mở xưởng 'Trên con đường của chúng ta tập 4' của nghệ sĩ trẻ Lê Xuân Tiến open studio 'On our pathway vol.4' by an emerging moving-image artist Lê Xuân Tiến VUI LÒNG CHỌN NGÔN NGỮ Tiếng Việt CHOOSE THE LANGUAGE English

Located in centre of Hanoi, Manzi is known as one of the most dynamic art spaces in South East Asia. Through art exhibitions, talks, workshops, book introductions, movie screenings, music and dance performances, Manzi's mission is to promote contemporary arts, build new audiences, inspire critical thinking and nurture

Nhung Nguyễn, Zach Scha sound installation by Nhung Nguyễn and Zach Sch Hồi Sóng - April 7, 2024 March 25, 2024 Nhung Nguyễn, Zach Sch HỒI SÓNG - A research and sound installation project by Nhung Nguyen & Zach Sch The second physical form presented at manzi Opening: 11.00 PM Monday 25 March 2024 On display: 11.00 AM - 07.00 PM (Tue - Sun) from 25 Mar until 07 Apr 2024 Art project “Hồi Sóng", consisting of archival study and sound installation by two Vietnam-based artists Nhung Nguyễn and Zach Sch, is available in both digital form at hoisong.art and physical form at Manzi Exhibition Space. From the original intent of exploring the intangible cultural heritage, specifically the oral history documented in the historical archives, the artist duo adopts sound installation as their medium to explore the relationships between archived information and sound arts. Originally and spanning from the topics centered around the lives of soldiers and workers imported from French colonies in Africa and Vietnam, the project extends to historical brushstrokes of the peoples from Egypt, Algeria, Mali, Martinique and Indochina (composed of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) and their wartime assignments, living conditions, their feelings and memories reminisced 60 years after the end of World War II. Accordingly, the installation work aims to juxtapose the archival materials from the said topics with music and sound designs. The artist duo assesses archives’ respective socio-cultural contexts and their attached literary and musical materials to architect the recordings. While Nhung focuses on the oral recordings, Zach places greater emphasis on sound experiments. Presented at manzi as a second physical counterpart to the online platform (the first installaition was launched at Sàn Art, HCMC in 2021), our display will offer a thrilling reboot of the archive inviting the audience to join us and tune in the sounds, immerse themselves in the radio installation and interact with artifacts of the dim and distant past hardly be told. ________________________ ❗ The project is supported by: The Goethe-Institut Ho Chi Minh City The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam Nguyen Thien Dao Foundation Sàn Art Humboldt University of Berlin ❗ 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 to our friends who have helped us during the research and production of this project: Nguyễn Khiếu Anh,Jonathan Mayers, Mai Phương ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Phi Phi OanhA solo exhibition by PHI PHI OANH 16.12.2016 - 16.01.2017 SCRY - January 16, 2017 December 16, 2016 Nguyễn Phi Phi Oanh SCRY features Phi Phi Oanh's latest series of lacquer paintings on glasses which she has worked and experimented on for years. Scrying is the act of divination through focused gazing into a glass or reflective medium. In this exhibition, magnifying glasses are used to view the lacquer skins. The title, Scry, suggests the character of the images presented as embracing of ambiguity and visual magic and that they are desperate attempts to grasp what the future beholds. For this series of paintings, the dimensions of the skins emulate that of a touch tablet screen. Using this visual trope, through lacquer painting, the artist loosely reflects on contemporary imagery—that which new technologies such as drones, digital, satellite, nanotechnology can visualize. They too are a kind of looking glass through which we can grasp our surrounding and material world. The magnifying glasses augment the illusion of magic in lacquer painting while simultaneously giving away its means of construction. The skins are back lit and front lit to optimize the pure qualities of the lacquer painting that one would not be able to see on another surface. ARTWORKS GALLERY It seems almost anachronistic today to talk about medium in the context of contemporary arts and painting. However, to me this substance Sơn Ta is much more than an image-making medium. It is a cultural medium that has embodied all of the major dialectical changes in Vietnamese society through the changes in its forms and usage. As painting, tranh sơn mài is part of a history of otherness. Since its invention as painting in Vietnam, it has also constituted a political media embedded within its use issues