The Silk Painting by Nguyễn Văn Trinh

05 – 14 Jan 2024
The Muse Artspace, 47 Tràng Tiền, Hà Nội

The name Nguyễn Văn Trinh is no longer unfamiliar, especially to art enthusiasts who frequent The Muse Artspace exhibitions.

Nguyễn Văn Trinh’s 2017 “Biosphere” series marked a turning point in the artist’s career. Numerous journalists and news outlets sought interviews and wrote articles about the series as the artist’s creativity shone in both concept and material (silk combined with Giang paper). This creativity stemmed from Trinh’s 10 years of devotion to silk painting, both before and after graduating from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts.

In this series, we can observe Trinh’s mastery of silk deep-dyeing techniques for a dreamy, poetic effect, with spontaneous foamlike areas. In his recent works like “Lady in Velvet” “Spring of the Dragon” and “Orange Season,” Trinh combines deep dyeing and embossed painting techniques, developing a more striking manifestation on the silk surface. This series is a testament to the artist’s unique vision and a sight to behold by the masses.

A Haze of Dream Blinked Away

08 pm, Sat 13 Jan 2023
Manzi Art Space, Số 14 Phan Huy Ích, Ba Đình, Hà Nội

As a result of the 3-day-workshop that the Siedl/Cao group conducted with 20 representatives of the Green Wind choir, the performance will introduce new compositions that the Siedl/Cao composed specifically for their new collaborators, site-specific staging for the unique space – an old French villa of Manzi Art Space.

This latest experimentation by the Green Wind choir and duo Siedl/Cao explores the diverse performance possibilities of a collective, as well as of distinctive individuals, promising an unpredictable venture to the furthest edge of the realm of “contemporary music”.

Siedl/Cao: with Cao Thanh Lan from Vietnam and Gregor Siedl from Austria, is a Vienna-based artist group who work in the field of sound art, transdisciplinary art, media art and contemporary music. Siedl/Cao is one of 5 groups from Austria that received the award New Austrian Sound of Music 2018-2020 in the category Contemporary Music.

With their recent works, they research into the relationship and balance between visual and audio elements, nature and artificiality, human and machine, intentionality versus un-intentionality and explore how contextualization changes our perception of things. Sound, human body movements, artificial intelligence, light, space, shadow are amongst their media to convey in a poetic and playful way their reflections on art and humanity.

Works of Siedl/Cao have been featured at numerous art institutions, festivals and cultural venues. They have been touring in Europe, Japan, Brazil, Iran, China, Taiwan, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Finland, Vietnam, Australia and Indonesia.

Green Wind Choir: was founded in September 2019 from the dream of conductor Nguyen Hai Yen: bringing choir to everyone, using choir music to connect people together, together creating a community. The community has a rich spiritual life, bringing good values to society, the living environment and each choir member. Currently, the Gio Xanh choir has nearly 200 members, from 6 to 86 years old, regardless of gender, profession, religion… sharing the same passion for singing and love for choral art.

Talk & Concert: Hommage à Maria Callas

08 pm, Sat 13 Jan 2024
Middle Cafe, 55 Ma May Street, Hoan Kiem District
Registration link
From the organizer:

A mini-concert featuring highlights from some of Maria Callas’ successful roles. The event includes the participation of talented young artists and a very special guest – Artist Hà Phạm Thăng Long.

Exhibition “The Return”

Opening: 05 pm, Mon 08 Jan 2024
Exhibition: 08 – 28 Jan 2023
Artists talk: 10 am – 12 pm, Sun 14 Dec 2023
Manzi Exhibition Space, 2 Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hà Nội

“The Return” is the latest art project of Le Brothers, following their previous art project that begins by “The Bridge” (2010), a series of on-site performances from the Hien Luong Bridge, which divided Vietnam into the two regions of the North and the South, to the North-South Korean border near Panmunjom, and the Berlin Wall that divided Germany for nearly half a century. “Separation and Reunion” became one of the major topics of the twin artists for more than a decade when arts became a channel to reveal the individual history, memories, and the past with many layers and unknown meanderings.

During the two residency months of March-April 2023 in Germany, Le Brothers met and talked with many people in the Vietnamese expatriate community living in cities such as Halle, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, and Leipzig. They come from various historical periods and backgrounds: international students and labor exchange workers in the 70s and 80s, immigrant workers after Doi Moi (Renovation period, 1990s), second-generation young people born and raised in Germany, and other Vietnamese students studying abroad in recent years.

This visual exhibition is a multimedia installation built by hundreds of photo documents selected from more than 1,500 images, and a video of the twin artists in conversation with Vietnamese people in Germany. The photos printed in different dimensions and hung on large-scale nets in the gallery create a multi-layered visual installation.

The pictures are both separated and overlapped on each other like layers of memory that time can hardly erase as a colorful collage panorama of the diaspora. The single conversation, image, and video record is a metaphor for leaving and returning in many twists and turns, feelings, desires, and ambiguities about the future where memories and reality blur into one.

Triển lãm 42 : 3 | GÓI – MỞ

Opening: 05 pm, Fri 12 Jan 2023
Exhibition: 09 am – 06 pm, 12 – 26 Jan 2024
Atena Gallery, 96 Trần Quốc Toản, Hà Nội

Exhibition 42 : 3 | GÓI – MỞ is the third annual exhibition of 42Painting Studio. This year the exhibition will be held near the Lunar New Year with the desire to preserve the image of people as the main theme. We, as organizers, aspire to bring some of the personal stories and thoughts regarding homesickness, family values, and personal worries to the exhibition 42:3 | GÓI – MỞ this time.

