A saga of unrealised projects - August 21, 2022 July 29, 2022 Nguyễn Hà Paul Valéry, had famously declared: “That which has always been accepted by everyone, everywhere, is almost certainly to be false”. Then, what about the things not accepted? Is it probable that there has always been a kind of truth, a particular significance existing in the unaccepted, rejected things? If so, should we (instead of putting them away) take a step back and give them another look? Such a sudden burst of thoughts got us disoriented, in the persistent hot days of this prolonged summer, and finally prompted us to melt all away in a pop-up show of architecture at our exhibition space: A SAGA OF UNREALISED PROJECTS A display of architecture by Nguyễn Hà & associates at arb architects Opening: 6.30 pm Friday night, 29 July 2022 On display: 30 July until 21 August 2022 (11AM - 07PM; Tues - Sun) Location: Manzi exhibition space, no.2 ngõ Hàng Bún ARTWORKS GALLERY _____________________________________________ #1. WHAT IS IT ABOUT? WHERE IS IT FROM? 24 architectural design models 24 building projects developed by Nguyễn Hà and her associates at arb architects 24 design briefs (prescribed by the clients), 24 visions (provided by the architects) 24 proposed solutions, all forms determined and shapes laid out 24 abandonments/ rejections/ futile compromises in consequence of 24 different situations, issues 24 unrealised projects yet, ultimately by the way never brought into being, are also 24 original concepts, 24 pure ideas full of irrational drives for experiments untouched by any fixing, modification (inevitably) requested by a second party rather than the architects themselves. _____________________________________________ #2. ANY PLOT TWIST OR TRIGGERS? Aldo Rossi (1931 - 1977), the first Italian architect to receive the Pritzker Prize, admitted in his famous theoretical work ‘A Scientific Autobiography (1981): “What surprises me most in architecture, as in other techniques, is that a project has one life in its built state, but another in its written or drawn state.” So, what if one life is nowhere to find, as in our saga? Never put into being, thus no presence of a physical functional entity called ‘building’ exists at all, the only kind of life of a project that we could attain is just represented in 3D miniature simulations at a scale of 1: 100 Here we are, finding ourselves confronted with a new trial, not only questioning the validity of other existence / presence of architecture but at the same time justifying the essence of “the unrealised”, as shared by Louis Kahn (1901 - 1973), the most influential master of twentieth-century architecture: “I had drawings which could not be brought into fruition. I was told a very loving thing, that often the things that you are unable to put into being are more powerful in that stage than they are when put into being. The purity lies in the incompletion.” (A verbal Autobiography, from conversation with Jaime Mehta, October 22, 1973) _____________________________________________________________________________ #3. WHY THIS TALE OF ARCHITECTURE IS TO BE TOLD AT MANZI? Adolf Loos (1870 - 1933) had this infamous declaration in 1910, that architecture “is not one of the arts” in “On Architecture” (1910), here is his view on the difference between architecture and art: “A building should please everyone, unlike a work of art, which does not have to please anyone. A work of art is a private matter for the artist, a building is not. A work of art is brought into the world without there being a need for it, a building meets a need. A work of art has no responsibility to anyone, a building to everyone. The aim of a work of art is to make us feel uncomfortable, a building is there for our comfort. A work of art is concerned with the future and directs us along new paths, a building is concerned with the present. We love anything that adds to our comfort, we hate anything that tries to pester us into abandoning our established and secure position. We love buildings and hate art.” This brings him to the seemingly inevitable conclusion that “Everything…that serves a practical purpose should be ejected from the realm of art” . Of course no