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

lacquer Nguyễn Tuấn Cường biography Born in 1978 in Hanoi and graduated from Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts in 2001, Nguyễn Tuấn Cường is known as one of the most respected contemporary lacquer painters in Vietnam today who thoroughly practice on this traditional medium. His poetic still- life lacquer paintings tell viewers a subtle relation between the object and its surrounding space; yet depict an obscure reflection of time flows. Cường currently works as a lecturer at the Art & Craft College of Vietnam where he plays a very important role in the development of the college’s Lacquer training programme. Nguyễn Tuấn Cường has participated in a wide range of exhibitions in Vietnam and overseas ie France, UK, Taiwan, China, Switzerland. He now lives and works in Hà Đông, Hà Nội works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Remnants of sunset NGUYỄN TUẤN CƯỜNG 2024 45 x 40 cm lacquer Enquire works Slipped-away Season *a little darkness in the ‘ripe’ autumn NGUYỄN TUẤN CƯỜNG 2021 90 x 60 cm lacquer Enquire works Light & Dark NGUYỄN TUẤN CƯỜNG 2024 60 x 60 cm lacquer Enquire works ... a tiny glimmer sparks, in the centre of all - encompassing grey NGUYỄN TUẤN CƯỜNG 2021 90 x 60 cm lacquer 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

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 Tuấn Cường

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

sketch Nguyễn Ngọc Linh biography After years following the career of a tatoo artist in Hanoi, in 2015, Nguyen Ngoc Linh decided to go abroad and studied at the Fine Art Dept, Strasbourg University, France. He has participated in several exhibitions in 3 years studying there. His works on watercolour focus on human anatomy reflecting his concerns of identification of living things. Linh now works as a lecturer at the MonsterLab - one of the leading graphic design training centre in Vietnam. works This artist currently has no available work at Manzi works Lying nude NGUYỄN NGỌC LINH 2023 45,5 x 37 cm (incl.frame) pencil on paper Enquire works Are you scared now? NGUYỄN NGỌC LINH 2022 18 x 13 cm gel inkpen 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

