ink/watercolor Nguyễn Thị Xuân Mai biography Born in 1998, graduated from Ho Chi Minh University of Fine Arts (Silk painting major), Nguyen Thi Xuan Mai is one of outstanding young talent among Southern emerging artists. While Xuan Mai's silk paintings are technically proficient and painstakingly executed, with a rich traditional Asian poetry style, her watercolor sketches have a free and fresh spirit, with innocent and whimsical touch of Western comics, and modern anime art. Teenage characters appear frequently in Xuan Mai's paintings, whether in urban dull settings or abstract backgrounds and surreal scenes. These characters appear to be stuck, disconnected in loneliness, feeling lost, insecure - all of which are unavoidable youth crises in an era of rapidly changing technology. With brilliant, lively hues that contrast with the dismal mood and features reminiscent of the stifling metropolis, Xuan Mai's paintings breathe life into all the nuances: beauty and struggle, trust and disillusionment, joy and disappointment. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Outside NGUYỄN THỊ XUÂN MAI 2023 29.7 x 42 cm watercolor on paper Enquire works Sketch 2 NGUYỄN THỊ XUÂN MAI 2024 42 x 29.7 cm watercolor on paper Enquire works Little Things NGUYỄN THỊ XUÂN MAI 2024 21 x 29.7 cm watercolor on paper Enquire works Sketch 4 NGUYỄN THỊ XUÂN MAI 2024 42 x 29.7 cm watercolor on paper Enquire works Straw NGUYỄN THỊ XUÂN MAI 2024 21 x 29.7 cm watercolor on paper 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

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

A group show by students majored in Silk, Painting Faculty of the Vietnam Fine Arts University The subtle moves - May 16, 2021 April 30, 2021 Curated by artist Nguyễn Thế Sơn Manzi Exhibition Space, No.2 Ngõ Hàng Bún alley, Ba Đinh, Hanoi 30 Apr - 16 May (10AM - 7 PM, Tuesday to Sunday) Free Entrance Featuring nearly 30 silk works, which are all composition assignments of art students in their final year of Bachelor’s studies, ‘The Subtle Moves’ introduces to the public the promising representatives of a new artist generation as well as offers the artists themselves essential motivation at their significant turning point. “Silk is inherently fragile and sometimes fairly elusive, thus, hardly becomes the first choice of many Fine Arts students. And even in case of someone who got attracted by this delicate material in the beginning of their art training, this path of practice is eventually not their pursuit after graduation. 'The Subtle Moves' is an effort to showcase latest works by students majored in Silk, Painting Faculty of the Vietnam Fine Arts University. As the teacher and instructor, who had a chance to observe and accompany students in a process of striving to improve/make certain ‘moves’ through each composition module, I understand that every attempt, no matter how trivial the ‘move’ was, had been a real struggle. And for me, such kind of struggle is very valuable, the moves resulting from this process, including both the enhancement of technique/skill and the shifts in thinking and reflection, not only are crucial for personal growth of every creative individual but also should be fundamental philosophy of the training system. These ‘moves’ need to be acknowledged and encouraged so that rather than being limited to the surface only in technical terms of characteristics, features or personal style, this ephemeral medium could go further to provoke thoughts and self-reflections in the audience. ” - Nguyễn Thế Sơn, curator of the show. The exhibition is part of manzi’s art programme supported by the Goethe Institute ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) Nguyễn Cẩm Nhung Nguyễn Thế Sơn

print Jamie Maxtone-Graham biography A photographer, cinematographer and director living in Hanoi, Vietnam since 2007, Jamie’s background includes more than 20 years as a Director of Photography in both New York and Los Angeles. His numerous personal portfolios of photographs and moving image works produced during his time in Vietnam locate across several genres – social documentary, conceptual, portraiture and still life. His work has exhibited in galleries and photography festivals in Europe and Asia, been published in several critically reviewed academic journals and is in a number of private collections. He has conducted long-term workshops in both film and photography at Hanoi DocLab and is a committed supporter of the art community in Vietnam as practitioner and mentor. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Untitled Still Life No.10 JAMIE MAXTONE-GRAHAM 2013 60 x 40 cm Photo rag on Hahnemühle metallic paper Enquire works Untitled Still Life No.15 JAMIE MAXTONE-GRAHAM 2013 60 x 40 cm Photo rag on Hahnemühle metallic paper 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 Quang Huy biography Born in 1971 in Ha Tay, Huy completed his studies at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 1996. He is considered one of the pioneers of Vietnamese experimental and contemporary art. Well-known for his blue, large-scale portraits of women and video installations which are dedicated to the life of the working-class, Huy recently took a more abstract path. The images in his paintings now seem to oscillate between shattered dreams while appearing intriguing and magnificent at the same time. Huy has had solo exhibitions in Vietnam, Germany, France, and Singapore, and participated in numerous international group exhibitions in Japan, the US, Finland, Thailand, China, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. His works are included in the permanent collection of the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; the World Bank Art Program, and the Post Vidai Collection of Contemporary Vietnamese Art. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Mountainous region #2 NGUYỄN QUANG HUY 2016 oil on canvas Enquire works Mountainous region #1 NGUYỄN QUANG HUY 2016 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

