Phạm Khắc QuangA solo exhibition by PHẠM KHẮC QUANG 18.01 - 09.03.2019 In Vitra + - March 9, 2019 January 18, 2019 Phạm Khắc Quang ‘In Vitra +' - a solo exhibition by Phạm Khắc Quang, one of the most proficient, diverse and established print artists in Vietnam today. Known for his evocative artworks with a strong personal narrative and connection finding beauty in what others could perceive as the ordinary, in this exhibition, Quang does not offer complex conceptual solutions from the mind of the Artist but an in-depth study and creation of a pioneering process and technique where the Artist tests their capability beyond common bounds. 'In Vitra +' - Quang's fourth solo exhibition shows a body of work created from an ambition to focus solely on his technique and a subversion of the traditional printing technique whilst having the ability to have rest from the creative quest for a defining concept. ARTWORKS GALLERY ‘In Vitra+’ A Solo Exhibition by Pham Khac Quang Bài viết cho triển lãm của Claire Driscoll The choice of medium for an artist is often a combination of personal passion for a technique and process, combined with dedicated direction from an influential teacher or mentor. Print called the most clearly of all practices to PhạmKhắc Quang, who has established himself as one of Vietnam’s most proficient, diverse and established printers, he creates evocative artworks with a strong personal narrative and connection; finding beauty in what others could perceive as the ordinary. In Vitra +, Phạm Khắc Quang’s fourth solo exhibition shows a body of work created from an ambition to focus solely on his technique and a subversion of the traditional printing technique whilst having the ability to have rest from the creative quest for a defining concept. The work you see here does not pretend to offer complex conceptual solutions from the mind of the Artist but is an in-depth study and creation of a pioneering process and technique where the Artist tests their capability beyond common bounds. The choice of medium can often define an Artist’s, work, practice and process - this is especially apparent for a printer. Preparation, testing, planning, technique, the pressure you must learn to apply consistently with both your hand and eye are of equal measure to the response you wish you evoke in your work. The life of a printer can be a complicated emotional response as the practitioner struggles through the definition of their own process before yielding a final result - with often disappointing results for the time laid down beforehand. In Vitra + is a model of Quang’s indomitable desire to make and create, dissatisfied with the constraints press printing can bring but married to the process and technique, Quang looked to deconstruct the material and processes to break away from traditional norms. Beginning with early experiments in ceramic Quang’s gaze moved to glass and stainless steel and he became convinced and fascinated by the possibility of printing onto new surfaces. A complex lonely discourse of sampling, trialing, broken glass, poor prints and bus journeys to use a kiln in another province contributed to the creation of the work you see here in Manzi. In Vitra + is an incomplete completion, a pause to reflect on the achieved new technique which will not only inform future projects but shows the result of an intensely involved and varied journey of discovery. The works here are created as more a body of completed sketches - a documented archive of a perfected technique – than final artistic solutions. More than 1500 hours of trials allowed Quang to progress to this point, hours filled with the discovery of working with an alien medium – glass/stainless steel - and the knowledge gained to create these pieces. Quang has found himself bound by a new set of constraints, a familiar concept to printers: the size of the kiln in which to fire the work, the viscosity of the pigment used to print onto new surfaces, the searing temperatures and the fragility of the glass combined with the interaction of the glass with the printing press, and the unforgiving surface of the metal. Phạm Khắc Quang has broken and recreated not just his technique but his vision and capability as a printer and redefined his role as a practitioner. Too often the printer as an Artist can be mistaken for that of an Artisan, this body of work stands defiant in the face of the supposition that the personal process of the Artist as maker is irrelevant. OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Doãn Hoàng LâmA solo exhibition by DOÃN HOÀNG LÂM 21.08 - 21.09.2015 em|body - September 21, 2021 August 21, 2015 Doãn Hoàng Lâm em|body - an exhibition of both new and never before seen works by Doãn Hoàng Lâm. A Vietnam University of Fine Arts graduate, Lâm belongs to one of the previous generations of academically-trained artists whose talents were endured and pushed to the limit by the then highly-demanding art education system, and is now considered one of Hanoi’s most accomplished painters. With a sense of naturalness of an artist and a disciplined mindset of an artisan, Lâm approaches each painting