modern architect believed Loos (likely not even Loos himself), but nearly every modern architect, as well as any other creative practitioners, has always felt the force of the claim. Adopting this perspective, the installation of ‘unrealised architectural projects’ at an art space as manzi’s is to offer an unexpected test, where we try to play around with created objects - creative practices and the creative spaces, and to explore the unpredictable outcomes in the absurd juxtaposition of different labels/ definitions such as: The Architect - The Artist Architectural Space - Exhibition Room A project design model - A work of art OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Sandrine Llouquet biography Born in 1975 in Montpellier, France, Sandrine Llouquet has lived in Vietnam since 2005. She graduated from École Pilote Internationale d’Art et de Recherche – Villa Arson in 1999. As a dynamic contributor to the development of contemporary art in Vietnam, she was a founding member of Wonderful District, a project that promotes contemporary art through exhibitions, concerts and theater pieces, as well as a member of Mogas Station, a Vietnam-based artist collective. Llouquet’s work has been exhibited in numerous venues including the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California and Tate Modern, London. She has also participated in a number of biennales with Mogas Station such as the Shenzhen Biennale (2007), the Singapore Biennale (2006) and in Migration Addicts – a collateral event of the 52nd Venice Biennale. Her drawings, objects and videos are in private collections around the world. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Untitled #4 (Sandrine Llouquet) SANDRINE LLOUQUET 2007 60 x 40 cm watercolor, ink, pencil on dzo paper Enquire works Untitled #1 (Sandrine Llouquet) SANDRINE LLOUQUET 2007 60 x 40 cm watercolor, ink, pencil on dzo paper Enquire works Untitled #6 (Sandrine Llouquet) SANDRINE LLOUQUET 2015 29.7 x 42.0 cm pencil on paper Enquire works Untitled #3 (Sandrine Llouquet) SANDRINE LLOUQUET 2007 60 x 40 cm watercolor, ink, pencil on dzo paper Enquire works Untitled #5 (Sandrine Llouquet) SANDRINE LLOUQUET 2007 60 x 40 cm watercolor, ink, pencil on dzo paper Enquire related what's going on at Manzi

Ngô Đình Bảo Châu biography Born in 1986, graduating from the Ho Chi Minh University of Fine Arts, Ngo Dinh Bao Chau is one of the emerging faces of Vietnamese contemporary art scene. Majored in lacquer painting - a traditional medium - at university, Ngo Dinh Bao Chau, from early on her practice has worked with a wide range of materials and experimented with different surface textures of objects, from traditional painting (in laquer, in silk) to resin, terrazzo, wood, cement, steel and particularly trúc chỉ – paper made from the purées of bamboo, corn and duckweed. Her practice examines contemporary life in Vietnam; she repurposes objects and images in order to challenge the dualisms and tensions that exist in society. In her most recent work, Ngo Dinh Bao Chau appropriates the symbols which are part of a collective, cultural memory, and places them in an imagined homespace. Through her multimedia installations, the artist comments on the power of repetition, and explores the indistinction between public and private space. Ngo Dinh Bao Chau has held various exhibitions within the region and abroad, including Silk of light, San Art Productions x Phuong My, Ho Chi Minh City; Block of Silence, SECC, Ho Chi Minh City; Where The Sea Remembers, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Bodies Survey(ed), San Art, Ho Chi Minh City; She, Sweet ‘Art, London, UK, travelled to Little Pink Monster Gallery, TX, USA; Body Bouquet, Welch School Galleries, Atlanta, GA, USA; Out of Nowhere, Sao La, Ho Chi Minh City; and My Eldest Sister, San Art, Ho Chi Minh City. In 2018 she was selected for the apexart Fellowship in New York, USA, and in 2010 undertook the 943 Studio arts residency in Kunming, China. In 2016 she received a grant from the Denmark–Vietnam Cultural Development and Exchange Fund for Open Room – an open studio event with artists Cam Xanh, Lap-Xuan N. Do, Kim Duy, and Dao Tung. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Withered sunlight falling by day & night NGÔ ĐÌNH BẢO CHÂU 2022 20 x 15 x 105 cm ceramic blade mounted on bamboo rod, fastened with wicker string Enquire related what's going on at Manzi

