of Vietnam.

Exhibition & Talkshow “Hanoi – A City in Photography”

Exhibition: Until June 03, 08 am – 05 pm
Art and Culture Center 22 Hang Buom Street, Hanoi

Exhibition “Hanoi – A City in Photography” is an event in the framework of International Photography Biennale Photo Hanoi’23

Curator: Visual Artist Nguyễn Thế Sơn
Artist: Alexandre Garel, Khổng Việt Bách, Diego Cortizas, Lolo Zazar, Peter Steinhauer, Sébastien Laval, Veronika Radulovic, Ben Reich, Bert Danckaert, Nguyễn Hữu Bảo, Nguyễn Thế Sơn, Lê Thịnh, Lê Xuân Phong, Nguyễn Duy Kiên, Maika Elan, Phạm Tuấn Ngọc

Exhibition: “A Decade Of Exposure”

19 May – 19 July 2023
Art Vietnam Salon Gallery
2 alley 66 Yên Lạc, Hai Bà Trưng, Hà Nội
Curator: Suzanne Lecht

Artist: Nguyễn Thế Sơn

Nguyen The Son will select eight photo reliefs from his original work, “Transform” created ten years ago and respond to them with eight new ones as these structures appear today in 2022. Working with the architectural researcher Yen The, Son has studied the history and life of the inhabitants and the buildings. By examining the lives of the original inhabitants, the artist gains an insight into how the lifestyles and the building structures have changed and yet what also remains the same.

Building a 3-dimensional structure of layers of each photo, the artist makes the structure come alive, inserting into the street side all types of conveyances that change with the times, from the cyclo to the bicycle to the motorbike to the luxury car, all symbols of the rapid transformation of the city.

As neon lights take over gas lamps, bold advertising usurps the quiet, somber atmosphere and pulses with the energy of contemporary life. A calm, contemplative beauty gives way to the cacophony and action of a modern-day city on the move, racing toward the future.

Exhibition: “Grace And Strength – Restitution Of A Photographic Residency” 

18 May – 18 July 2023
The French Institute in Hanoi
15 Thien Quang, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi

Artist: Philippe Marinig

Philippe Marinig is not a sports photographer. His matter is elsewhere. Intrigued by the formal, aesthetic and spiritual similarities of many martial arts, Marinig seeks to understand the deep links that could exist between practices that seem a priori distant. The visitor is seized by the power released by the bodies, in these choreographies crystallised by the lens of the photographer. As he progresses in the observation of the works, the feeling grows that the true force of the subjects is suggested rather than shown.

Marinig captured the grace and the strength of young Võ practitioners, as they proudly demonstrated their skills with traditional weaponry and martial postures.

This exhibition offers the visitor a stage of restitution of the work he started in 2019 and continues to pursue, in preparation for a more accomplished exhibition to come which will constitute a collection of images revealing strong and unexpected links between cultures and men that everything seems to oppose, imposing a universal reading of practices, preparatory rituals, pageantry and gestures through their spiritual and cosmogonic dimensions.

During the inauguration ceremony, experts in Võ cổ truyền Việt Nam will offer a demonstration.

The exhibition “Grace And Strength – Restitution Of A Photographic Residency” is an event in the framework of Photo Hanoi’23 – International Photography Biennale

Exhibition “Peculiar Interfaces”

Until July 23 (off Monday), 09 am – 07 pm
The Outpost, Roman Plaza Tower B1 (Floor 2), To Huu Street, Hanoi

In realising the growth of digital media in everyday context and the lack of its discussion in the local art conversations, The Outpost seeks to introduce artworks that engage with the amplifying presence of smart machines and digital technology through our exhibition and acquisition activities.

“Peculiar Interfaces” serves as an abstract to The Outpost’s long-term dedication to explore and unpack how technology is impacting our relationships to one another, and to the world around us.

Exhibition “This is How I Want You to See Me Now”

Opening: 13 May 2023, 08:30 pm – 09 pm
Exhibition: 14 May – 04 June 2023, 09:30 am – 06 pm
Work Room Four
31 Alley 67 Tô Ngọc Vân, Quảng An, Tây Hồ, Hà Nội

An art photography project about people, clothes, identity, documentation, curiosity, community and visibility.

For 9 days in April we invited participants to the Work Room Four studio to be photographed in an outfit of their choice.

Participants were asked a series of questions before we photographed them from four different angles. 210 people came to the studio to have their pictures taken and share with us their thoughts about their clothing and sartorial decision making processes.

This wasn’t designed to be a project about fashion, but more a request for trust, pause and consideration, being captured and documented – frozen in a moment. Marking time whilst participating in an anthropological, archiving project and having the generosity to share with us, and subsequently you our audience – how people want to be seen.

