silk Nguyễn Thị Hồng Khanh biography Born in 1996, graduated in 2019 from Ho Chi Minh University of Fine Arts (Silk painting major), Nguyen Thi Hong Khanh is one of outstanding young talent among Southern emerging artists. While Intensely lyrical in classical figurative style of Eastern silk painting, Hong Khanh’s artworks have an air of contemporary illustration, with a playful touch of manga & anime art influences. The characters in her paintings, mostly either young ladies or small children, are often placed into a vague fictional surroundings with a glimpse of the familiar boring urban landscapes. These human figures, though seemingly allien like the outsiders yet not lonely, are presented in the most pure configuration, as they are trying to interact with few remained elements of the nature world such as a small honeybee, beetles, a fragile butterfly, blooming flowers, and the sunlight, the dew… Skillful handling the silk material, exquisite taste of vivid color scheme, subtle feminine aesthetic senses, Hong Khanh has been building her own path of art practice, worth expecting in the future. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works S i l e n c e NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG KHANH 2023 65 x 100 cm watercolor on silk Enquire works Still NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG KHANH 2023 65 x 80 cm watercolor on silk Enquire related Catching Faces Faint Traces the sky, the sand, the lashing waves following the stone wall and we found an electric generator 6𝒗➡️¹/² The world as a draft The Fifth Cardinal Direction Spatium 47 Days, Sound-less in spaces of everyscape, at time without end </3 Hồi Sóng Birdsong on our pathway vol. 4 Entrusted Conjectures Hanoi 1985 - 2015, In The Years Of Forgetting Then and Now, Hanoi streets in transition 'Neo-Romanticism' More than Human #1 Arca Noa no-think The Four Subjects A saga of unrealised projects The dreamer: heterotopia, tabula rasa, noble silence (a part of ongoing project 0395A.ĐC) Through the looking glass what's going on at Manzi Tình See more October 5, 2025 Tình See more October 4, 2025 Bắt mặt | Catching Faces See more October 4, 2025 Tình See more October 3, 2025 Artist Talk vs Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai See more September 27, 2025 Art Tour | Những Vệt Mờ / Faint Traces See more September 10, 2025 Những Vệt Mờ | Faint Traces See more September 6, 2025 Between the Strings See more August 5, 2025 sóng vỗ cát trời | the sky, the sand, the lashing waves See more August 1, 2025 Nguyên (âm) đơn See more July 20, 2025

oil/acrylic Nguyễn Văn Phúc biography Born in 1978, graduated from Hanoi Fine Art University in 2003, Nguyen Van Phuc is among the top emerging Vietnam new generation of artists, who has set a very distinctive direction from the rest. He often paints different characters in a very unfamiliar background with a hint of humor. Using very vibrant colors and topics of everyday life, Phuc depicts his own world of psychological struggles with social changes and contexts of Vietnam in the new era. His 2 works was selected to exhibit in Salt of the Jungle of the Korea Foundation in 2018. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Balance NGUYỄN VĂN PHÚC 2009 - 2024 120 x 150 cm oil on canvas Enquire works The dream war under control of the reason NGUYỄN VĂN PHÚC 2011 146 x 116 cm oil on canvas Enquire works Courtship NGUYỄN VĂN PHÚC 2009 100 x 80 cm oil on canvas Enquire works Artist's Romance NGUYỄN VĂN PHÚC 2008 150 x 120 cm oil on canvas Enquire works Happiness NGUYỄN VĂN PHÚC 2007 80 x 100 cm oil on canvas Enquire works Artificial metaphysical structure NGUYỄN VĂN PHÚC 2015 120 x 150 cm oil on canvas Enquire works The Weak man NGUYỄN VĂN PHÚC 2009 120 x 150 cm oil on canvas Enquire works The Garden of Eden NGUYỄN VĂN PHÚC 2015 120 x 150 cm oil on canvas Enquire related Catching Faces Faint Traces the sky, the sand, the lashing waves following the stone wall and we found an electric generator 6𝒗➡️¹/² The world as a draft The Fifth Cardinal Direction Spatium 47 Days, Sound-less in spaces of everyscape, at time without end </3 Hồi Sóng Birdsong on our pathway vol. 4 Entrusted Conjectures Hanoi 1985 - 2015, In The Years Of Forgetting Then and Now, Hanoi streets in transition 'Neo-Romanticism' More than Human #1 Arca Noa no-think The Four Subjects A saga of unrealised projects The dreamer: heterotopia, tabula rasa, noble silence (a part of ongoing project 0395A.ĐC) Through the looking glass what's going on at Manzi Tình See more October 5, 2025 Tình See more October 4, 2025 Bắt mặt | Catching Faces See more October 4, 2025 Tình See more October 3, 2025 Artist Talk vs Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai See more September 27, 2025 Art Tour | Những Vệt Mờ / Faint Traces See more September 10, 2025 Những Vệt Mờ | Faint Traces See more September 6, 2025 Between the Strings See more August 5, 2025 sóng vỗ cát trời | the sky, the sand, the lashing waves See more August 1, 2025 Nguyên (âm) đơn See more July 20, 2025

