Sto LenOpen Studio by STO LEN 01.10 - 21.10.2016 Water Flows Rock Erodes - October 21, 2016 October 1, 2016 Sto Len Titled 'Nước Chảy Đá Mòn', the open studio by print and performance artist Sto Len invites visitors to observe his practice, have a chat, get their own hands dirty and see his latest body of work produced both in Hanoi and New York. Sto captures (un)expected moments of beauty in the form of monoprints following Japanese Suminagashi (floating ink) marbling methods which he has tweaked over the last years to fit his own practice in which much is left to chance and the process of going with the flow and seeing what happens is an intangible aspect of the finished pieces. To create monoprints that will never be replicated in quite the same way, he prepares bodies of water from all kinds of sources, adds an assortment of paint and invites the surrounding space to add whatever speckles of dust, bugs or grit it can spare, lets all of it stew, waits, plays with the result, might wait some more and eventually places a piece of paper on the resulting surface to visually capture the collaboration of the artist with whatever space he is producing in. Just as memories are given meaning in hindsight, Sto checks in with what he has picked out of the water to see what his catch of the day is and decide whether it was what he was hoping for. In Vietnam Sto will be continuing his recent body of work of printing on old maps and posters - a ‘collaboration’ that unsettles the seeming rigidity and authority of cartography and official information. He will also be producing his ‘natural waste’ prints - having realised that he can employ his printing technique in the soiled waterways of New York he has been experimenting with pulling prints of poisonous beauty out of them and is looking to do the same in the many bodies of water in Hanoi and it’s surrounding Visitors are invited to experience his creative process fully and to return multiple times to witness the body of work grow and see what worked and what didn’t. *The Vietnamese proverb “Nuoc Chay Da Mon”, which directly translates to “Water Flows Rock Erodes”, is employed both to encourage patience and a reminder that change is gradual, inevitable and happens through consistency upheld over a long period of time. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

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 Mở xưởng của Lê Quý Tông | An open-studio by Lê Quý Tông Địa điểm| Venues : Tầng 1 Manzi Art Space & Manzi Exhibition Space Thời gian: 11.00 - 19.00 các ngày từ thứ Ba - Chủ Nhật hàng tuần (từ 25 tháng 3 hết ngày 22 tháng 4) Giới thiệu chung ‘Thổn thức mênh mang’ bao gồm hơn hai mươi tác phẩm đa chất liệu trên toan và giấy của Lê Quý Tông. Đây chỉ là một phần rất nhỏ trong khối lượng đồ sộ mà anh thực hiện trong suốt bốn năm qua. Tiếp tục phát triển dựa trên ‘một tổ hợp nguồn’ bao gồm: hội họa, họa tiết trang trí và ảnh chụp tìm thấy, mà Tông đã và đang liên tục thể nghiệm (điểm bắt đầu có thể đánh dấu từ triển lãm cá nhân ‘Lam | True Blue’ của anh tại manzi cuối năm 2015); ‘Thổn thức mênh mang’ có thêm sự tham gia của một kỹ thuật mới - in lưới (screen printing). Song hành với đó là sự chuyển đổi rõ rệt trong bảng màu được sử dụng: không còn giới hạn với phối màu đơn sắc hay tiết chế trong những tông trầm và lạnh như các series trước đây, loạt tranh trong trưng bày lần này chứng kiến sự đa dạng của các sắc độ. Vậy nhưng, xa hơn kỹ thuật mới & màu sắc mới, sâu hơn những biến hình ở dáng vẻ bên ngoài mang âm hưởng Pop Art ấy, Lê Quý Tông liệu có tạo ra những cú nhảy mới nào ở bên trong với ‘Thổn thức mênh mang’? ... Xem thêm Description Featuring twenty mixed-media works on canvas and paper, ‘Neo-Romanticism’ marked the return of Lê Quý Tông to manzi after over seven years since his solo show titled ‘True Blue’ (2015) which saw the beginning of his on-going experiment with a ‘input hybrid’ of painting, decorated pattern and found imagery. Along with the participation of a new technique - screen printing in the artist’s practice, this comeback also sees a dramatic change in the color palettes: neither limited to monochromatic color schemes nor restrained in the deep, somber shades as in his previous series ‘True Blue’ and ‘True Gold’. ‘Neo-Romanticism’ witnesses a bloom in a wide variety of colors, including both bold and subtle, fiery and dusky hues. Yet, what to expect beyond the new method and palette which got an air of Pop Art Style? Further than just the outer expansion in visual accomplishment, can we find any pole vaulting in the inner of this artist’s latest expedition? ... Continue reading SƠ ĐỒ | DIAGRAM MANZI ART SPACE 14 Phan Huy Ích SƠ ĐỒ | DIAGRAM MANZI EXHIBITION SPACE 02 Ngõ Hàng Bún