of identity, national essence and patriotism. In the era of globalization and virtual reality, the use of sơn ta is my own way of negotiating between the extremes of global homogenization and territorial localism. Using lacquer, I hope to broaden the scope of interpretation of this medium and create works that contribute in a heightened way to our experience with seeing and vision. If the qualities of territorial specificity, materiality, uniqueness and environment hold any meaning today, they can be explored in this substance. - Phi Phi Oanh OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Lananh Le Din Sama Nguyễn Đức Huy mi-mimi Nghĩa Đặng Trịnh Cẩm Nhi Hà NinhA group exhibition by by Lananh Le, Din Sama, Nguyễn Đức Huy, mi-mimi, Nghĩa Đặng, Trịnh Cẩm Nhi, Hà Ninh Virtual Private Realms - April 19, 2021 March 19, 2021 Lananh Le Din Sama Nguyễn Đức Huy mi-mimi Nghĩa Đặng Trịnh Cẩm Nhi Hà Ninh The exhibition 'Virtual Private Realms’ brings together the works of 7 artists: Lananh Le, Din Sama, Nguyễn Đức Huy, mi-mimi, Nghĩa Đặng, Trịnh Cẩm Nhi, and Hà Ninh, with a focus on their painting practice. Belonging to the 9X (millennial) generation, these artists have contributed to a new wave of practitioners in the Vietnamese art scene. The works in the exhibition, while diverse in style, still share similarities in their visual lexicon: from the use of highly personalized symbols, a dismissive attitude towards macro-narratives, an arrangement of virtual spaces, to a layering of complicated psychological flows - all of which have been flattened, projected, and pinned down on the surface of paintings. ‘Virtual Private Realms' mostly introduces the artists' most recent creations, coupled with experimentation that expand the boundaries of paper, canvas, the act of drawing, and other fundamental elements that constitute the language of painting. This exhibition is organised by Manzi Art Space with support from the Goethe Institut, British Council Vietnam and MoT+++. ARTWORKS GALLERY Curatorial Essay _ by Vân Đỗ & Hà Ninh ### fishbowl-like simulacrum of an inner world containing fragments of personal memory, hybrid animals, dream imagery, wondrous geometry reflecting a state of mind..." Excerpt from Lananh Le’s statement for the digital painting series in the exhibition ‘frozen data’ (MọT+++, 2020) Perhaps it would be fitting to enter the ‘virtual private realm’ of this exhibition through the surreal, ghostly, and immaterial world of Lananh Le. To peer into the mind of this artist friend, whom we missed the chance to meet in real life, we can only rely on images scattered on the Internet or a few exchanges preserved by others from semi-intimate conversations with Lananh. But the most poignant pieces would be the memories retold by Lananh’s friends, those who have spent a part of their lives with her. Lananh usually inundates her ‘canvas’ with unexpected subconscious outbursts. Unpolished and without meticulous calculations of meaning or composition, the symbols in her works resemble oracles from a dream. Fantastic combination of irregular visual choices that constantly shift — objects of dense cultural meanings (chandelier, altar, temples, and bursts), animals that step out from the wilderness (tiger, zebra, lizard, varan, and snake), peculiar brush strokes (that depict faces—both familiar and strange, or a deity that manifests from squiggly lines on grid paper), the symbols in her works function like a kaleidoscope. To convert, categorize, or impose a foreign system (usually language-based) onto these symbols seems to diminish their own sacredness, since they themselves exude a condensed ambience of chaos – a synthesized world swirling and tantalizing in darkness that refuses any explanation. In this exhibition, we are fortunate to be able to introduce safari (2019) and guanyin (2019) , from the series of digital paintings that Lananh once showed at her solo exhibition ‘frozen data’ at MoT+++ in early 2020. While still in pursuit of mental waves that ebb and flow without regulation, her handling of the works in this exhibition somewhat diverged from her usual spontaneous techniques in oil painting, which she juggled with the materials physically on her canvas. Lananh gathered a myriad of materials (photographs, sketches in pencil/pen, watercolor, and oil paint), then cast a digital spell to layer and hybridize them using Photoshop. The end result is a moving-image piece that continues to palpate through a projector, undulating with the exhibition’s opening-closing rhythm. The life of Lananh’s works, thus, perpetually exists in between two states: awake - asleep. In a similar mode of ‘personal myth-making’ is Hà Ninh’s world of maps. Hà Ninh utilizes one of the most mechanical techniques of painting - mark-making/drawing. Yet, in contrast to Lananh, Hà Ninh constructed a world