The Four Subjects - November 5, 2022 October 8, 2022 Nguyễn Huy An For this comeback after three years (since his third solo show in Saigon), Huy An assembles an exclusive space for singular objects/relationships which would provoke an odd encounter of disparate subjects (they are essentially alien to each other and, at first sight, seemingly unfamiliar to the keen followers of Huy An’s art practices as well). The new series of installation artworks features neither a reiteration of Huy An’s recurring motifs centered around his personal memories and the rural Northern Vietnam nor a replay of predominant themes such as local religious & spiritual dimensions and the divine & the profane which had often haunted Huy An’s practices with subtle shading of nostalgia for the past years. ‘The Four subjects ’, nevertheless, is a display of his new and ongoing meditations on the potential possibilities of the visible / the action of seeing: - A study of a very narrow blind area in the horse’s vision - A reproduction of the comprehensive illustrated encyclopedia of Vietnamese Geography in the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng - A co-presence of a lasting powerful light source and an ephemeral standard light with the minimum luminous intensity/ traces of its absence - An extended thread of blanked-out images rhythmically punctuated with 51 bright colorful trails - effects of light leak in the first frames at the beginning of a film roll A nuanced diagram of various scenarios, a bulleted list of prospects, with conciseness, clarity yet ambiguity, on the basis of diverse references. ‘Four Subjects ’, therefore, resists the tendency to be interpreted as a coherent narrative that compels clear-cut messages or epic conclusions, but rather, provides clues of a puzzle lock. Scattered in a clear irreducible space, four sets of installations formulate somewhat of a tricky multi-point latching system; once this mechanism is unlocked with the right key, all pieces eventually fall into place. However, before the time comes, this arrangement, in the form of fragmented archives, is a dissonant structure. Apart from sharing some common characteristics in the artist’s reticence and restraint, along with the faint imprints of his personal codes (the light and shadow, the anonymous emptiness/ darkness and the futile attempt to preserve the remnants of vanishing cultures or to record the faded shades of the past), four installations of ‘The Four Subjects ’, albeit connected in one theme called ‘seeing’, manifest themselves in a visual disharmony. This discordant presence sets off a tension of the haphazard and the random, of the absurdity and the evanescence, of the definitive and the infinite. In that way, entailed in Four Subjects the implication of ‘Seeing or Not Seeing ’/‘In sight or Out of sight ’ is not a mutually exclusive claim or a two-choice question. Instead, a ‘No’ can be a ‘Yes’ and vice versa, everything is a metaphor. By confronting us with confounding variables in his experiment, Huy An opens up a free space that enables us to go beyond our limited perception which has always been dominated by our sense of sight and visual information. *This is part of manzi’s art programme under the patronage of the Goethe Institut. ARTWORKS GALLERY the four subjects #1. Blind Spot The very small blind area in the 350o range of horse’s vision #2. Submerged in the layers of ‘cánh gián’ 162 scenes within the penumbra of ‘cánh gián’- the layers of sơn ta coating #3. Blindlingly dazzling point A candle was illuminated by - the light power of 500 lumens (of a torch) #4. A series of consecutivelines ...frame 1 blank frame 2 filled frame 3 blank frame 4 filled frame 5 blank frame 6 filled frame 7 blank frame 8 filled frame 9 blank frame 10 filled frame 11 blank frame 18 filled frame 19 blank frame 20 filled frame 21 blank frame 22 filled frame 28 blank frame 29 filled frame 30 blank frame 31 filled frame 32 blank frame 33 filled frame 34 blank frame 38 filled