Ly Hoàng Ly Patricia Nguyễn John LeeA group exhibition by Ly Hoàng Ly, Patricia Nguyễn & John Lee 26.07 - 17.08.2015 PRISM - lăn[g] kính lăn[g] trụ - August 17, 2015 July 26, 2015 Ly Hoàng Ly Patricia Nguyễn John Lee PRISM - lăn[g] kính lăn[g] trụ - is an interactive multi-media video, sound, photography installation and poetry performance project including a series of artist’s books that explores the relationship between bodies, shifting landscapes, and cultural memory in Vietnam. Through an embodied experience attending to the sense of sight, sound, and tactile navigation, PRISM - lăn[g] kính lăn[g] trụ - offers an experience that challenges the viewer to question the relationship between notions of memory and amnesia, home and displacement, and construction and destruction. Playing with the formation of memory and space through reflective distortions and through audience collaboration, based on the audience’s decision to actively participate or refusal to interact, PRISM - lăn[g] kính lăn[g] trụ - can be considered as a gesture to invite the viewer to experiment with their perceptions of a world that is emerging alongside another world that is possible. PRISM - lăn[g] kính lăn[g] trụ - is made possible by collaboration between a Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, and Korean American artist. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Lê Quang HàA series of current sketches by LÊ QUẢNG HÀ 16.06 - 30.06.2013 The Facebook of Le Quang Ha - June 30, 2013 June 16, 2013 Lê Quang Hà ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Đức Phương Nguyễn HàA Light art installation by NGUYỄN ĐỨC PHƯƠNG & NGUYỄN HÀ 05.07 - 09.08.2020 Xem Đêm Càng Đêm - August 9, 2020 July 5, 2020 Nguyễn Đức Phương Nguyễn Hà "...In the distance the stars Nearby, fireflies..." – Phung Cung Manzi is pleased to present ‘Xem đêm- Càng đêm’ – a light art installation by visual artist Nguyen Duc Phuong (aka Phuong Gio) and architect Nguyen Ha. Divided into 2 different sections over a 4 week period, like 2 chapters of a novel, the light installation Chapter 1 - ‘Xem đêm’ and Chapter 2 – ‘Càng đêm’ is an intriguing combination of architecture and visual art, reflecting the similarities between the artist and the architect in the process of recreating space and form. Inspired by the traditional culture of the Northwest Mountains and the Northern Delta, ‘Xem đêm – Càng đêm’ comprises a series of 5 installations composed of 180 lamps in the form of everyday objects often found in rural areas such as bamboo baskets, ax blades, earthen cooking tripods and flint stones… as well as items used in spiritual activities in the Northwest Mountains such as bamboo cards, seals, stamps and fish-shaped wooden tocsins. The combination of traditional materials such as Dzo paper, cloth, indigo, coal and copper together with modern industrial materials like cast aluminum, composite and steel creates an unexpected visual and functional effect in the works in this exhibition. Like the poetry collection “Xem đêm” by Phùng Cung*, from which the exhibition borrows part of its name, the installation ‘Xem đêm – Càng đêm’ can, in a way, be seen as an act of ‘memory gathering’, an attempt to elucidate the nature of the night, its silence and its darkness. The exhibition will open at 18:30 on Sunday, July 5th at Manzi’s exhibition space, 2 Ngo Hang Bun street. Admission free *Phung Cung (1928-1997) is a famous Vietnamese poet and writer. His poetry collection ‘Xem đêm’ is a despairing but beautiful compilation of memories of the countryside of northern Vietnam. 'Xem đêm - Càng đêm' is part of Manzi’s art programme, supported by the Goethe-Institut. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Lê Xuân Tiếnan open studio by Lê Xuân Tiến on our pathway vol. 4 - September 30, 2023 September 8, 2023 Lê Xuân Tiến 𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐖𝐀𝐘 - 𝐕𝐎𝐋.𝟒 an open studio by an emerging moving-image artist Lê Xuân Tiến 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆: 06.30 PM Friday 08 Sep 2023 At Manzi Art Space, 14 Phan Huy Ích, Ba Đình, Hanoi 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 featuring ‘‘𝕊𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕪 𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥’ ’ - a series of videos, on view from 09 Sep until 30 Sep 11.00 AM - 07.00 PM (Tue - Sun) At Manzi Exhibition Space, 2 ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hanoi 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗲: screening short ‘𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕟𝕪 𝕕𝕒𝕪’ followed by an artist talk 03.30 PM 01 Oct at Manzi Exhibition Space, 2 ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hanoi ‘On our pathway’ is an on-going series that Lê Xuân Tiến has been working on since the end of 2019, up until now, 3 volumes have been completed. In the upcoming open studio at manzi, Tiến will introduce the latest developments of this project - Volume no.4 which he described as “born from a concept of a man lying inside a frozen lamb bone, in the snow”. The volume is composed of two bodies of works - a twin named ‘Snowy Night’ & ‘Sunny Day'. ‘Snowy Night’ consists of 14 videos arranged as a multi-channel installation while ‘Sunny Day’ is a 30-minute short film. ARTWORKS GALLERY "𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡, 𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠. 