crisscrossed with rules and standards, backed by a complicated lexicon. That world harbors a history (its own past), with its foundation embedded in his long-term project called ‘My Land’ . This is one of the most significant projects with which to embark on that journey for those who are interested in exploring Hà Ninh’s art world. While studying abroad in the USA in 2017 and caught in the chaotic snare of cultural clash and conflicting ideologies, Hà Ninh poured all of his efforts into building ‘My Land’ with the end purpose of having absolute autonomy in the real world, which he felt as if he had limited decision-making power. ‘My Land’ begins with an arbitrary statement: this territory bears no resemblance to any human culture; thus, all standard paradigms in said world will be self-referential and only make sense within the boundaries of its imagined landscape. The exhibition showcases [mothermap] , the backbone of ‘My Land’ , which acts as a compass, guiding the viewers through Hà Ninh’s labyrinth. [mothermap] is updated annually by the artist, partially reflecting the artist’s psychological unfolding and changing perspective during his own transitional periods. Compared to the 2019 version, [mothermap] ’s 2020 iteration marks the shift in landscape construction: from a more logical calculation to a more organic approach. The sky and water have merged, allowing the stars to “swim” freely and deeply into continents, creating an abundance of skyline in each location. Looking at the most updated [mothermap] is akin to participating in a surgery, where the 8x8 grid system is no longer clearly visible, but rather faint points of reference that suggest the relative location of each construction - now transformed into bodily organs. As Hà Ninh shared, this gradual departure from logical reasoning to move toward a more instinctual connection with the work is, in itself a self-soothing process to handle loneliness and human fragility against the infiniteness of space and time. While Hà Ninh and Lananh set up a world densely packed with symbols, Nghĩa Đặng chooses a more condensed and succinct method to codify symbols and include narratives into a pair of paintings not too far (2020) and what’s too far (2020) . The two paintings are drawn with charcoal on paper, one of the fundamental materials of painting, with references to conceptual prototypes - one of the artist’s foci in his practice. Here, two prototypes are present: a pair of bulls and what the artist calls ‘father-thing’(*) --- (*) According to the artist, ‘father-thing’, a word borrowed from philosopher Slavoj Žižek and psychotherapist Sigmund Freud, is a purely visual existence that is hard to explain. ‘Father-thing’ stems from the subconscious, or an illogical reproduction of dreamlike or fear-induced images. Žižek used ‘father-thing’ in his book ‘The Plague of Fantasies’ , alluding to the desire for complete control as well as Oedipus complex, feeling of guilt, and the dominant tendency of the masculinity embodied by the paternal figure, where he is seen as a phantom that imposes himself upon external subjects such as the mother or the son --- Upon closer look, we are hit with the feelings that things are not the way they seem. At the center of not too far, a scene where a female bull is nursing its cub, seems to reveal another primal aspect; the lush greenery, which creates the illusion of ancient forest, is in fact indoor plants (banana-leaf pothos, snake plant, pencil cactus, etc.). Even the paper canvas, seemingly intact, is actually a collage of paper units, a remnant of a stream-of-consciousness experiment with piecing apart - binding together. The illusion of an ‘outside world’ continues eluding the seeker, who wishes to understand, explain, and control it, since ‘the natural world’ out there is no longer nearby. Extending his private concern with construction of societal roles, as well as the continuous tug-of war between masculinity and femininity, Nghĩa Đặng “plants” an imaginary garden through intertextual practice, freely connecting his inspirations from poetry and personal memories, to archival photography and people who have cast a shadow upon his subconscious. Trịnh Cẩm Nhi too draws inspiration from ‘nature’, the central images of her paintings’ universe — a universe half surrealist (reminiscent of Giorgio de Chirico) half abstract (possessing the air of Hilma af Klint) — are flowers, the female figure, and finely-sliced spaces. Fluctuating elegantly between imagination and the senses, between careful calculation and unforeseeable sensations from the physical body, Nhi timely captures the emotions that come to her. She projects her sensitive spirit, records the complex movements of the psyche, transforms them into objects, and arranges them into the polished spaces of an eternal museum. Seemingly concealed