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)

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

dzo painting Quách Huy Bắc biography Born in 1988 in Hanoi, graduated from Central Arts Education University (2010) and Vietnam Fine Arts University (2015), Quach Bac has established himself as one of emerging artists of Vietnam. Quach Bac draws on memory and new perspectives on familiar things, endeavours to capture with visual language what a poet expresses with words. By way of being emotionally expressive he seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the human condition and the world we inhabit, which to him is quite gloomy - marked by loneliness, monotony, poverty, emptiness and unrealistic values. Quach Bac says that through his work he is looking to find the most private and quite space in his mind and from there travel deeper yet, to a realm where he can no longer trust his own memory. He is appreciated both for his painting skills and th philosophical approach he has to his work. Bac has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, which include: ‘Fall into the Horizon’ – Manzi Art Space, Hanoi – 2019; ‘The Sky of Fame’ – Craig Thomas Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City – 2016; ‘Limited n’ Infinite’ – Heritage Space, Hanoi - 2016; ‘Bravo’ – Gia Tan Village, Quang Minh, Hanoi – 2015; ‘My Pleasure’ – Cuci Fine Art, Hanoi – 2014. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Make me blue QUÁCH HUY BẮC 2023 52 x 38 cm Gouache on dzo paper Enquire works The Monument of Smoke QUÁCH HUY BẮC 2018 50 x 40 cm oil on canvas Enquire works Tripping over the Vanishing Point QUÁCH HUY BẮC 2018 50 x 40 cm oil on canvas Enquire works A Search Full of Doubts QUÁCH HUY BẮC 2018 50 x 40 cm oil on canvas Enquire works The Fear in the empty room QUÁCH HUY BẮC 2019 50 x 40 cm oil on canvas Enquire works The Play QUÁCH HUY BẮC 2019 50 x 40 cm oil on canvas Enquire works In Another Planet QUÁCH HUY BẮC 2018 50 x 40 cm oil on canvas Enquire related Catching Faces Faint Traces the sky, the sand, the lashing waves following the stone wall and we found an electric generator 6𝒗➡️¹/² The world as a draft The Fifth Cardinal Direction Spatium 47 Days, Sound-less in spaces of everyscape, at time without end </3 Hồi Sóng Birdsong on our pathway vol. 4 Entrusted Conjectures Hanoi 1985 - 2015, In The Years Of Forgetting Then and Now, Hanoi streets in transition 'Neo-Romanticism' More than Human #1 Arca Noa no-think The Four Subjects A saga of unrealised projects The dreamer: heterotopia, tabula rasa, noble silence (a part of ongoing project 0395A.ĐC) Through the looking glass what's going on at Manzi Tình See more October 5, 2025 Tình See more October 4, 2025 Bắt mặt | Catching Faces See more October 4, 2025 Tình See more October 3, 2025 Artist Talk vs Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai See more September 27, 2025 Art Tour | Những Vệt Mờ / Faint Traces See more September 10, 2025 Những Vệt Mờ | Faint Traces See more September 6, 2025 Between the Strings See more August 5, 2025 sóng vỗ cát trời | the sky, the sand, the lashing waves See more August 1, 2025 Nguyên (âm) đơn See more July 20, 2025