𝐼 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑢𝑝 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚: "𝑂𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑤𝑎𝑦." - Artist’s statement about his project ___________ >>> https://onourpathway.wordpress.com/ >>> https://lxtien.wordpress.com/ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ ❄ 📝 [VOLUME NO. 4 ] Snowy night awaiting for Sunny day >>> writing for the open studio OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Hà Đàoan open studio by Ha Dao </3 - May 19, 2024 April 20, 2024 Hà Đào </3 - an open studio by Ha Dao , a photographer, writer and programme coordinator at Matca. </3 introduces works grounded in real tragedies learned through the press and social media. As media sensations, both stories feature a female outlaw as the protagonist. Amassing two uncommon fates, </3 deals with romance, heartbreak and crime in Vietnam's recent past. Entrenched are her ongoing inquiries into the creative and ethical implications of the camera, or more specifically, of appropriating stories not of one's own. __________________ Juggling with a variety of visual information (photographs, audio recordings, video footages, found and reconstructed materials), in this open studio, Hà proposes A NARRATIVE CONTEXT in which the pure function endowed in the photography almost proved futile: the large volume of visual statement is exposed, the voice of knowledge is clear and directly perceived without any filter, vivid details constitute the very raw material of ‘that-has-been’ yet at the same time can very well say nothing at all, as what represented can be immediately yielded to our perception but extremely elusive once one aims to process them to grasp the whole story. Such interesting narrative context, in turn, provokes questions about what was not allowed/impossible to be represented, about the "blind field "- parts of the scene outside the frame, and reiterates an often overlooked issue of our age which is unfailingly manipulated by mass consumption of information and social media: every photograph/recording only tells a part of the story. The pursuit of truth (in terms of informational aspect ) is impossible here, </3 , however, invites us - in a role of SPECTATOR to embark on a journey of exploring the 'sentimental’ reasons which interested Roland Barthes: 'I want to explore it not as a Question or a Theme but as a Wound: I see, I feel, hence I notice, I observe and I think. " (Camera Lucida) Artist's website: ha-dao.com ARTWORKS GALLERY All things considered (2019) This body of works is based on a murder case in Bình Dương in 2017. The so-called crime of passion made national headlines because of its grotesque yet compelling details. Out of jealousy and in selfdefense, a woman named Hàng Thị Hồng Diễm killed her husband and dismembered his body at their home in a factory worker dormitory. She recounted what happened on that fateful night during the four-hour trial. I was drawn to the discrepancy between the graphic description and deadpan photographic documentation in news reports: captioned as the crime scene, a seemingly innocent street corner, trash cans, and home interiors took on new meanings, providing evidence for the incident without witnesses. Adopting the role of a private investigator as if in a twisted game, I set out to capture observed and staged situations in various locations in Bình Dương. Combining audio excerpted from the trial, this work endeavors to recreate the incident based on the testimony of the woman/convict. ___________ If Heaven Awaits (2024) The video work portrays the Hải Phòng born and bred Dung Hà (Vũ Hoàng Dung) , a notorious gangster who used to monopolize gambling sites, adopt a masculine appearance and openly date women.Together with illegal activities, her sexuality was the subject of discussion and ridicule in the public eye. She was shot point-blank by her rival in the year 2000; the assassination shook Vietnam’s underworld. A fictional rendezvous between the long-gone Dung Hà and her old flame, rumored to be her one true love, plays out along the 2000s pop ballad 'Đêm Nay Anh Mơ Về Em (“Dreaming of You Tonight”). Adopting the aesthetic of music videos from this era, the work centers lesbian longing and butch/transmasculine expressions against the backdrop of heteronormative pop culture. Confronted by the distance of time and the impossibility of knowing, I turn to imagination as a strategy to construct stories about the price of love intertwined with battles for survival. Imagination also offers a certain freedom to explore and resurface fragments of memories that have been either lost or silenced. And yet while delving into intellectual musings and grappling with my own doubts about what images can and should do, I find myself returning to the question: How much could we know about the lives of others? OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