medium with sensitivity and clarity, utilizing its intrinsic vocabulary and qualities as the foundation for the formation of his ideas and experimentations, and an instrument to communicate his thoughts and mental states. In his works, lacquer would often be associated with depth, silk with delicacy, oil paint with fullness, watercolor with lightness and so on. For Lâm, to conduct a thorough practice with the most primary skills like sketching and life drawing, and to have a clear understanding of the most basic things like how to handle a particular paint and how to choose which brush to use, is as important as to continuously explore and refine his thought-, reflection- and creation-process. They both help to form the visual language and express the artistic vision that define Lâm and separate him from his contemporaries. Comprising four lacquer and five oil on canvas, em|body transforms the walls of Manzi into windows looking out into landscapes that are both cosmic and intimate, recalling images of the galaxy whilst revealing sensuous properties of the human body. The partially rendered human-like shapes look as if they are hovering in space, or emerging from behind the surface. Sometimes vulnerable and concealed, they have their backs to us; but mostly confrontational and powerful, they stare straight ahead, with their bare skin, disembodied figures and provoking positions all on display. Somewhere in this strange galaxy we see snippets resembling body parts: a twisted knee, a sagging breast, a deformed head, contorted limbs or spreading legs. Distorted and exaggerated, the body is repeatedly abstracted through the artist’s manipulations of forms and shifts in scales, acting as much a symbol of desire and a celebration of beauty as an object of fetish and an embodiment of violence. Here, the familiar has been made uncanny. Just a degree or two away from reality, we are left in an uncomfortable position, our senses toyed with, and our perceptions of affection/abjection, normality/abnormality, morality/immorality disrupted and questioned. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Phương Linh Trương Quế Chi Đạt Nguyễn Hiroyuki Hattori & Hiroyuki UraAn exhibition by Nguyễn Phương Linh & Trương Quế Chi with Đạt Nguyễn, Hiroyuki Hattori & Hiroyuki Ura Eyes Without A Face - April 20, 2021 March 12, 2021 Nguyễn Phương Linh Trương Quế Chi Đạt Nguyễn Hiroyuki Hattori & Hiroyuki Ura ‘A struggle to start writing about something, without adding to or subtracting from its weight being tricked by a longing for lightness to endure heaviness has its silver lining: one can still sense weight passing the point that makes black humor come distances, varied: geographical, physical, in between those involved 'things that ought to come' does not mean being ready for such the foresight prompts much odd rhythms ungraspable without the pulse of some apparatus light is rhythmic a nonverbal correspondence one instinctive, one austere an exquisite corpse proving difficult to dissect everything revolves around that bed — which I slept on life, death, mirth, and nightmare a pole, a lightning rod first entrance through a veil-skirt hung mid air the collapse of one's own abode all is a stage absurd, sore, romantic fragments a play is but the wait for its happenings inevitable baggage: the objects in front of the partition await those waiting for their allotted number Uhm, Exit one whom Heaven calls forth .’ - Notes from a hiccup-ish conversation between curator Đạt Nguyễn and a newfound friend, Ngân on EYES WITHOUT A FACE ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

A display by MM Lab, developed from an ongoing research project supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in 2025 How to sneak a Mang Thit Kiln into Manzi? - June 14, 2026 May 23, 2026 HOW TO SNEAK A MANG THÍT KILN INTO MANZI? A display by MM Lab, developed from an ongoing research project supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in 2025 Time: 11.00 AM – 7.00 PM (Tuesday – Sunday), from May 22 to June 14, 2026 Venue: Manzi Exhibition Space, 2 Ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Dinh, Hanoi Free admission. __________________________ Emerging from an unusual hypothetical proposition, the display gathers dozens of models, proposals, and poetic interpretations revolving around a single question: how can a Mang Thít brick kiln be brought into an exhibition space? At the center is a massive and nearly impossible installation: reconstructing and “breathing to life” a Mang Thít kiln at a 1:1 scale using TPU fabric inside the limited exhibition room. This display forms part of The Dichotomy of Heritage and Industrialization in Mang Thít’s Sustainable Development , a research and development project by architect Nguyễn Hà (arb architects) and Kim Hojung (assistant professor at the University of Tennessee). Located in Vĩnh Long province, the Mang Thít brick-and-kiln region was once one of the largest craft production centers in the Mekong Delta, with nearly 1,500 kilns spread across a canal landscape of more than 3,000 hectares. These kilns were not merely sites of