a group exhibition featuring works from 5 contemporary artists of Vietnam: Vo Tran Chau, Nguyen Huy An, Phan Thao Nguyen, Nguyen Trinh Thi & Truong Cong Tung
Manzi Art Space and the Goethe Institut are pleased to present ‘Extended Realities’ – a group
exhibition featuring works from five contemporary artists of Vietnam: Võ Trân Châu, Nguyễn Huy An, Phan Thảo Nguyên, Nguyễn Trinh Thi and Trương Công Tùng.
Through a minimalist installation, a video art piece, an ephemeral installation and a series of 10
multimedia paintings, ‘Extended Realities’ examines how the artists are working with ideas of time,
memory and history.
Drawing from literature, philosophy and daily life, artist Phan Thảo Nguyen observes ambiguous
issues in social conventions and history. Nguyên’s work ‘Hunger Thread’ is part of her personal
interpretation of the rarely discussed 1945 famine in Vietnam. This ephemeral installation consists of hundreds of raw jute balls scattered throughout the exhibition space. These jute balls can be blown away by the wind or kicked or stepped on by the viewers. In this work, the artist proposes a more nuanced approach to personal and historical tragedies using a new perspective on history and
narration, and an artistic medium. Meanwhile, artist Võ Trân Châu recreates collective memories
via her embroidery and mosaic artworks depicting long gone architectural structures or historical
figures, in an attempt to access obscured or unwritten histories of Vietnam.
In contrast with Châu and Thảo Nguyên, artist Trương Công Tùng considers time as one medium for his series of paintings ‘The time of passing shadows (1 2 3 4...)’. In this intriguing series, Tùng sets out a layered narrative of time that is coherent yet tacitly perplexing, with images and information interleaved with fact and fiction
Time and history are always central themes in Nguyễn Huy An’s research. In this exhibition, Huy An presents a minimalist installation entitled ‘Exercise No. 2’ which forms part of his ongoing project inspired by the undeniable significance of Lenin as a political figure in the history of the country. The work is created following the artist’s study of the changing shadows of a public sculpture of Lenin over the course of one day, according to the time and position of the sun.
Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s practice as a moving image artist has consistently engaged with memory and
history, and her work ‘Eleven Men’ is no exception. ‘Eleven Men’ is composed of scenes from a
range of Vietnamese classic narrative films featuring the same central actress, Nhu Quynh.
Spanning three decades of her legendary acting career, this multilayered work has created a
personal connection with and contemplation of the complicated history of Vietnam.
Please note: In light of the current coronavirus developments, we can only accommodate a
maximum of 10 visitors per time slot at the exhibition.
The exhibition is part of
Manzi’s Art Programme supported by the
Goethe Institut
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