Hanoi | Solo Exhibition: Poetic Amnesia

Nha San Collective, 15th floor, Hanoi Creative City, 1 Luong Yen

3-7 p.m., Wednesday – Sunday, December 13 – 24

From the organizer:

Poetic Amnesia is an experimentation in creating a half-real and half-fictitious visual experience, in which the viewer embodies the role of Tu Thuc, a Tran dynasty's mythical figure. Upon entering the exhibition, they would journey through the sphere of the artwork, where boundaries between real time and fictional time, real space and fantastical space become distorted.

Poetic Amnesia is a venture into a figment of Vietnamese history, one that deals with the history of our chu quoc ngu (Vietnam’s romanized script), and both the fantasies and the hard facts entailed. As Phan feels about for the remaining traces of chu quoc ngu's celebrated father (the French Jesuit missionary Alexandre de Rhodes), fate brought her to Rome where she was able to read Bento Thien’s handwritten letter to Giovanni Filippo de Marini. In the letter, he recounted Annam’s history through a series of myths, including the My Chau and Trong Thuy romance tale, as a metaphor for the love-hate relationship spanning thousands of generations between Vietnam and China. Inspired by these historical sources, Phan allows herself to lift feet off the ground, to tweak, to affix information and feelings in order to express perception of the multifacetedness of the processes of archiving, altering, erasing, revising and reconstructing human’s memory and their symbolic consciousness.

About the artist

Phan Thao Nguyen (b. 1987, Ho Chi Minh City) has pushed the boundaries of contemporary art in Vietnam. Through literature, philosophy and daily life, she observes ambiguous issues in social convention, history and tradition. An honours graduate from Singapore’s Lasalle College of the Arts in 2009, four years later Phan Thao Nguyen received an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Today, in addition to her work as a multimedia artist, she has joined forces with artist Truong Cong Tung and curator Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran to form Art Labor. This collective explores cross-disciplinary practices and develops art projects that will benefit the local community. Phan Thao Nguyen is expanding her “theatrical fields”, including what she calls ‘performance gesture’ and moving images. She has exhibited widely in Southeast Asia and is a 2016-2017 Rolex Protégée, mentored by internationally acclaimed, New York-based, performance and video artist, Joan Jonas.

Free entry

Hanoi | Exhibition: Vestige of a Land

Goethe-Institut Hanoi, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc

8 a.m. - 6 p.m., December 15 - January 12

^{“Vestige of a Land” explores the life of communal houses in Northern Vietnam along the Red River, a six-month joint cooperation between the artist Le Giang, Sino-Nom researcher Nguyen Dinh Hung, vernacular architect Pham Thanh Thuy and environmental consultant Nguyen Thuy Duong.}

Hanoi | Showcase: Beyond Structure

4th floor, Agohub space, 12 Hoa Ma

3 p.m., Monday-Thursday, December 17 – December 21

^{Young architects and students testing their ideals and boundaries within the framework of Hanoi and their own utopian outlooks.}

Hanoi | Exhibition: No & Meaning

Manzi Art Space, 14 Phan Huy Ich

Opening: 6 p.m., Saturday, December 9, 2017

Until January 08, 2018

^{After 10 years of seclusion living a solitary, meditative life in the hillside of Da Lat, Vietnamese artist Nguyen Minh Thanh has reduced his art to a simple expression of his happiness.}

Hanoi | Exhibition: Wooden Matrix - Viewfinder of the Past

Goethe-Institut Hanoi, 56-60 Nguyen Thai Hoc

7 p.m., Wednesday, December 20

^{As part of “Vestige of a Land”, a public talk will provide a general perspective regarding the remaining wooden matrices that still exist in Vietnam. i.e. their crafting processes, cultural and historical values.}

Hanoi | Art Exhibition: Metamorphosis

Vicas Art Studio, 32 Hao Nam

5 p.m., Wednesday, December 20

^{“Metamorphosis” features 50 paintings by Vietnamese artist Nguyen Thi Mai, done with mostly acrylic on canvas and sometimes, lacquer painting.}

Hanoi | Exhibition: Touching Point

Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc

Opening: 5:30 p.m., Monday, December 18

Until December 23

^{Five Vietnamese artists, including the two sculptors Vu Quang Sang, Khong Do Tuyen and three painters Nguyen Thai Co, Tran Manh Hung, and Tran Ngoc Huong, meet and converse about the itinerary of art creation.}

Hanoi | Installation: 'Le sac'

L'Espace, 24 Trang Tien, Hanoi

November 9, 2017 - January 14, 2018

^{Is the human body a 'stinky leather bag'? Artist Tran Quy Duc searches for an answer.}

HCMC | Talk: Giving Culture a Central Place in Cities

RedDoor, 400/8 Le Van Sy, Ward 14, D3

7:30 p.m., Monday, December 25 

^{A dialogue between local/international, fresh/experienced practitioners about the role of cultural spaces in cities.}

HCMC | Exhibition: 'Empty Forest' and 'Remnant'

The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, 15 Nguyen U Di, Thao Dien Ward, D2

December 9, 2017 - February 7, 2018

^{'Empty Forest’ by Tuan Andrew Nguyen reveals a landscape where the industry of ailing spiritual beliefs is feeding the most wretched of human desires, while ‘Remnant’, the first solo show of Le The Lam, brings us into his inner world where there's psychological anxiety towards a society booming with economic and technological advancements.}

 

HCMC | Exhibition: Phuc Van Dang & Phan Minh Tuan (LiarBen)

Chaosdowntown Cháo, 121/61 Le Thi Rieng

11 a.m., December 15-31

^{A collective memory rebuilt from fragments of a destroyed Saigon by the two artists Phuc Van Dang and Phan Minh Tuan (LiarBen).}

HCMC | Solo exhibition: Rewind Saigon

Coeverything, 1st floor, 146 Vo Van Tan, D3

December 10-31

^{Lys Bui's illustrations feature city identities, the culture of her homeland, and her experience as an artist living in New York.}

HCMC | Exhibition: Le Sourire de la Mutation

HCMC Fine Art Museum, 97A Pho Duc Chinh, D1 

6 p.m., Thursday, December 21

^{A poetic vision of changing Vietnam through contemporary works of three Franco-Belgian-Vietnamese artists.}