A series of performance following the production phase of the project New Backstage (Tân Hậu Trường) First realizations... The first production of NEW BACKSTAGE 2025 Open studio: 7, 8, 9 Feb 2025 Overview The first production to launch New Backstage directed by an emerging talent, Bùi Thạc Phong is inspired by the play 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙢𝙖𝙣 by the renowned British-Irish playwright & filmmaker Martin McDonagh. In a forest where the line between reality and illusion blurs, three children have gone missing. Two have been proven deceased, while the other's fate is unknown. Katurian, a fairy tale writer who works in an animal slaughterhouse, becomes the prime suspect when the events in the crime cases are closely related to his writings. The conversation is interminable, alternating between four characters: two inspectors and two arrested. Six fairy stories entice, beguile, and reveal each character's cover-ups, falsehoods, torments and consolations, pasts and traumas. ... Production team & Cast DIRECTOR: BÙI THẠC PHONG (b. 2003) Currently a student majoring in Acting at the Hanoi University of Theatre and Cinema, Phong has participated in many stage projects as an actor, as well as appeared in TV series and feature films. His production for New Backstage is his debut project as a theatrical director. "Six fairy stories are like the consolatory shelter to heal wounds, the bright zone to warm up the dark, but they can also distort reality. As it is difficult to forget past scars and accept reality, these people, after all, carry huge fears and traumas, thus deploy language, violence, power, and ideas to solve them, compensate for them, and escape... attempting to give their acts some sort of value, an alternative reality. However, they forget that in this reality, they are just exacerbating the vicious cycle. - excerpt from Director's Note intro + director CAST: Nguyễn Vũ (b. 2000) played the role of Katurian, the writer CAST: Hồng MA (b. 1985) played the role of detective Tulposki CAST: Đồng (b. 2002) played the role of detective Ariel CAST: Linh Trần (b. 1995) played the role of Michal - Katurian's sister PRODUCTION TEAM: Production: Khánh Như Translator: Phạm Minh Ánh, Nguyễn Minh Trang, Dương Diệu Linh Sound: Minh Trung Lighting: Thạc Đạt Editing: Phạm Đình Thiện Set design: Trung Dương Personal assistant to Mr. Hồng MA: Hà Taia nguoi-goi-showcase Public event The first production of NEW BACKSTAGE 2025 10,500 + 10,500 + 10,500 + 10,500 + on social media channels on social media channels on social media channels on social media channels event engagement event engagement event engagement event engagement 03 03 03 03 full-house nights full-house nights full-house nights full-house nights 180 180 180 180 attendees attendees attendees attendees a minimalistic yet bold presentation The absurd stage - manzi exhibition space, turns into an interrogation room, a prison cell, and an execution ground where the audience, like the protagonists themselves, is locked up inside an enclosed yet bottomless box, where each ''𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑈𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒,…'' is a thrilling opening of another compartment/a discovery of a new truth. 3 3 3 3 coming up... coming up... coming up... coming up... more productions to be disclosed more productions to be disclosed more productions to be disclosed more productions to be disclosed 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘 (𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱) is a non-profit initiative curated by 𝗫𝗽𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗫 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼, supported by 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲-𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗶 and Manzi Art Space. The project aims to promote new voices in contemporary performing arts and theatre in Vietnam

A Manzi & Work Room Four Production. A Place to buy affordable ART. A collection of sketches, photographs, illustrations, paintings - works, ideas, mediums & meanings, questions and responses by some of the finest creative talents working in Hanoi today. VIETNAM’S ONLY AFFORDABLE ART FAIR ART FOR YOU IS A PLACE TO BUY AFFORDABLE ART ART FOR YOU is an art fair and showcase that is geared towards selling Art at prices the majority can afford, removing the sometimes-elitist nature of more traditional Art Gallery sales and create an event that is enjoyable, exciting and welcoming for those looking to pick up a bargain or just get some inspiration and discover new artists and their work. ART FOR YOU is a collection of sketches, photographs, illustrations, paintings - works & ideas, mediums & meanings, questions & responses by some of the finest creative talents working in Vietnam today . ART FOR YOU is a way to support your local artists (they deserve it) and keep creativity kicking. ART FOR YOU is a way to keep alternative art spaces open in Vietnam. ART