beneath her canvas is a humble feminist perspective. With soft curves and sweetly-colored palette, the floral figures and the female body in Nhi’s paintings exude sensuality, yet it is not the sexualized sensuality where women are objects to be drawn/gazed at. The female figure in her works does not abide with anatomical ratios or conventional standards of beauty upheld by society. Regardless of whether she looks demurely at the viewers, or turns her back completely to avoid strangers’ gawk, she still proudly displays her body. Similarly, Nhi’s flowers also delicately allude to the female reproductive organs. Despite the dreamy tones, the ambience inside Trịnh Cẩm Nhi’s painting is neither romantic nor mystical: it is not a space of obsession, but rather one of uncertain narratives spun by a calm storyteller. There exists a natural confidence in the way Nhi works with spaces that are disturbed, disjointed, splintered, and OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Đỗ Tuấn AnhA solo exhibition by ĐỖ TUẤN ANH 29.05 - 20.06.2015 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)

Dan DrageA show by DAN DRAGE 14.05 - 28.05.2017 A Sifted Gaze... - May 28, 2017 May 14, 2017 Dan Drage Including a series of sculptures and silk paintings, A Sifted Gaze invites audience to see everyday objects in a new way, in the value of their form, in their repeating patterns, in the beauty of their line, in the interplay between the individual objects, in the collective whole which together they create. About the artist: Born in Colorado, USA, in 1978, Dan Drage graduated from Milligan College in 2001 with a degree in Visual Arts and Humanities. He and his wife relocated to Hanoi, Vietnam in 2006 as Vietnamese language students. In 2010 they joined the German NGO Allianz Mission, and continue to work alongside the local team. Dan has the joyful situation of being able to spend half his time with the NGO helping communities in various forms of poverty, and half his time making art. In June Dan and his family will relocate to Scotland for a year while he completes a masters’ degree in art and theology at the University of St. Andrews. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Hàa display of architecture by Nguyễn Hà & associates at arb architects 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)

Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng Nguyễn Phi Phi Oanh Nguyễn Đức Phương Nguyễn Huy An Nguyễn Trần Nam Nguyễn Minh ThànhAn exhibition by Six - The Launching Show of Manzi exhibition space 31.08 - 15.10.2019 In Situ - October 15, 2019 August 31, 2019 Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng Nguyễn Phi Phi Oanh Nguyễn Đức Phương Nguyễn Huy An Nguyễn Trần Nam Nguyễn Minh Thành As suggested by the name ‘In Situ’—a Latin phrase meaning ‘in the original place’ , ‘appropriate position’ , or ‘natural arrangement’ —the exhibition not only showcases the latest artworks dedicated to Manzi by Nguyễn Phi Phi Oanh, Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng, Nguyễn Huy An, Nguyễn Trần Nam, Nguyễn Đức Phương and Nguyễn Minh Thành, but also serves as the grand opening for Manzi’s new exhibition space located at 2 Ngõ Hàng Bún, Hà Nội. Presenting a thorough experiment on lacquer and silk through more than 20 works, the exhibition transports the viewer to a diverse reality painted from life, from the nostalgic and carefree spirit in Nguyễn Đức Phương's artworks, the delicate and richly meaningful silk paintings of Huy An, the dark obsessions of Nguyễn Trần Nam’s black and white lacquer series, and the melancholy portraits on silk of Nguyễn Minh Thành, to the obscure relations between time and space in Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng’s fragile silk works, and the reflection of the strangeness and significance of the material and the local in the age of the immaterial, virtual and digital reproduction in Phi Phi Oanh’s lacquer on steel series. Painting has always been an important part of the artistic practice of the six, particularly in this exhibition where silk and lacquer are the main mediums. ‘In Situ’ therefore questions ‘what it is that defines a painting’, and ‘where do the boundaries and rules for the medium lie?’ *‘In Situ’ is supported by the Goethe Institut. ARTWORKS GALLERY PRO SE SERIES - installation by Nguyễn Oanh Phi Phi In this exhibition, the format of the works presented make reference to the touchscreen tablet, a technological device so ubiquitous that it is integral to the way we interact today. Always by our side like an extension of our being, these digital devices entertain us, help record our memories, plan our lives, and connect us. Ultimately they have become how we mediate the world and represent a window into our collective imagination. At first glance, these seem like a series of mass produced tablets showing some random digital image, but upon closer inspection, they are actually lacquer paintings mimicking screens. Although the painting image is static, I rely on the materiality of the lacquer medium and ever shifting light against the gold and silver leaf to suggest movement and to entice the viewer to move in closer, thus entering into its “aura”. The viewer is invited to interact with the work by gently picking it up with two hands. OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Văn Phúca new series of installations by Nguyễn Văn Phúc no-think - December 5, 2022 November 17, 2022 Nguyễn Văn Phúc Originated from an unrealized series of installations ten years ago that Phúc had fully formed idea about, ‘no-think’ when comes into being at manzi this month, is an interplay of the physical presence and the re-appearance of what -used -to- exist-and-archived: A bottle of penicillin filled with tears A reptile animal A flying strip of fabric tied with a knot A painting made of scorched rice A man running on a blooming field of yellow flowers A man perching on a loofah pergola A man lying on a blossom bush A ring on the floor formed by buffalo dung Such an overload of visual materials on disparate forms, ‘No-Think’ offers a space crammed full with images. They collide, or more accurately pushing down and simultaneously lifting up, interrupting while harmonizing & backing each other. The audience gets struck by a great amount of visual information and an overwhelming force inherent therein that directly attacks their senses. Though being perceived, this visual data is seemingly unable to be processed, obviously incomprehensible due to its absurdity and lack of coherence. Rejecting any logical connection or cohesiveness, the visual fragments featuring in ‘No-Think’ are nevertheless authentic and original as Nguyễn Văn Phúc “...did not aim to question their origins, but rather to perceive and keep them in one’s own limited memory”. As if an effort to catch some random images popping into our heads or to summon fleeting shadows in a dream. From this perspective, the immateriality of our subconscious mind has been materialized in Nguyễn Văn Phúc’s installations, with a distinct structure composed of aggressiveness along with playfulness, roughness mixing into delicacy. By that way, ‘No-Think’, though saturated with its visual indulgence, is not a spectacular superficial parade. Neither is a cunning disguise concealing an internal shallowness nor a tactfully strategic formation striving for a defined goal. The intensity and purity of visual perceptions as well as physical sensation are confronted with the (active) emptiness of thoughts. Such juxtaposition of body & mind in ‘No-Think’ provokes the transparency closing to mindfulness - a mental state in the insight meditation. When thinking is insignificant and futile; when any labels/beliefs/concepts, … all abstract forms that often shadow our view of things have all been eliminated, in such cases where shall we be led to? Can it be close to the truth itself, as Phúc expects: “[...] I make no attempt to protest against or intentionally diverge from the movement of postmodern art which centers on the concept; instead, my approach is simply based on my own living experiences, and as I believe it offers me a way to come to the truth.” “No-Think” marks an end of twelve-year -(half) absence of Phuc from the local art scene and excitingly opens up a brand new chapter of his art practice. ARTWORKS GALLERY ARTIST'S STATEMENT An artwork that is merely an image, without any thinking and concept. Long time ago, back in 2012 or so, I had a plan to do an installation featuring images that I had envisioned and kept in my mind. Time passed by, then somehow I did put a stop to thinking about them. Now, I want to put those specific images into being, display them in a physical space - a presence of the fragmented and logically incoherent images. Due to an unfavorable situation at that time, I could not realize my idea. However, ever since then, those images have been preserved perfectly in my mind; until this year when I chanced upon an invitation from Manzi, encouraging me to do a solo show at their exhibition space; I decided to let it take its own course and chose to display my unrealized project ten years ago. I know that anything that occurs in our minds, the whole of our thoughts and mental visualizations, do not exist by accident, without any particular cause. In fact, they either stem from our past obsessions and traumas, appear as an inevitable consequence, (from the point of view of Psychoanalysis) or emanate from forgotten memories of our past lives (in the explanation of Buddhism). Nevertheless, I did not aim to question their origins, but rather to merely perceive them, and keep them in my own limited memory. There was a period