production. They were the living core of an entire labor ecosystem, where earth, fire, water, human hands, and collective memory accumulated across generations. For more than a century, these towering vaulted structures burned continuously—firing, breathing, and operating like living bodies. Today, that system is slowly dying out due to irreversible changes: depleted resources, shifting policies, and younger generations leaving. The kilns are no longer fired. They stop breathing, standing still like hollowed bodies. People soon recognized the cultural and touristic potential of this landscape. Under the “Mang Thít Contemporary Heritage” initiative, many kilns have been protected from demolition and preserved in situ. Yet therein lies the paradox: how do you preserve, unchanged, a structure whose very life has always depended on remaining active? Without fire—without continuous burning and use—the kilns will eventually succumb to weathering itself. Sometimes preserving something in place is merely another way of allowing it to die slowly. So what if we move it? What if we allow it to transform? When a kiln no longer burns, can it continue to exist in another form elsewhere, even far away, while still carrying the breath of its own life? This is where the Art comes in to suggest such an endeavor. Alongside ongoing efforts in planning, architecture, and heritage preservation for the future of Mang Thít, this initiative to bring a kiln into Manzi opens up a collective act of imagination — however absurd it may seem. The display gathers multiple attempts, multiple challenges, multiple ways of “fitting” the kiln into Manzi. And as visitors enter the kiln and breathe with it, somehow part of that imagination can come into being, and some meanings may emerge. ARTWORKS GALLERY Once upon a time, there was a brick kiln in Mang Thít so large it could not slip into the holes of Manzi. So people began to wonder. And wondering, they tried. The first one pulled out a brick and found a thread of silk hiding inside. The second wrapped the whole kiln up so it could fire itself. The third pressed a long ribbon of paper against its skin. Someone crept in and stole the light from its belly. Someone shrank it down to the size of a palm. Someone sat very still and waited for it to dig itself up from the ground. One person carried its ashes home and fed them carefully. Another one let it drift away with water. Someone, rather bravely, sent it humming along the 500 kV North-South transmission line. And one person, the most careful of all, built each brick its own tiny altar, so the spirit would know where to return. Then came the one who took the whole kiln apart, cooked a pot of sticky rice until it was soft and warm, pressed it back into the shape of another kiln, and carried each grain, one by one, into Manzi. And at last, someone shook their head and said, "No more." Don't carry it in at all. Just let it breathe again in its own old shape. Then came the ants. Then came the dung beetles. Then came the people from the stars. And even the wind blew in to help. Everyone thought they were doing a wonderful thing. But the kiln just couldn't fit into Manzi as one whole body. To this very day, nobody knows if the kiln ever truly made it inside. All they know is that ever since then, something inside Manzi has been breathing. Softly rising, softly falling. As if the kiln is still trying to fit. *** How to sneak a Mang Thít kiln into Manzi? MM Lab Concept: Nguyễn Hà + Nguyễn Lê Minh Nhựt Design and Construction Coordinator: Lê Quang Trường Giang Sound: Ngô Thu Hương Sound Assistant: Triệu Minh Hải Sound Advisor: Nguyễn Xuân Sơn (Sơn X) Lighting Design: Croled Construction Volunteers: Nguyễn Lan Anh, Nguyễn Gia Bảo, Đào Anh Khôi, Lý Tuấn Linh, Nguyễn Tuyết Phương Mai, Phạm Thị Hồng Nhung, Hà Há Ha Hà Phương, Lê Thu Thủy, Hoàng Văn Việt Kiln Squeezers: Đào Phương Tú Anh, Vũ Tuấn Anh, Nguyễn Gia Bảo, Nguyễn Thùy Dương, Nguyễn Thị Thùy Dương, Hoàng Nguyễn Minh Giang, Lê Quang Trường Giang, Nguyễn Thị Hồng Hà, Trần Tuấn Hưng, Bùi Doãn Huy, Trần Thanh Huyền, Tống Khánh Linh, Nguyễn Hữu Long, Nguyễn Phương Mai, Bùi Minh Nghĩa, Lê Quỳnh Như, Đoàn Duy Thái, Lương Minh Thư, Nguyễn Thị Thùy, Phùng Thị Xuyến MM Lab warmly thanks Mr. Đặng Sĩ Quỳnh and Mr. Nguyễn Văn Đạt for their generous support of the project. MM Lab also warmly thanks Manzi and Nguyễn Huyền Trang for their support in bringing the project to life. +++ How to sneak a Mang Thít kiln into Manzi? is part of the ongoing research project The Dichotomy of Heritage and Industrialization in Mang Thít’s Sustainable Development*, funded by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in 2025, with Nguyễn Hà and Kim Hojung as grantees. * The research project has been carried out by MM Lab since August 2025: Research Director: Nguyễn Lê Minh Nhựt Core Team: Nguyễn Hà, Kim Hojung, Trang Bio, Vũ Tuấn Anh, Lê Quang Trường Giang, Nguyễn Phương Mai, Tống Khánh Linh, Nguyễn Thị Hồng Hà, Lê Thu Thủy Collaborators: Ylan Vo, Giuseppe De Francesco, Trương Uyên Ly, University of Architecture Ho Chi Minh City OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Tuấn