sculpture Vương Thạo biography Vuong Van Thao is a native Hanoian, born in 1969 and graduated from Hanoi Fine Arts University in 1995. His ‘Body and Dream’ series, for which he achieved international recognition, was first exhibited at Salon Natasha in 2001. These paintings and sculptures are affectionately referred to as his ‘bums’ artworks and are still an important and ongoing part of Thao’s art practice. In 2006 Thao unveiled his first ‘Living Fossil’ sculpture series. He created a miniture model consisting of a house next to a power pole from each street in the Hanoi’s Old Quarter and cast each one in a cube of solid composite resin. In 2007 Thao was invited to exhibit this 68-piece work at the Singapore Art Museum as part of the Asia Pacific Art Awards, during which he was nominated as one of the 10 best artists in the region. The museum purchased the entire work for its permanent collection. Chasing the “Living Fossil” concept for the last 10 years, Thao has created beautiful pieces that represent the loss of traditional values and urge us to think more about the effects of globalization and urbanization. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Living Fossil 'Quan Chuong Gate' VƯƠNG THẠO 2021 33 x 33 x 21 cm mixed media & composite Enquire works Broken History VƯƠNG THẠO 2017 42 x 42 cm ceramic Enquire works Smouldering VƯƠNG THẠO 2019 D: 58 cm ; H: 3 cm woodburn Enquire related Catching Faces Faint Traces the sky, the sand, the lashing waves following the stone wall and we found an electric generator 6𝒗➡️¹/² The world as a draft The Fifth Cardinal Direction Spatium 47 Days, Sound-less in spaces of everyscape, at time without end </3 Hồi Sóng Birdsong on our pathway vol. 4 Entrusted Conjectures Hanoi 1985 - 2015, In The Years Of Forgetting Then and Now, Hanoi streets in transition 'Neo-Romanticism' More than Human #1 Arca Noa no-think The Four Subjects A saga of unrealised projects The dreamer: heterotopia, tabula rasa, noble silence (a part of ongoing project 0395A.ĐC) Through the looking glass what's going on at Manzi Tình See more October 5, 2025 Tình See more October 4, 2025 Bắt mặt | Catching Faces See more October 4, 2025 Tình See more October 3, 2025 Artist Talk vs Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai See more September 27, 2025 Art Tour | Những Vệt Mờ / Faint Traces See more September 10, 2025 Những Vệt Mờ | Faint Traces See more September 6, 2025 Between the Strings See more August 5, 2025 sóng vỗ cát trời | the sky, the sand, the lashing waves See more August 1, 2025 Nguyên (âm) đơn See more July 20, 2025

Trương Công TùngA collaborative installation by plants, insects, earth, water, ash, air... and Trương Công Tùng A state of absence... Words out there - January 30, 2022 December 17, 2021 Trương Công Tùng We are here, right in the presence of things being seen, being heard, being known, and right in your imagination... A state of absence... Words out there. This can be interpreted as transfiguration of a land, a river, a forest, as a change in the scenery, a portrait, and as a metamorphosis of an insect, an animal, or a community. The concept of ‘absence’ propounded here concatenates various states of ‘non-appearance’ of the natural world connecting with how it became non-present in the human mindset and the social behaviours of everyday life. This work is a collaboration between living beings, natural substances like: plants, insects, earth, water, the souls.. and the elements commonly labelled man-made, such as: engines, motors, the camera, electric lights.. Throughout this whole process, the human involvement is merely an intermediary role, serving as a link or a conveyor, that assists the probabilities of operation for both natural and artificial elements. By this installation, the artist, once again goes through that passage, just like many times before - the passage between life and death, between waking and dreaming, between sanity and madness, reality and illusion, between insect and human, between the earth and skin and flesh, between forest canopies and bare hills, between the lost lands and perished states, between nameless places and unknown destinations,...In a move to have a grasp of the subject matter, to create a depiction, to reiterate the words which could not be precisely heard, wholly sensed and fully comprehended just by passing only once; after all, there will be another chance for us to listen, to look into their words, tune in to their thoughts, their souls and their sadness. Words out there, a harmony between machine, nature and human beings, or rather a confession of the conversion and rebirth of beings which were not, are not, and would not become human at all. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) Trương Công Tùng