FOR YOU is a place to discover something beautiful and engaging and give it a home. Art For You , the affordable art fair organised by Manzi Art Space and Work Room Four, has proudly reached its 16th edition. The fair will take place at Manzi Art Space - 14 Phan Huy Ich, Ba Dinh. Art For You was founded with the ambition to remunerate artists for their work and support independent art spaces in Hanoi. It is at this time more important than ever to consider how you can support your local artistic community by being a patron of the arts, no matter how small, our prices begin at $25 and are capped at $1500 to make this accessible for all. We hope you consider what an impact buying art from local practitioners can have. The Art For You objective remains as always is to exhibit, promote and sell high quality artwork made by artists living and working in Vietnam to a diverse audience at an attractive price point in an environment that is refreshing, contem porary and welcoming. Art moves people, it brings hope, curiosity and aspiration. Over the course of the last 10 years Art For You has grown into an anticipated art event trusted by artists and audience alike. Art For You has consistently strived to nurture and develop a network of more than 150 artists showcasing over 400 pieces of Art in each fair. We aim to offer you a thoughtfully displayed and well curated selection of Vietnam’s most exciting talent and ensure that both seasoned and novice buyers of art find something extraordinary to take home. ART FOR YOU 16 30 Nov – 10 Dec 2023 9.30AM - 8.00PM everyday Manzi Art Space, 14 Phan Huy Ích, Ba Đình Free Admission WORLDWIDE SEE MORE OF MANZI Manzi Art Space, Cafe & Art Shop 14 Phan Huy Ích, Ba Đình, Hanoi Manzi Exhibition Space 2 Ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đinh, Hanoi Submit

Lê Quý TôngA solo exhibition by LÊ QUÝ TÔNG 12.12.2015 - 11.01.2016 Lam - January 11, 2016 December 12, 2015 Lê Quý Tông 'True Blue' - marking Le Quy Tong's return after 7 years - is the result of years of working in silence and marks a clear departure from the artist’s previous interest. Tong last exhibited in 2008, and has since been experimenting with new techniques and themes previously absent from his practice, making each research an inquiry into fine art's most traditional medium - painting. The resulting body of work thus announces more than just a comeback; it marks a revitalizing chapter in Tong's practice and fortifies his position as one of Hanoi’s most dedicated and resilient creative forces. True Blue sees Le Quy Tong experiment with a hybrid of painting, decorated pattern and found imagery. Each of the works takes its starting point from photographic documentations of significant political meetings that influenced the course of history. The images - sourced from historical archives and mass media - have been taken out of their original contexts and appropriated, dissected and reassembled into something new and uncanny, making it difficult to decipher between the make-believe, the manipulated and the genuine. Together, they highlight the generic features of all meetings - big halls filled with hefty chairs, grand tables and elaborate chandeliers; men deep in discussion or signing papers. An air of ceremony lingers even when all content and context are stripped away. Once a photograph found its way onto the artist’s canvas, he employed a number of editing devices such us pixilating, blurring and pattern overlaying. Each of the gloomy, cool and blue-colored finished collages is the accumulation of countless layers of paint, visual motif and imagery, which have been applied, erased, smoothened, scratched and piled on top of each other. Displayed together, they provoke a sense of glamorous nostalgia and contribute to a distinctively elegant style and rhythm, reinforced by a shared perspective, composition and treatment of paint and imagery. As figures and shadows sink and rise, visual cues disappear and become, textures, forms and colors part and merge, recognisable events and times in history are rendered an illusion. But what seems to be specific could allude to any place and any time in any history. Déja vu! What appears before us is familiar to the eyes, yet the mind cannot identify why. Have we seen these imageries before? What do we see when we look at a singular photographic depiction of an event? What about the missing people, voices and actions in history that existed outside the realm of a single frame and evidence? The construction of history and memory, or rather the construction of history and memory through photographic documentation, is called into question, and its limitations are revealed. Is the blurred meant to be forgotten, or hidden? Do the overlays introduce alternative narratives, or sugarcoat darker ones? Does the pixilation highlight individual elements, or obscure something and dismantle the whole? What happens when an image is used in a place and time other than where and when it was intended for? What does this act