frame 39 blank frame 40 filled frame 41 blank frame 42 filled frame 43 blank frame 44 filled frame 45 blank frame 46 filled frame 47 blank frame 48 filled frame 49 blank frame 50 filled frame 51 blank frame 52 filled. Between the ‘blank’ and ‘filled’ frames, there are lines in different vivid colors: red, yellow, orange, pink, magenta… ___________________________________________________________________ About the Four Subjects: A note for exhibition by Nguyễn Như Huy 1. The tragedy of ‘Oedipus the King’, from a specific perspective, can be viewed as a tale of paradoxical dialectics between ‘looking’ and ‘seeing’, ‘ sight’ and ‘insight’. Oedipus, regardless of his vision / ability to see, was totally blind to his reality, while Teiresias, the blind prophet, could simply see the truth. Finally, Oedipus paid for his crimes by self punishment: blinding himself. He destroyed his eyes - the tool of vision, because the truth had become known by then and he could live in the truth despite the physical blindness. In some aspects, The Four Subjects by Nguyễn Huy An at Manzi, has approached such complex philosophical dialectical relations between ‘sight’ and ‘insight’ by means of visual arts. Huy An’s attempts in this visualization based on four questions (or four subjects - as the artist called them) a/ The First Question is about an act of seeing yet insufficient/ incomplete. It is suggested in the ‘BLIND SPOT’ - the installation work simulated the vision range of the horse which expands 350 degrees. b/ The Second Question asked in the installation titled ‘SUBMERGED IN THE LAYERS OF “CÁNH GIÁN” addresses the concealed visibility / an act of seeing yet hidden. This installation includes many small flat wooden boards (or “vóc”) of the same size like ancient Buddhist inscriptions, these are lacquer paintings on which are drawings of 162 scenes - the carving patterns can be found on The Nine Dynastic Urns of the Nguyen Dynasty. These 9 urns (‘Cửu Đỉnh’) were constructed by order of Emperor Minh Mạng (in 1837) with inspiration from the Xia’s Dynastic Urns of China. They were placed in front yard of The Mieu complex (the imperial temple worshiping the emperors of the Nguyen Dynasty). As a sacred treasure embodied the great power of the unified territory & the eternity of the Nguyen Dynasty, each urn was named after the posthumous title of an emperor. What’s special in Huy An’s adaptation is that: though had been painted, these lacquer baseboards were left without sanding or polishing but coated with a thick layer of ‘cánh gián’ (a soft brown color - like the cockroach wing). As a result, instead of resurfacing, all visual elements are hidden; this leads us to a realization: history itself has always been concealed by the manipulation of historical analysis & interpretation process. c/ The Third Question is about a complete disappearance without absence, the situation of being vanished from sight while still being present. It is proposed in the installation called ‘BLINDINGLY DAZZLING POINT’ in which a flashlight power of 500 lumens directly focuses on a candle, instantaneously the candlelight ceases to be seen. d/ The Fourth Question presents the relation between ‘Seeing’ and ‘Not Seeing’ in the last work ‘A SERIES OF CONSECUTIVE LINES’. This installation features a thread of light-leaked photos - a common error occurred with a film camera; images then could only be captured in one half of the frame while the other half went blank. And what did the artist do with these frames? He covered both the filled parts and the blank parts, only revealing the colored lines between them. Thus, it becomes apparent to us that Huy An has exposed the relation between ‘Seeing’ and ‘Not Seeing’ here: not mutually exclusive, they validate rather than negate each other. One can only be brought into being in the existence of another. In other words, ‘Seeing’ and ‘Not Seeing’ are both potentiality and actuality of each other. 