This exhibition showcases the process and the images and answers of each one of our participants.

This photography project is designed and organised by Work Room Four in collaboration with 282 Production.

Double Exhibition “Ngẫu nhiên”

13 May – 11 June 2023, 09 am – 08 pm
REI Artspace
371/4 Hai Bà Trưng, District 3, HCMC

REI Artspace would like to present the double exhibition “Ngẫu biến” by two artists Hồng Lĩnh and ng. anhanh.

For Hồng Lĩnh, painting is a way to connect the human condition through the words and lines of poetry, which are the imprints of life, of the soul with love for the homeland. Not only drawing poems on paintings, she also composed and published poetry books imbued with human love.

ng. anhanh comes to painting whenever she wants to express or convey an extraordinary state in which language has become completely powerless.

“Ngẫu biến” – When life is full of changes, the joys and smiles of children, as well as the tears that are falling on someone’s suffering face, can make the artist’s heart flutter. Emotions have turned language into verses, ideas. The streaks of color, brush strokes that seem to change with each heartbeat are trembling with sadness, fresh and sparkling with happiness overflowing in the mind. Words are no longer words, poetry is no longer poetry, the language of characters is mixed with visual language, colors and lines are sublimated emotions in each work.

“Ngẫu biến” – is the random variation of each work, as well as defining emotional moments. Not exactly artists choose to be creative and not necessarily creativity chooses artists. We choose each other. Beating/smearing/painting on canvas or paper or any other material, when emotions bounce back as a “causal” behavior, we will choose to change and improvise to harmonize in our own way.

Exhibition “Teatros”

Opening: Sat 13 May 2023, 06:30 pm
Exhibition: 13 May – 13 June 2023, 07 am – 07 pm
Artist talk: Thurs 18 May 2023, 06:30 pm – 08 pm
Matca Space for Photography, 48 Ngoc Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi

Twenty or more images of Havana cinemas make up the “Teatros” series (2018–2022). Before the revolution, Havana had at least as many movie theaters as New York or Paris, when Cuba was a vacation destination for (primarily) American tourists. Many have not been used for decades, either given a new purpose or withered away with the Cuban economy. Most structures are from the 1940s and 1950s, while some were constructed just after the revolution by the Castro government.

Most of the photographs in the series are digitally stitched and made up of several different shots. The individuals in the foreground were indeed present at those locations, though (in some cases) not simultaneously. They were photographed separately and then superimposed on each photo, questioning the veracity of the photographic moment. The photos could therefore be more suggestive of fiction and fabrication. Instead of relying on photographic luck, the photographer assumed the role of a director (CFR. cinema/theater) who determines the scenario.

The exhibition is part of a series of programs to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam – The Kingdom of Belgium (1973 – 2023) and a part of the Photo Hanoi’23 International Photography Biennale.

Exhibition “Fashion Photography”

12 – 30 May 2023
Around Hoan Kiem Lake

Artist: Bea De Giacomo, Chiron Dương, Delali Ayivi, Elodie Ledure, Esperanza Moya, Laurence Ellis, Mounir Raji, Nhu Xuan Hua, Yann Gross, Zoltan Tombor

Fashion, like the seashell, is more than just an aesthetic outlook. Beyond the glitz and glam, fashion trends represent the evolution of history and society. They convey messages about the culture and material-spiritual values of generations across communities and countries.

The advent of photography popularises fashion on an unprecedented scale. These two types of art forms are inextricably linked throughout contemporary history. With the shift in the public’s perspective of fashion, fashion photography has been going beyond the framework of pure aesthetics to deconstruct public expressions, examine social trends, and bring attention to contemporary issues.

The fashion photography exhibition, launched on the occasion of the Europe Village 2023, aims to celebrate new cultural movements and fashion trends happening worldwide by highlighting the diversity, originality, and depth of a highly mediatized genre of photography.

Exhibition ‘No more, not yet’

Display: Feb – June, Wed & Fri, 10 am – 04 pm
EMASI Nam Long (D.7)
Tues & Thurs, 10 am – 04 pm
EMASI Vạn Phúc (D.Thủ Đức), HCMC
*and every last Saturday of the month

Nguyen Art Foundation (NAF) proudly invites you to the opening of ‘No more, not yet’, an exhibition that looks back on Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai’s shapeshifting artistic practice in all its multiplicity.

Winner of the Artist Excellence Award (inaugural edition, initiated by The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre and managed by in-tangible institute), her work is presented here alongside nearly 20 artists whom she calls her colleagues and friends.

The exhibition will be on display from February to June 2023 across the campuses of EMASI Nam Long and EMASI Van Phuc.