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Maian open studio by Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai Faint Traces - September 28, 2025 September 6, 2025 Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai Faint Traces —an open studio by talented Hue-based artist Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai features Mai's most recent body of work as a further chapter in her decade-long research into the stateless Vietnamese communities residing in Cambodia. ➖ Opening Party: 6.30 pm, Saturday, September 6, 2025 ➖ Venue: Manzi Exhibition Space, ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hà Nội ➖ Opening hours: 11.00 – 19.00 (Tuesday – Sunday) * Free admission *Please note: the open studio is not suitable for audiences under 14 years old. First introduced in July 2025 at the Hiroshima House Art Gallery Project (Phnom Penh), Faint Traces comprises ongoing works across multiple media—video, photography, installation, and drawing. The project mobilizes heterogeneous source materials: colonial and postcolonial maps, cartographies, archival documents, and expert consultations, as well as the artist’s self-assembled repository of field notes, oral testimonies, site photographs & recordings and found objects within the community. Through these materials, the open studio revisits the marginal, often erased histories of Vietnamese diaspora communities in Cambodia. The intergenerational trajectories of these communities are inextricably entangled with Cambodia’s histories of colonial domination, armed conflict, and forced displacement, as well as the collective trauma of genocidal violence under the Khmer Rouge regime. Persistently, the community remains structurally relegated to the position of the outsider, if not actively erased, within dominant historical narratives. Building on her earlier projects concerning identity and belonging based on the specific case of the stateless paracitizens accepted neither by Vietnam nor Cambodia, with Faint Traces, Thanh Mai ‘makes its way back into their collective memories and oral histories, piecing together a blurred and expansive portrait of migration and displacement, one filled with myth and etched with traces of violence.’ (excerpt from the artist statement). While retracing tributaries back to their source, Thanh Mai resists the impulse to resolve origins, to weave a seamless continuum of meaning. Instead, she allows the materials to appear in their very fractures, obscurities, and dispersions, interweaving experimentations and imaginative interventions. The result is an archive that, while partial and fragmentary, remains mutable: shifting from one iteration of display to another, reassembling provisional points of contact where past events, present emotions, and the rhythms of the exhibition space resonate together. Yet, might such an endeavor remain no more than an effort to stitch together shards and fragments, flickering recollections, and unrealized dreams? Precariousness and estrangement are inescapable conditions, as all agents involved—the community itself, the artist, the researcher, and the spectator—inhabit the position of the outsider. Within this framework, Mai’s own stated aim “to keep these stories from dissolving into water” raises a critical question: what forms of resonance might persist? Perhaps precisely when the faint traces are seen, though they endure only as residue of what has already evaporated—irreversible, irretrievable—the void/blank space around them comes into being and becomes perceptible. And through that act of re-narration and re-imagining (painful as it is, often futile as it seems), the traces still bear witness to a life once lived. Was it not Dostoevsky, through his dreamer in White Nights, who confronted us with the question, "How can you ever live if you have no history/no stories to tell?" As for that remaining blank space—though obscure—it may, once recognized, still harbor the possibility that one day dreams might take root, and futures yet unformed might sprout and anchor themselves. ARTWORKS GALLERY _______________________________ "When my mother dreams of home, she dreams only of the house in Hải Phòng where she lived as a child. Though she spent the rest of her life in many other homes, not once did she dream of them. The subconscious is hazy, yet potent." I borrowed the words of a friend to give shape to my own questions and reflections on place and belonging – the very themes that sparked my interest in migration and its intergenerational reverberations, eventually guiding me back through history to the starting point of this research project. If Day by Day was an exploration and inquiry into identity and the often-overlooked experiences of the ethnic Vietnamese communities living on the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, then Faint Traces makes its way back into their collective memories and oral histories, piecing together a blurred and expansive portrait of migration and displacement, one filled with myth and etched with traces of violence. >>> CHECK OUT DETAILS OF WORKS IN THE CATALOGUE HERE OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai

Nguyễn Phi Phi Oanha series of new works by Phi Phi Oanh Arca Noa - February 5, 2023 December 24, 2022 Nguyễn Phi Phi Oanh Coming back to manzi after six years (since her solo exhibition ‘Scry ’ in December 2016), Phi Phi Oanh displays new results of her ongoing exploration in expanding the abilities and unfolding possibilities of the Vietnamese lacquer medium. ‘Arca Noa ’, features a series of 10 small and medium sized paintings from different series and two Lacquerscopes. "‘Arca Noa’ attempts to hold still and record, in lacquer form, our relationship to the earth and our will towards the domestication and objectification of nature around us. The works are conceived as vestiges of this epoch currently hanging in delicate balance and as iconography of its human centered gaze." The works here also explore a type of realism in lacquer based on repeated direct observation over many days and layers then sanding away like erosion - a journey simply reflects the passage of time, as well as fossilizes and preserves all the mental & visceral states of the artist along with the outer conditions of space. This whole process of continuous accumulation and subtraction, for Phi Phi Oanh, “leads to an image of the observed that seems to exist at different moments and times. While not tonally realistic like a photograph, this lacquer realism is more involved with the slippery ever changing experience of sight and of memory which I consider to be son ta’s major potential contribution to the field of painting. The paintings in ‘Arca Noa’ explore new representational models of son ta lacquer painting in both the physical (though experimentations on different materials and substrates) and in the symbolic (through what can be interpreted and a broadening of its theory). For Phi Phi Oanh, sơn ta lacquer is not an inert image - making medium rather it assembles a wide range of relationships in locality, culture, environment and nature. Objecthood versus dematerialization, domestication and possession, the physical embodiment of memory built to last, the correlations between the micro and the macro, between cherishing one’s own personal memories and questioning the position and scale of the human being, are some themes that run through Arca Noa. ARTWORKS GALLERY OPENING NIGHT See more about artist(s) Nguyễn Phi Phi Oanh

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