Cườnga solo exhibition by Nguyễn Tuấn Cường Fragments of Nostalgia - August 9, 2021 July 9, 2021 Nguyễn Tuấn Cường ‘Fragments of Nostalgia’ features Nguyen Tuan Cuong's latest lacquer works, continuing his signature series of still life paintings. Overstepping its own boundaries of the familiar serenity and stillness, Cường’s practice this time has gone further than the subtleties in the technique or the poetry in the representation. The lyricism has become more demanding while the narrative gets more compelling, ‘Fragments Nostalgia’ uncovers the interrelationships in space and time, provides the reflection on presences and absences, shapes and shadows in liminal space. This exhibition is part of Manzi’s art programme supported by the Goethe Institut. ARTWORKS GALLERY ABOUT 'FRAGMENTS OF NOSTALGIA’ - A writing for exhibition by artist Oanh Phi Phi A lacquer painting is the sum of two parts— the building up of paint and symbols and the sanding away. How much to reveal by sanding away is the most essential and thoughtful decision as an author. In Nguyễn Tuấn Cường’s paintings, we are inside an intimate and dusky interior. Forms seem to come into view but stay buried under the penumbra of Son ta. The layers of then and canh gian lacquer become deep space while small still life objects are merely there to delineate the empty space within them and anchor our gaze. These domestic bowls, jars, and lanterns transport us to a time in the past of oral traditions. Looking at the paintings I am reminded of such stories as 'Chuyện người con gái Nam Xương' . In this tale when the father goes away to war the mother comforts their young son nightly by telling him her casted shadow is his father. The paintings are like the intimate moment before mother lights the candle and “father” appears. This light would be a reverie and psychological comfort before a harrowing reality, but knowing what happens in the tale, it is only an illusion. Cuong’s decision to embrace the liminal space of shadows rather than removing it is a reminder that shadows are where transitions and transformations happen and of the Buddhist sutra, "Form is emptiness (śūnyatā), emptiness is form. OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Trần Nam Bàng Nhất Linh Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng Lê Quý TôngA special display by four artists 21.12.2019 - 28.02.2020 Untitled Fictions in the Age after Divinity - February 28, 2020 December 21, 2019 Nguyễn Trần Nam Bàng Nhất Linh Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng Lê Quý Tông To celebrate the new year of 2020, manzi would like to bring you a special display ‘Untitled Fictions in the Age After Divinity’ featuring works by Bàng Nhất Linh, Lê Quý Tông, Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, Nguyễn Trần Nam –the four important contemporary artists of Vietnam today. Focusing on the visual relationships of disjointed elements and unusual scales, Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng’s series of oil paintings depict activities and events of daily life in an absurd world. Hung’s interpretations were unabashed and direct, transporting audiences to a world in which everything is made bare through his biting humour. Bàng Nhất Linh- a dedicated collector of war memorabilia, continues his study into the depth of memories and history with a poetic video installation. Lê Quý Tông, as usual, directs the viewers to a brutal reality which is hidden underneath a veil of luxurious and cold colour palette of his paintings. And Nguyễn Trần Nam via his installation ‘Like A Variant’, attempts to reveal the dark, hidden and forgotten fraction between the past and presence, faith and retribution. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Phạm Thái Bình Thái Nhật Minh Khổng Đỗ Tuyền Hoàng Mai Thiệp Phạm Đam CaExperimental sculpture show by NEW FORM group 10.10 - 04.11.2014 New Form: Sculpture - Architecture - Space - November 4, 2014 October 10, 2014 Phạm Thái Bình Thái Nhật Minh Khổng Đỗ Tuyền Hoàng Mai Thiệp Phạm Đam Ca “New Form: Sculpture – Architecture – Space” is curated by Nguyen Anh Tuan with the participation of sculptors Phạm Thái Bình, Thái Nhật Minh, Khổng Đỗ Tuyền, Hoàng Mai Thiệp and designer Phạm Đam Ca. The exhibition is an activity in New Form project phase II, 2014 - 2015. NEW FORM is an experimental sculpture project, which aims to overcome stereotypes of traditional sculpture and to open up new directions in thinking and creative possibilities of this art form. NEW FORM was founded by sculptors living and working in Hanoi with the desire to develop their career and to find new creative directions as well as experience a professional working environment. In phase II, New Form project aims towards the connection of sculpture works with architectural living space in reality. The dialogue characteristics between the artworks are placed in the communicative ability with architecture, interior, and usage of that space. This dialogue has created special challenges when sculptures aren’t just dealing with its traditional inner relation such as shapes, materials, surfaces, colours, and aesthetics… but also with the correlation between sculpture and architectural space in the shape and function. This has to do with the environment, light, air, time, weather, the available context, and the changeable context as well as with the viewers’ behaviours and attitude to arts. As it isn’t just purely for the visual satisfying display, art has transformed into an intervention, intrusion and being parallel with movements, feelings, psychologies in everyday life activities. * The show is supported by the Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF) of the Danish Embassy. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Lương Văn Việt an open studio by Lương Văn Việt Spatium - January 2, 2025 December 20, 2024 Lương Văn Việt SPATIUM - OPEN STUDIO BY SCULPTOR LƯƠNG VĂN VIỆT An unprecedented experimentation with space-time-material-form Manzi Exhibition Space, 2 ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hanoi Free Entrance Phase 1: OPEN WORKING STUDIO - from 20 Dec 2024 to 2 Jan 2025 (10.00 AM - 4.00 PM) For 2 weeks, manzi will turn into a working studio where the artist will complete his large-scale sculpture and handle the installation directly. Visitors are welcomed to watch and record throughout the process. Phase 2: OPEN SCULPTURE-SPACE & INTRODUCE THE WORK - from 5 Jan to 19 Jan (11.00 AM - 07.00 PM) The installation-sculpture artwork, whether completed or unfinished, is open to the public and invites interactions. ______________ Spatium is a Latin word, which roughly translates to "space," encompasses many concepts in many different contexts: it can refer to the general place/room of existence, the physical space governed by natural laws, or the area intervened and covered - a significant quantity that must be calculated and considered in architecture and construction. When used in more abstract contexts, the term ‘spatium' serves as the root for notions and theories in social studies or philosophy, referring to the voids, gaps, and factors that define the distance or connection, as well as specific theory in ontology about perception and reality. Spatium by Lương Văn Việt, which literally comes into being right inside Manzi Exhibition Space, is not just a sculptural practice but rather a space-shaping and space-questioning exercise in numerous aspects. This exhibition room that hosted more than 30 different showcases and installations with works of various forms and materials continuously residing and moving out over the last 5 years, inevitably have been marked with all traces of intervention in the space: erecting and demolishing, hanging on the ceiling and digging down the floor. Now, the entire space is flattened literally, all the holes be filled and the marks be covered, all the walls be repainted in white, only white - a thorough stripping and cleaning in a way of going back to the beginning, a return to the pure state: empty and clear. A blank space. It prepares and waits. Large corten steel plates, then are hauled in, bent, and put together into a single artwork hanging on a support system, allowing visitors to walk around, lean down, and look into it. All steps of this procedure are carried out in just one place, which have fused all creative spaces - artist’s studio, installation/construction site and an exhibition room - into a singular existence. By this way, a place will actively nurture and create an object instead of passively waiting to be occupied and taken over. Space determines the structural form and presence of the displayed object; conversely, a piece of sculpture, when moving and adapting in space, also simultaneously rewrites the surrounding rhythm and regulates the breath of that place. In this sense, a sculpture is no longer labeled as a distinct and unchanging unit or a singular presence defined only by shape, weight, and volume against a white background, but rather the space itself, including the container and the contained, the occupied and the blank, the solids and voids, being and nothingness, all constitute a sculpture. Aside from such experimenting with interpretations in work of art, installation & sculpture, this adventure at manzi also unveils numerous possibilities within the gaps that exist between idea and reality, concept and creation , as well as between industrial materials and manual techniques , technical calculations and aesthetic values. The variable is also generated from the approach of Spatium : such the rotation, the duality of creating and exhibiting spaces, and the dimensions of experiences within them. Artist studio - the working environment which used to be determined by the artist's internal, psychological, and private experiences, in this case, have been transformed into an external, social, and public area that is responsive and uncertain. Spatium at Manzi, therefore, is a brave and unconventional endeavour by an audacious artist who believes strongly in the creative process itself. Like a dedicated traveler, Viet walks tirelessly on a journey but not for a final destination; unflinchingly he embraces all the encounters and revelations along the way, whether they come in the form of challenges or setbacks. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Nguyễn Đình Hoàng ViệtA solo exhibition by NGUYỄN ĐÌNH HOÀNG VIỆT 05.11 - 06.12.2016 ?! - December 6, 2016 November 5, 2016 Nguyễn Đình Hoàng Việt ?! – a solo exhibition showcasing two new series of paintings by Huế based artist Nguyễn Đình Hoàng Việt. Having quietly made a name for himself in the past few years, Việt is best known for his trompe l’oeil portraits of rodents and fish looking peacefully content, trancelike, as if captured by a wonderful dream. Although playfully depicted, the works seriously have us question our eyes, as on closer inspection all the creatures turn out to be dead, for mice don’t lie face up when they sleep, and fish cannot breath without their gills. The latest work in the continuation of the animal series - presented as the first half of ?! - features flawlessly painted renditions of dead chickens, ducks and crabs. This time, however, they are flanked by comical exclamation marks and empty, black speech bubbles. The animals seem to be communicating something with us, but are ultimately failing to get their message across. How can they, really? For they are dead and we are not animals (or are we?!) The second half of ?! showcases Việt’s venture into a new area of interest - everyday objects - for which he has been producing 2D replicas of things we see and overlook daily with his trademark photorealist precision. Broken glass, a bent nail, pieces of paper and a wall crack are now the center of the stage. However, the obvious and mundane here is made obscure and abstract - not in terms of style but content. Objects perceived to serve a specific function are rendered useless: a painted nail cannot hold a piece of art, a painted crack cannot be fixed, a painted broken piece of glass cannot be swept up. Việt’s work – with its elements of light, school-boy humour – gives new input to the ever-evolving, decades-old conversation surrounding realism in art. Its ability to cause intrigue, elicit a giggle and give pause for contemplation is a reminder that the contested discussion of whether or not realist painting is relevant, or could be used as a medium for contemporary art, is not over. Yet. Likewise, painting is not dead. Yet. And may never be. Maybe… ?! *This exhibition is part of Manzi’s art programme supported by CDEF of the Danish Embassy ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Duo Siedl/Caoa five-channel video and sound installation by the artist duo Siedl/Cao The Fifth Cardinal Direction - March 2, 2025 February 14, 2025 Duo Siedl/Cao The Fifth Cardinal Direction Birth, Love, Work, Coming of Age & Death a five-channel video and sound installation by the artist duo Siedl/Cao. Time: 11.00 AM - 07.00 PM from 14 February to 02 March 2025 Venue: Manzi Exhibition Space, 2 Ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hà Nội Free Entrance *** Please note: We can only accommodate a maximum of 6 audiences each slot Expanding upon their critically acclaimed music-theater work of the same name — premiered at the Hanoi Opera House and subsequently presented in Rotterdam and Vienna — this installation reimagines their theatrical work within a new medium and spatial framework allowing a shift in the relationship between spectators and performer. Despite the average 8-second attention span today, each video consists of a continuous shot, with the performer maintaining her posture for the entire 8-minute duration. The artwork invites the viewer to pause and to step out of the fast-paced, fragmented rhythm of contemporary life and to engage with the larger temporal structures of human existence. At the heart of the installation is a solitary figure, whose age and subtle movements embody her humanity. Her voice, the sole audible element in the space, resonates with the essence of each life chapter, inviting viewers to contemplate the emotional and existential themes at play. The deliberate silence between each sound event creates a long arch of time, similar to that found in nature, such as the time between bird’s song or between dawn and sunset. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

A visual discussion Not All Dreams - September 26, 2016 September 9, 2016 Not All Dreams is a response to two exhibitions planned for August and September being cancelled for different reasons. Such seeming setbacks raise internal questions for manzi about the what, why and how of what we do, which can serve as points of departure for our programming. Not All Dreams is a visualisation of an ongoing conversation we have been having amongst ourselves and with collaborators about the different building blocks that comprise manzi and exploring what would happen if one or another is removed. INTO THIN AIR was the first such enquiry. Not All Dreams continues this internal evaluation made public. The former took the form of an exhibition in various public spaces, which originated from its curators asking “What can be done if there was no physical space to display art in?” The later takes as its focal point the perceived necessity of the realisation of every idea and explores this by way of a ‘visual discussion’, open to the public, and a focused internal conversation among curators and people who own and run art spaces. Both the public and internal aspects of Not All Dreams are invitations to ponder whether the dreams that ‘could’ be realised within the realm of manzi, are as potent as the ones that actually are. And it is an appeal to conceive of a dream without being weighed down by the constraints of having to realise it. Discussion starts: 7PM Friday 09 Sept Discussion pauses: Mon 26 Sept *The discussion is part of manzi’s art programme supported by CDEF of the Danish Embassy ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)