dzo painting Bùi Tiến Tuấn biography Born in 1971 in Quang Nam province, graduated from Ho Chi Minh University of Fine Arts in 1998, Bui Tien Tuan has made a name for himself as one of the best silk painters of Vietnamese contemporary art. Mainly using ink and watercolor on silk or dzo paper and focused on woman portraits, but rather than to conform with standards and patterns of these traditional media and the classic topic, Tuan's works are uniquely striking as powerful, dynamic, yet sophisticated. Depicted in an imaginary world, the characters in his painting are free and self - assertive, disentangled themselves from all banalities of everyday life. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Nocturnal nymphs BÙI TIẾN TUẤN 2022 60 x 80 cm acrylic on dzo paper Enquire works Her BÙI TIẾN TUẤN 2023 125 x 62 cm acrylic on silk Enquire works Thousand cranes BÙI TIẾN TUẤN 2023 60 x 90 cm acrylic on silk Enquire works Three Dancers BÙI TIẾN TUẤN 2012 83 x 135 cm Ink, acrylic on silk Enquire works Muse no.1 BÙI TIẾN TUẤN 2023 60x 40 cm acrylic on dzo paper Enquire works Lazy lady - Snoozy cat BÙI TIẾN TUẤN 2023 60 x 90 cm silk painting Enquire works Polka-dot Girl BÙI TIẾN TUẤN 2023 60x 40 cm acrylic on dzo paper 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

Maritta NurmiA solo exhibition by MARITTA NURMI 01.11 - 30.11. 2013 ANIMA - November 30, 2013 November 1, 2013 Maritta Nurmi 'Anima' presenting the new works by Maritta Nurmi, is a exhibition in celebration of the 40 year anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between Finland and Vietnam. This new series of works by Finnish artist Maritta Nurmi, Hanoi resident for over 20 years, continually explore the metaphysical and the unknown. The artist continues this challenge with her intellectual probing into the concrete meaning and essence of form and spirit. Depicting animals has long been the domain of artists since the first recorded Paleolithic cave paintings in France and Spain which recent findings have discovered were largely created by women. The artist’s current works use the animal form in many guises. In this new body of work, Nurmi seems to be questioning the necessity of man to create form, to suggest a bond between human and nature, and the implications of such a need or desire. The artist muses, “Many contemporary artists have chosen to use animals in their work as the ultimate “other”, as metaphor, as reflection.” As she ponders this Nurmi questions whether this need to depict animals is an attempt to understand what it means to be animal or is it an expression of our increasing alienation to nature, a loss of this primal connection? Nurmi was trained as a biologist so this exploration and fascination with the animal world is not a new realm. Her works are at once physical, and yet they seem to yearn to be free from constraint. She questions this apparent human need to have form, boundaries, is it a fear of the limitlessness of eternity, a fear of death, a fear of the unknown? Anima is will, consciousness, thought, breath, life, spirit. The question remains with the viewer, a provocation to examine what remains beyond matter, beyond form. *This event is the collaboration of manzi art space with Art Vietnam Gallery, supported by the Embassy of Finland. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) Maritta Nurmi

‘47 Days, Sound-less' depicts the narrative about a man who was stranded in a forest with no recollection or clues about his past and is taken in by a village of indigenous people. Adopting such an open fictional structure, Trinh Thi’s installation weaves together sound, moving images and texts from various sources, creating a space with more intuitive cues conducive to multi-sensory experiences beyond just seeing and watching. VUI LÒNG CHỌN NGÔN NGỮ Tiếng Việt CHOOSE THE LANGUAGE English