Nguyễn Trần Naman open studio by Nguyễn Trần Nam in spaces of everyscape, at time without end - August 18, 2024 July 19, 2024 Nguyễn Trần Nam IN SPACES OF EVERYSCAPE, AT TIME WITHOUT END An open studio by Nguyen Tran Nam Opening party: 06.00 PM, Friday night 19 July 2024 On display: from 11.00 AM to 07.00 PM 20 Jul - 18 Aug 2024 (Tue - Sun) Manzi Exhibition Space, no. 2 ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hanoi In this open studio, Nguyen Tran Nam, a Hanoi-based visual artist whose idiosyncratic oeuvre has been shaped by recurring themes of violence & power, death & immortality / incarnation, doubt & imagination, will extend his exploration into surrealism and speculative fiction. Titled ‘In spaces of everyscape, at time without end’, his fourth showcase at manzi and his first-ever body of painting using dzo paper as the main medium will present a catalogue of situations. Some of them are common and familiar in his art world, but the majority of other scenarios are quite new and uninvestigated. More than a reflection of his private memories and obsessions that haunted the artist himself, this series also depicts a shared curse put on his homeland and surrounding people, as indicated by the tactful allusions to some past sociopolitical episodes and the unrest of the current climate. That kind of subtlety and understatement in his paintings stimulates numerous possibilities for interpretation and fictionalization, with three innovative perspectives are suggested: First is the shift in context and space (resulting from material changes): By stepping out of the familiar domain of lacquer and oil paint, which has long been identified with the artist, and toward a new material surface that is fragile yet much more free to drift—dzo paper—the context within Nam’s paintings is devoid of any specified position and staging arrangement. With borders dissolved, 'the spaces of everyscape', therefore, collapsed into one and single co-presence, in which everything comes into being and anything is permitted. Such a universe allows for both violence and oppression; fancy is all soothed with dreams, and no doubt is left unresolved. Second is the set of signals coming from the characters in paintings: absurd yet consistent. The human-shaped individuals, the main protagonists of Nguyễn Trần Nam’s painting, continue to be presented without faces or any definitive identities. These mysterious characters are performing indecipherable actions, whether in an innocent, despairing posture or a sly, cunning masquerade.Their motivations and ambitions remain ambiguous. However, it is evident that no matter how minor or benign the behaviors begin, when reenacted by the protagonists, all activities become brutalized or ritualized, full of menace and divinity. Third is the presence of a new set of bizarre objects in the painting (a ladder, a dead tree, a fallen eye, dissected internal organs, a deer carcass, etc.). The co-existing structure of space, projected around this system of symbols, will undoubtedly bloom with numerous new signs, much like an illusion sprouting from the rotation of a kaleidoscope: They are holy relics or evidence denouncing sins, remnants from an execution site or a sacrifice altar, an imperative punishment or a deliberate voluntary offering ... Ten years after his first presentation at manzi ( solo exhibition Broken Chapters), ‘In spaces of everyscape, at time without end’ marked a change in concept, aesthetics, and creative energy of Nguyễn Trần Nam, promising a new chapter in his future practice. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) Nguyễn Trần Nam