Lê Quý Tông a new series of paintings by visual artist Lê Quý Tông 'Neo-Romanticism' - April 22, 2023 March 24, 2023 Lê Quý Tông 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? The first bar to jump over probably is the starting point of all Tông’s paintings - the photographic documentation . These images sourced from historical archives and mass media are easily accessible by an online image search engine. Rather than to intentionally select an image that would anchor his own composition and navigate the viewer’s perception, Lê Quý Tông randomly singles out a photo that he found intriguing as an input element; its original context is of very little significance. It varied from a reliable evidence of a momentous event influenced the course of history to a fragment of manipulative media & information / a dishonest journalistic recording of a person or a conflict (in the past or in the present). The visual source can also be recognizable imagery of popular culture (such as Marvel Comics an Disney characters) or may be borrowed from some religious illustrative motifs and even some propaganda posters. Taken out of their original context, these visual elements once have been appropriated, reassembled together into something beyond space and time which ultimately can erase all boundaries and opposite sides of the initial narratives - no longer exists the enemy, invader & comrade, patriot; justice of war & injustice in war, righteousness & moral weight are all nonsense in the disturbed situation of ‘Neo-Romanticism’. ARTWORKS GALLERY _______________ Besides playing with the massive visual archives by deconstruction & collage, this new body of works by Lê Quý Tông confronts us with a series of new ‘KEYWORDS’ (that can be stated clearly in the form of letters, written texts or presented by figures, drawings) which are LOVE , HEART , ROMANTIC(ISM) , DREAMER , ACROBAT , YOUTH ,… These keywords, together with the overlapping lines, patterns and the bouncing colorful layers on the surface of canvas / paper, construct a particular aesthetic symbolism of the whole series. Then what we see is not ultimately the subjects to be interpreted. Instead, this system of symbols acts as an intermediary that stimulates our imagination and evokes our feelings, thus, thoughts and interpretations can be liberated from political, moral and cultural discourses. Departing from a very specific, prejudiced starting point (available photographic material), through a labor-intensive process of working on layers after layers in which the patience was constantly pushed to the end, the results presented in ‘Neo-Romanticism' are disordered and somewhat abstract reflections, yet in one way or another approaching closer to the essence of the original images / archived reality? Can we see more clearly now when the sight is disturbed, as Roland Barthes suggested in his final book ‘Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography’: “Ultimately — or at the limit — in order to see a photograph well, it is best to look away or close your eyes. 'The necessary condition for an image is sight,'Janouch told Kafka; and Kafka smiled and replied: 'We photograph things in order to drive them out of our minds. My stories are a way of shutting my eyes.” From this perspective, the art practice by Lê Quý Tông offers us a way “to shut our eyes” , and therefore, enable us to resist the dominance and manipulation of the visual information in our chaotic modern age. This also proposes a liberation for Tông himself, in a role of an artist, as a creator of new and an interpreter of the past; he can finally free himself out of the conundrum to justify and represent the questioned-by-him reality, time, history, and memories,.... as in the series ‘True Blue’. With ‘Neo-Romanticism’ the artist has put on a pair of spiritual wings, youthful, audacious; he now embraces both life (past and present) and human beings as a tangle of reality and illusion, passion and brutality, authenticity and violence. Such a bold move, though resulting in a new demanding task imposed on the artist: he must maintain the balance constantly, try not to fall into either side: prophetic pessimism on one hand or tremendous optimism on the other. The situation now is comparable to Lê Quý Tông’s own painting in which we see an acrobat, a dreamer who strives to keep on dreaming while knowing that he is dreaming. OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s)