of time when I found myself coming into a dead end and lost in a search for the meaning or the core essence of the problems in my own life. Overthinking to no avail, I put a stop to the thinking itself. I started engaging in some practices of ‘no-think’ that cultivates an empty state of mind, for example, watching the ripples on the lake’s surface for hours, looking at a burning flame, or examining the leaves stirred high on a tree without having any thoughts. I applied the same technique in conversations with other people. At the moment I realized that I could not follow what they were talking about, I would turn my focus to their gestures, their attitudes, their mental states. That’s also my personal way to connect with others. Regarding my new installation, I make no attempt to protest against or intentionally diverge from the movement of postmodern and contemporary art which centers on the concept; instead, my approach is simply based on my own living experiences, and as I believe it offers me a way to come to the truth.” - Nguyễn Văn Phúc, Hanoi, October 2022 ____________________________________ SOME THOUGHTS ON 'NO-THINK' A dialogue between Nguyễn Như Huy (a thinker) and artist Nguyễn Văn Phúc about Phúc's new series of installations titled 'no-think' 1. First of all, let’s imagine a scene like this: There was a baby not talking yet. One day, when the family was gathering around, this baby suddenly pointed to a chair. All members of that family then looked at each other, trying to guess what the toddler wanted. The father said, “Maybe he wants to sit on the chair.” The mother disagreed, “No, he does not know how to sit on the chair yet. Probably, he thinks that the chair is a walking pet.” The sister laughed out loud, “I don’t think so. He just wants to go through the chair, so he is asking us to put the chair away.” The toddler’s grandparents just shook their heads, smiled and explained, “You are all wrong, he is implying that many ministers only know how to keep their “chairs” rather than how to do their jobs well.” The family went on arguing until bedtime. Everybody was frustrated because there was no way to know for sure what the toddler meant when he pointed to the chair. What did he actually mean then? >>> CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Đức PhươngFirst solo exhibiton by NGUYỄN ĐỨC PHƯƠNG 03.11 - 26.11.2017 Just by Being - November 26, 2017 November 3, 2017 Nguyễn Đức Phương 'Just by Being', consisting of a series of paintings on old books, pharmacopoeia or old bibles by Tày minority people from Tay Bac (Northwest mountainous areas of Vietnam) using natural pigment originated from soil or flowers and plants; and a series of 9 sculptures made out of paper and clay, acts as a chronicle of a vanishing culture, but also brings hope and life to the ruins of time. * This is part of Manzi’s art programme supported by CDEF of the Danish Embassy in Vietnam. ARTWORKS GALLERY An article for the exhibiton written by Đỗ Tường Linh (Hanoi, November 2017) In his first solo exhibition, Nguyen Duc Phuong takes the audience on a journey through color and the different nuances of paper as material. The very first impressions of Phuong’s works could be seen as Orientalist or spiritual, but when one takes time to examine Phuong’s method and process more closely, it is clear that a lot of effort and patience has been put into the making of this body of work to reverse that notion of thinking. The result is a collection of vibrant and poetic explorations on paper. Trained in a strong academic foundation and Western aesthetics at the Vietnamese Fine Art Academy, Phuong spent his time after graduation focusing on experimentation, eschewing participation in artist groups or exhibitions. Growing up during Vietnam’s transitional period of modernization and urbanization in the 90s, Phuong’s work is tied to the changes he experienced living in suburban Northern Vietnamas a child. Phuong experiments with simple and everyday objects such as paper, earth, and wood, and is inspired by the tales and oral sayings that nurtured him in his daily life. In the process of creating work for this exhibition, Phuong has gone beyond the scope of his early career experimentation with childhood environment and has embarked on journeys to the Northwestern highland to seek the disappearing oral stories from local villages. He has collected ancient texts from different regions and cherished them like living souls. These old texts were mostly written in the old Sino-Chinese alphabet, but in the version of the local language even with the help of Sino-Chinese researchers, no one can understand. Phuong finds a way to blow fresh air into those documents through adding drawings. In all of Phuong’s work, the way he sees the world is saturated with nostalgia, decadence; a mourning for things past