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

Trần Trọng VũText installation by TRẦN TRỌNG VŨ 19.03 - 23.03.2014 I will come to see you with a visual story - March 23, 2014 March 19, 2014 Trần Trọng Vũ Images and languages are used as tools for human expression. They both are often being put together and sometime act as integral part of each other in order to bring multi-meanings & answers for an object. Read the images and see the words, write a picture and draw and essay – we can call these the jobs of both art-makers and art-enjoyers. Read the images with words might be a fascinating way to break away from the images. Search for images in words can also be a nice suggestion to go beyond the words. ‘I will come to see you with a visual story’ will show to the audience the first part of Trần Trọng Vũ’s new art project, in which language and visual aspect are results of a series of extraordinary facts. This visit will also introduce other artworks of the project under the possible forms of litrature and visual art. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) Trần Trọng Vũ

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

AP Nguyễnan installation by AP Nguyễn Lovecore - November 25, 2021 October 29, 2021 AP Nguyễn Lovecore An installation by AP Nguyễn, the participating artist of Manzi’s 2020 Artist Residency Program Curated by Bill Nguyễn … “Look at this trove Treasures untold How many wonders can one cavern hold? Looking around here you'd think Sure, she's got everything” And so it goes, one of The Little Mermaid's most memorable moments, where we see Princess Ariel swirl around in her secret grotto, excitedly singing about the mundane objects she has collected during her exploration of shipwrecks and caves under the sea - objects that perhaps have been discarded, lost or forgotten by those living above the surface of water. In the exhibition ‘Lovecore’ by artist AP Nguyễn, a similar sense of sweetness and strangeness, of wonder and puzzlement, emerges. For here, the artist also welcomes us into her personal treasure trove which has been accumulated over the years, and openly displays - for our viewing pleasure - the objects of her own desires and dreams, in all their brilliance, vulnerability, and honesty. Hòn non bộ. Áo dài. Hạ Long Bay. Picture frame. Bikini bottoms. Karaoke. ‘Việt Nam Quê Hương Tôi’. Appearing in this exhibition are but a few objects, phrases and images (or rather, subjects of enquiry), selected from AP’s ongoing project which started in 2017 when the artist left Vietnam to study and live abroad. Embracing her position as someone twin-cultured, having always been fascinated by both the kitsch and camp (*), and to all things “quintessentially Vietnamese” (**), AP makes art that takes inspiration from, brings together, and at times, sits uncomfortably between personal memories and public imagination. Borrowing from popular cultural phenomenon, utilizing the aesthetic of mass-produced souvenirs, as well as their well-known and over-exhausted iconography, AP playfully subverts the conventions and expectation of such objects and images - by altering their properties and functions, or by weaving in her autobiographical reflections and experiences. Thus, her work teases with what we think we know. ============================================= (*) Traditionally, kitsch is associated with Western culture, especially with the post-industrial revolution when society started to grow affluent and more people had more time for entertainment and recreation. As “cheap imitations, humble religious art objects, vulgar souvenirs, and kinky antiques”, kitsch is mass-produced, faking up and combining stylistic conventions of vastly different periods, countries and cultures. Often used as mere ostentatious decoration, kitsch is popularized and adored by many because of its accessibility, affordability and what scholar/critic Matei Călinescu referred to as “instant beauty” – pleasing to the eyes and easy to understand. Often hard to distinguish from kitsch, camp “cultivates bad taste... as a form of superior refinement,” and is at times consciously used by artists to “subvert the conventions of a “good taste” that eventually leads to sclerosis of academicism.” For a detailed study of kitsch and camp, refer to Matei Călinescu’s book ‘Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism’ (1977). Indiana: Indiana University Press, USA. (**) Taken from AP Nguyễn’s artist statement, November 2020. Here, the phrase “things quintessentially Vietnamese” refers to the ideas, images and locations that have come to symbolize an imagination of what constitutes ‘Vietnam’. They themselves have been turned into mass-produced souvenirs one collects as they go on holiday (i.e. keychain, fridge magnet, picture frame, postcard etc.), or interior decors one displays in their home. ARTWORKS GALLERY The title of the show refers to an Internet aesthetic (born out of TikTok, Instagram and Tumblr) that celebrates love and nostalgia, often incorporating the colors pink, red and white, and heart-shaped pattern, and is “based on the visual culture of manufactured romance and affection.” More info: https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Lovecore On the opposite of the spectrum is Hatecore (also known as Violencecore), an aesthetic that involves hatred, anger, heartbreak, violent imagery, and the feeling of rejection. ________________________________________________________________________ Crisscrossing