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) Ly Hoàng Ly

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) Hà Đào

Nguyễn Huy An, Lại Thị Diệu Hà, Nguyễn Trần Nam, Nguyễn Văn Phúc, Nguyễn Trinh Thi & Nguyễn Văn Thủyan open studio simultaneously at two different spaces of manzi More than Human #1 - March 19, 2023 February 23, 2023 Nguyễn Huy An, Lại Thị Diệu Hà, Nguyễn Trần Nam, Nguyễn Văn Phúc, Nguyễn Trinh Thi & Nguyễn Văn Thủy A shoe A ladder A lightning strike Malevich Hydra The Sound Hòn non bộ (miniature landscape) A fleeting outline scribbled down, that outline of a Story not yet to be fully-formed just awaiting to be unveiled, but rather of the happenings to be encountered and recorded. Throughout over three weeks, six artists (working in different disciplines: visual arts, performance art, sound & moving images) will collaborate together in a series of “symbiotic experiments”, an open studio simultaneously at two different spaces of manzi: MORE THAN HUMAN #1: The Understories ► Participating artists: Nguyễn Huy An, Lại Thị Diệu Hà, Nguyễn Trần Nam, Nguyễn Văn Phúc, Nguyễn Trinh Thi & Nguyễn Văn Thủy ► Opening party: 6.30 PM Thursday, 23 February, 2023 ► Open studio: 11.00 AM - 07.00 PM (Wednesday - Sunday) until 19 March 2023 ► Venues: the front yard of manzi art space - 14 Phan Huy Ích, Ba Đình, Hà Nội & manzi exhibition space - no.2 ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hà Nội Provoked by an infinite conundrum about More-Than-Human World, ‘The Understories’ simulates a site-specific staging in which many elements/characters would be involved; they can appear suddenly or quietly withdraw, with unexpected movements and mise en scène: There is Light and Darkness Sound and Silence Natural beings and Man-made Objects Remembrance of things past Promise of things that just begin There are Handcrafts along Machines The Original and Imitation Materiality and Dematerialization Flesh and Spirit Divine and Earthly Then Decaying… Such complex and multivalent ‘entities’ are inextricably woven in the same ‘habitat’, this staging constructs a loose representation of an ECOSYSTEM. For three weeks’ duration, ‘The Understories’ will transform through four ‘Phases’ (or we can call them ‘Rhythms’ as in Biology / ‘Acts’ as in a Theatre / ‘Chapters’ as in a Story), each lasts for 4 - 5 days. As the time passed, the performance of each artist, their body of works would be gradually formed - adjusted/ sustained- dissipated as if regulated by a general principle that’s comparable to the ’interspecies collaboration / competition’ practice in the natural ecosystem. We will see, hear, and feel them - the 'beings' of 'The Understories' breathing, growing, staying alert to their surroundings, responding to stimuli: They do not only interact with each other (like with their neighboring species) but also react with internal factors of the exhibition space (their living conditions), as well as with the audience - external stimuli (or invaders of their environment); not to mention that they also respond to the flow of time. However, just as a draft script is still open to adaptations and improvisation, ‘The Understories’ has a huge potential for unusual twists and spontaneous turns because conflict is inherent in all forms of systematization, no matter if it's a natural or social structure. In such unavoidable collisions between the dynamic parts and the static whole, between the free will of individuals and the intrinsic limits of collective action, the Climax (of this whole staging) will emerge. Then what to be revealed in the aftermath of all those more-than-human experiences: ‘Everything has a Spirit’ (in theory of animalism) or ‘Everything is transient’ (in Buddhism and Taoism). At the end of all these rhythms, what’s to come: A state of rest in the perfect & eternal equilibrium? Or a point of extinction signaling an upcoming phase of post-apocalyptic rebirth? *During the course of the open studio, there will be a series of various events including film screenings, discussions and artist’s talks. 'More than human' #1 is organized by Hanoi Doclab and Manzi with the support of the Prince Claus Fund. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) Nguyễn Trinh Thi Nguyễn Văn Phúc Nguyễn Huy An

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