but also full of Joie de vivre . Destruction and decay are inevitable in our existence,but they provide the possibility for rebirth. In the series of nine sculptures made out of paper and remains from a burnt stilt house, Phuong didn’t miss out any potential of giving birth for any kind of material. The immateriality and ephemerality in the material that he created is invisible: there lies that contrast and fragile border between death and life. The human beings in Phuong’s works are small, but not invisible. Their presence plays subtly with the details in the paintings. His works are not overwhelming in terms of space or visual spectacle, but rather deliver a subtle private message. His series of small book-sized works can only be viewed by one person at a time, creating a personal space for the viewers to imagine the many worlds each piece contains. The artistic and political attitude in Phuong’s artwork is reminiscent of the Italian Arte Povera movement from the 1960s and 70s, when artists utilized natural materials and everyday objects to express simple messages that reflected the rise of DIY spirit and rebellion against consumerism, war and capitalism. Overall, that nonchalant, carefree and simple spirit in Phuong’s artistic creations is his statement: Just by being. OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Ly Hoàng Lya solo exhibition by Ly Hoàng Ly The dreamer: heterotopia, tabula rasa, noble silence (a part of ongoing project 0395A.ĐC) - July 17, 2022 June 5, 2022 Ly Hoàng Ly More than 10 years ago, Ly Hoang Ly officially commenced her project ‘ 0395A.ĐC ’ . 2022 marks the second time she presents it in Vietnam. Vietnam - the beginning of it all, the meeting place where all thoughts are summoned. From this place – bodies have been turned away, disappearing into thin air. To this place – again and again, exiled souls have returned. Spanning many different decades of Ly’s career, ‘0395A.ĐC’ is a multilayered living body of work - consisting of text, painting, sculpture, photography, artist book, video art, installation art, performance art, architecture and public art. From a seed of idea to now an ever-evolving project, ‘0395A.ĐC’ continues to grow alongside the artist's ongoing inquiry into the notions of home, identity, life and death, as well as her re-telling of the epic story and continuous struggle of human (im)migration. In doing so, the project both highlights and contests the ways in which micro and personal narratives are often forgotten in the memorization and circulation of History. In 2017, ‘0395A.ĐC’ was first launched in Saigon. This time, it ‘travels’ to Hanoi under a different name, ‘The dreamer: heterotopia, tabula rasa, noble silence’ . A different self - one that showcases the accompanying artworks in a different composition, under a different light. A deviation from the original, one might say, without realizing that the original, indeed, has never existed. For every time ‘0395A.ĐC’ is shown in a new location or exhibition space, the artist would disassemble its body, reconstruct its parts, transform its essence and breathe new life into its multifaceted identity. Continuously digging into the conceptual and contextual weight of the subjects in study, while also expanding the visual, material and experiential possibilities of both the overall project and its accompanying artworks – this way of working runs parallel with Ly’s examination of ideas of (dis)placement and rootlessness, perfectly illustrating the fluctuating and fluid nature of history and identity. Thus, one thing is for sure: if you have encountered ‘0395A.ĐC’ before (in Saigon or elsewhere), you will now once again meet with images and words that are both familiar and uncanny, transparent and opaque, concealed and revealed, memorized and forgotten. Because just like life, art must always be constantly in flux. Organized by Manzi With support from Nguyễn Art Foundation and words by Bill Nguyen ARTWORKS GALLERY AGAIN. ONCE AGAIN - words by Bill Nguyễn Visiting the exhibition, the viewer would encounter a series of short writings by Bill Nguyễn, presented as “cards”. Although they are numbered, feel free to pick up any cards or read them randomly in any order you wish to. Bill said: “These “cards” contain the thoughts, notes and conversations that Ly and I have exchanged over the years, which come from multiple sources, referring to both Ly’s pool of inspiration and ideas, and my own interpretation of her works and practice. These words of mine are both aged and freshly formed. Some were written and publicly circulated on the occasion of Ly’s exhibition at The Factory; some are newborn, safely tucked away between the pages of my notebook – where truths are told as honestly as possible” >>> CONTINUE READING THE FULL CARDS OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)