the space, a group of small rock-like sculptures stand. Their translucent ceramic skin is coated in various shades of off white, brownish yellow, smoky blue, and pale purple, provoking a sense of frailty, sickness and decay. Inspired by the sites that have become symbols for Vietnamese tourism such as Hạ Long Bay or Ninh Bình, and by the long-standing local art form of hòn non bộ , this series of sculptures acts as portals through which we can look into AP’s private world. Originating millenniums ago, hòn non bộ is a miniature mountain and pond structure, a material representation of the locals’ imagination of the universe and their respect towards the power of the elements. Traditionally displayed in temples and pagodas, hòn non bộ can now easily be produced, purchased and used as decoration in one’s home. On the surface of AP’s sculptures, however, in place of details usually seen on a conventional hòn non bộ (such as live plants and ceramic models of pagodas, humans and animals) now grow palm trees, starfish, flip-flops and bikinis - alluring visuals often associated with the illusion of ‘tropical holiday’ escapism. Next to them, the phrase ‘Việt Nam Quê Hương Tôi’ (‘Vietnam My Country’) appears as fragmented, separated, singular words. No longer standing together, no longer whole, which ‘Vietnam’ is AP referring to? Which one(s) is she claiming to be hers? The one existing in mythology and beliefs; or the one turned into a touristic commodity - packaged, sold and bought, to service others’ fantasy of a heaven on earth? Tucked away, inside some of AP’s ceramic sculptures, we see videos of the artist herself in different situations, playing different characters. In one instance, she is dressed in a traditional áo dài, wearing heavy make-up, floating on top of an oversaturated still image of a landscape with lush greenery and majestic waters. In an awkward, detached, but nonetheless playful manner, AP lip-syncs to the song ‘Cát Bụi Tình Xa’ (roughly translated ‘The Dust of a Love Long Gone’), written by the much-celebrated, late composer Trịnh Công Sơn, originally sung by the Việt kiều singer Khánh Hà. The somewhat amateurish lip-syncing and dancing of the character who AP embodies is intriguing - is she camera-shy, or intentionally doing it out-of-sync? As the video continues, we see her body language starting to change, as she gently flips her hair and flirts with the voyeuristic lenses of the camera, as if claiming her control. At certain points, AP breaks out of both the song and character, deliberately moving her lips out of sync with the tune and leading her gaze elsewhere off frame, and eventually casually gets back to performing. It is as if the music, people and moments of the past have been discarded, erased of their context, forgotten, and become a tune one can conveniently select, play and turn off.. Or, is it that the weight of history is so significant and dense, that one has to - from time to time - ignore its existence? Like it is often said, ‘Ignorance is bliss.’ Elsewhere in the space, another sculpture made of several ceramic parts hangs on the wall, depicting what looks like a pair of underwear or bikini bottom, broken into pieces and tied to a chain. No longer putting on makeup or costumes, in this work AP deliberately takes off her façade, confronting us with the most intimate item of clothing, usually seen by loved ones or oneself. The act of revealing something so close to the skin of the female body and female identity becomes twisted, for across the shiny surface of the ceramic, the word ‘Privilege’ faintly appears. What privilege? The privilege to own and touch one’s body? The privilege to share and change one’s identity? Who has this privilege? Can this privilege be earned, or taken? Here, the artist also points at a different kind of privilege - her own - which has provided her with a better education, given her the opportunity to travel and see the world, and essentially the freedom to choose how to live her life. Ironically, to have this freedom there might be a price to pay, as the symbol of the chain suggests. For is it not true that ‘You win some, you lose some’? Just like in the much darker ending of the original, far more tragic fairy tale, The Little Mermaid has to sacrifice her voice and ultimately her life, only then to be denied by the prince of her dream. She is thus stuck on Earth with a curse: to do good deeds for mankind for 300 years, in the hope that one day she will rise up to Heaven and become immortal. One may wonder, ‘What price is AP willing to pay?’ ... Taking on the character of a tourist traveling her own country as if for the first time, AP skips and scans her everyday surroundings and reality, making a personal journey through the different sites, cultures and stories that Vietnam has to offer. At first glance it seems that the artist, in a child-like manner, randomly picks out whatever references (whether visual or historical) that feed her imagination, freely turning them upside down and inside out, innocently meshing them together to make her art. Underneath it all, however, with consideration and intention, AP bravely embraces both the possibilities and the problematics of her subjects, and also herself. She does so with sincerity, an open heart, and most importantly, with a yearning to learn about the world around her, and to question her own position in that world. And so, her journey continues... OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) AP Nguyễn