2. FOUR SUBJECTS has, essentially, conceptualized the ‘Unseen’ / ‘Not Seeing’, or more precisely, the looking for a way to see the unseen / to get the insight into something out of sight. ‘Not Seeing’ does not equal having nothing to see, that is to say, a reality negative in the visual aspect. Rather, it is a perception of the limits of our visual acuity which ultimately affirms ‘what can be seen/known’ beyond our senses. To see the ‘not seeing’ therefore, is not a pure sophistry in the absurd paradoxical structure. Oppositely, this probably provides a kind of enlightenment, a perfect wisdom attained in the same way as The Heart Sutra of Buddhism has stated in the concept of śūnyatā (emptiness/nothingness): all things are empty of intrinsic existence and nature; transcending the seemingly conflicting relation of ‘form’ and ‘emptiness ’, śūnyatā is the essential core of all beings & universe. OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Stories told in an Oriental way - June 20, 2015 May 29, 2015 Đỗ Tuấn Anh The exhibition features Tuan Anh’s latest surreal paintings which were created in 2015, two years after his settlement in Solingen, a small city in Germany. In Tuan Anh’s previous works, the countryside has been the spiritual foundation which forms the basis of his practice, dominating his perception and approach to art-making. Having to relocate to Germany in 2013 means that the artist has been uprooted from his source of inspiration, leaving him in an in-between state, neither here nor there. And this uncertainty is reflected strongly in his solo show at Manzi. Combining contradictory conditions of dream and reality, in this series of work, Do Tuan Anh painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision and created strange creatures with everyday objects. By showing his quirky side, pairing up people and animals with wit and irony, the artist is telling a surrealist tale in an oriental way. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Đi thẳng vào cốt tủy ba trụ cột tư tưởng lớn của triết học phương Đông là Nho - Lão - Phật. Tư tưởng Khổng Mạnh 9.00 - 12.00 thứ Bảy 26/08 Tư tưởng Phật Đà 9.00 - 12.00 Chủ Nhật 27/08 Tư tưởng Lão Trang 14.00 - 17.00 thứ Bảy 26/08 Toàn cảnh 14.00 - 17.00 Chủ Nhật ngày 27/08 HỌC PHÍ: 3,000,000 vnđ/người (cho 2 ngày học) *đã bao gồm: đồ uống, bánh ngọt phục vụ trong giờ nghỉ giữa buổi Về người hướng dẫn Trần Quang Đức là nhà nghiên cứu độc lập, có nhiều hoạt động trong các lĩnh vực nghiên cứu lịch sử, văn hoá, tư tưởng. Anh tốt nghiệp Đại học Bắc Kinh Trung Quốc năm 2009. Trần Quang Đức từng làm việc ở Viện Nghiên cứu Văn học Việt Nam (2012-2014). Công trình được biết đến nhiều nhất của anh là “Ngàn năm áo mũ” (2013, NXB Nhã Nam), tư liệu hoá phục sức của người Việt từ xưa đến nay. Ngoài công việc nghiên cứu, Trần Quang Đức còn thực hành nghệ thuật thư pháp, dịch thuật và giảng dạy. Anh dạy chữ Hán Nôm cùng tư tưởng phương Đông từ năm 2014 tới nay. Đăng ký tham gia Họ và tên Số điện thoại Email Bạn câu hỏi nào cho manzi/ anh Đức không? ĐĂNG KÝ Chúng tôi đã ghi nhận thành công đăng ký của bạn và sẽ liên hệ xác nhận qua email. Cảm ơn bạn rất nhiều và mong được gặp sớm!

Lê Kim Mỹ biography Born in 1946 from an artistic family, Lê Kim Mỹ graduatedfrom Viet Nam University of Fine Arts (formerly Hanoi Fine Art College) in 1973. Mỹ worked as a teacher at the University of Fine Art for more than 45 years and her work is aunique and humorous visual diary of her daily life. Le Kim My’sexhibitions include “Daily stories” in 2016 and “Daily Conversation” which she collaborated with her daughter at L’Espace in Ha noi. She also participated in different group shows organized by Vietnam Fine Arts Association. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works The Market LÊ KIM MỸ 2023 40 x 30 cm watercolor on silk Enquire works Xe-Om LÊ KIM MỸ 2022 45 x 24 cm watercolor on silk Enquire works In the morning LÊ KIM MỸ 2022 32 x 23 cm watercolor on silk Enquire works Weaving LÊ KIM MỸ 2022 30 x 20 cm watercolor on silk Enquire works Hanoi Old Quarter #6 LÊ KIM MỸ 2019 40 x 30 cm watercolor on silk Enquire related what's going on at Manzi