of displacement do to the final works? Does it inform our knowledge and reinforce our trust in photographic documentation? Or does it lay bare the ability to use it to tell lies, falsify reality and shape our perception with seeming evidence? With his systematic, yet intuitive, ordered but open-ended, labour-intensive methodology, Le Quy Tong presents us with an alternative space to engage with the real and the imagined, the authentic and the fabricated, by erasing the illusive borders that separate them. The blue color palette which connects all the series’ pieces evokes a deeply sad and unsettling atmosphere, which reflects the mood at the basis of the work. The color also stands for loyalty and a commitment to truth – a perfect contrast to the deceptive nature of those concepts as revealed in True Blue. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Hà Mạnh ThắngA solo exhibition by HÀ MẠNH THẮNG 18.07 - 04.08.2014 Fading Dream - Disintegrating Realities - August 4, 2014 July 18, 2014 Hà Mạnh Thắng As a preview for his solo show at Thavibu Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand in September 2014, this show presents Ha Manh Thang’s latest creations to Hanoi's audience. Shifting away from portraying urban landscapes with iconic architectures and housings typical of contemporary Vietnam, in his new series of paintings, Thang is exploring with such themes as memories, history and cultural heritages. "...Sometimes I question myself: At the end, to where does art lead us? We work with great effort to make our art newer and fresher, but is that important or is art like a journey that leads back to nature – we go away and then come back to the beginning where we started? All turbulences and changes are part of impermanence. It seems that in both art and life there still exists something like those temples and ruined costumes... The best selection is that by nature – where there are things that we humans can’t control." (Ha Manh Thang) ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Quách Huy BắcA solo exhibition by QUÁCH BẮC 16.08 – 15.09.2019 Falling into the Horizon - September 15, 2019 August 16, 2019 Quách Huy Bắc The exhibition features Quách Bắc's new series of small sized oil paintings and a site-specific installation on the second floor of manzi art space. The works reflect the artist's observations of absurd circumstances in Vietnam today, which he explores for traces of fear and hidden hopes. Utilising both empty mono-coloured spaces and clearly defined subjects, Bắc provokes a host of emotions with his series of paintings. The figures on the canvas react to their absurd situations as if performing on a stage. By illustrating different aspects of life and a variety of contemporary issues in each of his pieces, regardless of format, Bắc conveys bite-sized satire, a rather pessimistic reading of the human condition and doubt for what modern society can tolerate. Complementing the paintings, Bắc’s site specific installation entitled ‘Valse’ (French for waltz) demonstrates an extremely dark view about the past, which forever endures in the minds of Vietnamese people. ‘Falling into the Horizon’ is Quách Bắc’s 2nd solo exhibition since ‘The Sky of Fame’- his first solo show in Saigon in 2016. ARTWORKS GALLERY “This is how I avoid confrontation with the disappointment of reality. We are decaying in a thousand different ways, are seeing dreams go unfulfilled, wounds that never healed and have therefore lost our faith in an ideal society.” - Quách Bắc talks about his practice process * About 'The Balance' - one of the oil paintings The artwork was inspired by a North Korean propaganda showcase that I came across on the Internet. I picked one particular detail of the showcase - a significant moment, and depicted it by painting: a male performer wearing military uniform with a flag in his hand, doing acrobats on the stage. The movement happens in a flash, as the performer lifts himself and the flag into the air, falls down, then alights. That when the performer tries to maintain balance as he is landing reminds us of the insecurity of symbols/values set in our society. * 'Valse' - a site-specific installation This site specific installation entitled ‘Valse’ (French for waltz) demonstrates an extremely dark view about the past, which forever endures in the minds of Vietnamese people. Within a small, restricted space, a procession of tiny statues of an iconic hero are frozen in the same action. They are on the verge of barging into each other, yet never able to converge. Though capable of only a single gesture, the figures to seem to want to move within the room they have been placed in. Their futile attempts hampered by the furniture that is also present. I gave the imagery the name of a dance to provide harmony – albeit choreographed - for these unpleasing yet earnest figures. For is it not the repetition of all things that makes up the rhythms and melodies of each of our lives? OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)