The exhibition includes 14 artists who are members of 42Painting Studio and guests:
Artist Duong Manh Quyet
Artist Le Anh Dung
Artist Cao Van Thuc
Artist Nguyen Hoang Dung
Artist Dao Thao Phuong
Artist Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan
Artist Tran Ngoc Minh
Artist Dao Anh Viet
Artist Tran Tram
Artist Pham Duy Ly
Artist Nguyen Duy Anh
Artist Nguyen Duy Dat
Artist Vang Hai Hung
Artist Nguyen Van Tuan

Mystical Topography

Until Jan 28, 2024, 09 am – 08 pm,
Annam Gallery, 371/4 Hai Ba Trung Street, D3, HCMC

Le Ba Dang (1921-2015) stands as one of the renowned modern Vietnamese artists who gained recognition in Europe in the latter half of the 20th century through a cross-disciplinary visual language system imbued with distinct individuality. Although he lived and practised far from his homeland, his works flourish from the Vietnamese roots, immersed with the Vietnamese identity, ,culture, and history. His practice is built upon meticulous and scientifically rigorous research, creating unique approaches and techniques in handmade paper production, including lithography, serigraphy combined with gilding technique termed “Lebadanggraphie,” and collage and superimposition – mixing sculpture and bas-relief, to create elevated spatial compositions coined as “Spacegraphie.” The latter technique inspired the curatorial concept of this exhibition.

”Fields of Optics | Chapter I: Biocenosis”

Until Feb 21, 2024
Le Lycée Gallery, Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa, No. 2 Le Lai, Ward 5, Da Lat City

After the excursion for 3 young artists to the natural sceneries of traditional French architecture in Da Lat “Art Trail #01 – Travelling & Open Studio”, Lân Tinh Foundation, along with Annam Gallery and Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa, proudly introduces a new group show titled “Fields of Optics | Chapter I: Biocenosis” showcasing 35 works from 3 artists Phan Thị Thanh Nhã, Phạm Xeen and Hà My. All 3 artists are under the curatorial patronization from Lân Tinh Foundation, and are being represented by Annam Gallery.

“Biocenosis” is the first chapter from the series Fields of Optics, a project initiated by Lân Tinh Foundation. Field of optics is the entire area that can be seen when the eyes are focused on a single fixed point. Each individual possesses a particular visual field and colour spectrum, and what each person sees is characteristic and unique, even when they are observing the same object. It is this attribute that diversified in each artist’s creations.

Exhibition “To each their own sky”

Until Jan 28, 2024, 09 am – 08 pm, Tues – Sun
Mo Art Space, Floor B3, 136 Hang Trong Street, Hoan Kiem District.

A solo exhibition by artist Nguyen Hoa.

Trained in Sculpture, Nguyen Hoa embraced painting as an additional medium for expressing his artistic spirit—a medium that serves as both a reflection upon and resistance to time. Each of his compositions, meticulously crafted and deliberately scarce, forms part of a series of reflections, sometimes comprising no more than three pieces.Throughout the series, ancient architectural details act as a frame—a metaphor laden with poignancy and conflict, unraveling scenes, rituals, routines, and rules not only of history and heritage but also of the very fabric of existence that any artist residing and working in the ancient capital of Hue inevitably carries along.”

”At the Roots, the Mirage is Clear”

10 am – 07 pm, Tues – Sun 10 Dec 2023 – 04 Feb 2024
Gate Gate Gallery, 55 Văn Miếu, Đống Đa, Hà Nội

Wandering through a forest or amidst a sprawling landscape, we see how nature is crafting space for symbiosis. The term “roots” assumes diverse forms: the arboreal roots of trees, the origins of problems, the tendrils of hair, or the underpinnings of one’s being. Each manifestation gestures towards a depth, submerged and concealed, typically eluding immediate perception. Yet, paradoxically, these concealed facets serve as the genesis, the unfurling, the descent, and the culmination of all things. So why do we call them roots? How can our roots be discerned, discovered, or sensed? Where are we when we realised we are at the roots?

Gate Gate proudly represents “At the roots, the mirage is clear | Dưới gốc, mờ ảo hiện” – A thoughtful dialogue between artists Nguyen TraMi and Vũ Trung as they embark their journey to find their nature and origins. While the works of Trà Mi Nguyễn and Vũ Đức Trung hold distinct and distinguished positions, they also somehow engage in dialogues between the traditions of their respective crafts. These dialogues offer viewers an alternative context, encouraging them to observe and perceive not only as folk art but also to extend their reflections to contemporary society. In this dynamic exchange, art becomes a bridge that connects past and present, inviting us to contemplate the evolving culture and society. Deeper still, they connect us as we contemplate the roots, for it is in returning to the roots that the mirage becomes apparent.

Exhibition curated by Nam Nguyen.

Outdoor display of antique artifacts 

Until the end of 2024, Pleiku City, Gia Lai Province

An outdoor exhibition entitled “Tay Nguyen – Gia Lai Paradise” displaying antique artifacts of local ethnic people.

Highlights of the exhibition are a white elephant bone chair dating back 700 years and a collection of elephant hunting tools dating back more than 100 years of the M'Nong ethnic group.

On display are thousands of antique artifacts of collector Dang Minh Tam, including musical instruments, hunting and weaving tools, ceremonial objects, jewelry items and other items in the life of ethnic groups in the five Central Highlands provinces.