Hà Đào biography Ha Dao is a photographer and artist based in Hanoi, Vietnam. Drawn by the quiet drama in everyday life, she started out making images that take an imaginative approach to the documentary genre, often through the lens of gender and sexuality. Her current practice incorporates multimedia and explores stories of love on the margin. Her works have been showcased at Higashikawa Bunka Gallery (Japan), Manzi Art Space (Vietnam), Xie Zilong Museum (China) and Objectifs Centre of Photography & Film (Singapore), and featured in the British Journal of Photography, Photoworks, Trans Asia Photography Journal, among others. She was granted the Seed Award by the Prince Clause Fund and the 38th Higashikawa Award in the Overseas photographer category in 2022. Ha co-runs Matca, an independent initiative dedicated to opening conversations around photography in Vietnam since 2017. Photo: Vũ Khôi Nguyên Webste: ha-dao.com works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works ​ ​ Enquire related what's going on at Manzi

Nguyễn Trang Ngà biography works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works The window at the side of Tuyền Lâm lake NGUYỄN TRANG NGÀ 2019 40 x 40 cm watercolor on silk Enquire related what's going on at Manzi

Trần Nguyễn Trung Tín biography Born in 1992, Tran Nguyen Trung Tin graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts majoring in silk painting and currently works as an artist and illustrator. Since Tin tends to let art do the speaking for him, his drawings become a shade of his expressions. While working, the more he learns about people, events, facts, objects, the more he realises his inner self. Portraits are his favourite subject and he calls them his “canvas for creativity. Some of them show his true feelings about one particular person, some are only manipulated images, the creative visions combined to express a specific mood or thought on current events crossing his mind. His most notable exhibitions include: ‘When the Substance vs. the Dream, the Body flesh vs. the Immaculateness, the Idea vs. the Materiality – New Possibilities of Painting’ – The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh city – 2017; ‘Exhibition for Youth’ – 2014; ‘Known Strangers’ – 2014; ‘The Dogma Prize’ – 2013 works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works The New Woodstock generation TRẦN NGUYỄN TRUNG TÍN 2015 22 x 23.5 cm ink on paper Enquire related what's going on at Manzi

Dorian Gibb biography works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Print no. 5 DORIAN GIBB 2020 61 x 48 cm Digital print Enquire works Print no. 6 DORIAN GIBB 2020 61 x 44cm Digital print Enquire works Print no. 2 DORIAN GIBB 2020 61 x 46 cm Digital print Enquire works Print no. 1 DORIAN GIBB 2020 60 x 60 cm Digital print Enquire related what's going on at Manzi

Võ Trân Châu biography Born to a family of traditional embroiderers, Võ Trân Châu understands the power and materiality of threads and fabrics, and chooses textiles, particularly found fabrics and second-hand clothing, as materials for her artistic practice. By deploying these materials, imbued with their own personal stories, Châu portrays how strongly history reflects on the grand narrative of nation states and society. She delves into the social and cultural history of Vietnam to highlight issues surrounding labor, consumption and waste. Châu’s selected exhibitions include: ‘Leaf Picking in the Ancient Forest’ (The Factory Contemporary Arts Center, HCMC, 2020); ‘Where The Sea Remembers’ (The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2019); ‘Unfolding: Fabric of Our Life’ (Centre for Heritage, Art & Textile (CHAT)/MILL6, Hong Kong, 2019); ‘Bodies Survey(ed)’ (Sàn Art, HCMC, Vietnam, 2018); ‘Lingering at the Peculiar Pavillon’ (Manzi Art Space, Hanoi & Salon Saigon, HCMC, 2017); ‘The Foliage’ (VCCA, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2017); ‘Still (the) Barbarians’ (EVA International: Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art, Limerick, Ireland, 2016); ‘Suzhou Documents’ (Suzhou Art Museum, Suzhou, China, 2016). works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Leaf picking in the ancient forest VÕ TRÂN CHÂU 2019 137 x 100 cm Secondhand clothing Enquire works Some where near here 2 VÕ TRÂN CHÂU 2020 45 x 34.5 cm secondhand clothing & old found cabinet door Enquire works Somewhere near here 1 VÕ TRÂN CHÂU 2020 57 x 51 cm secondhand clothing & old found cabinet door Enquire related what's going on at Manzi