VietNamNet Bridge – Artist Bui Cong Khanh has entered the final round of the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Signature Art Prize 2011, with 14 artists from 13 countries.

The Singapore Art Museum and APB Foundation have named 15 artists for the finale of the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize 2011, including Vietnam’s Bui Cong Khanh, 39.

Khanh enters the finale with the multimedia artwork “The Past Moved”. The work describes rapid urbanization in HCM City.

“The Past Moved is a multimedia artwork in which time, space and history are combined. The work depicts the space and time which is moving to the past. It implies different explanations of art and history,” said Dr. Huynh Boi Tran - Beattie, who nominated the work.
Besides Bui Cong Khanh, 14 artists who enter the final round come from 13 countries and territories in the Asia Pacific region, including: Cambodia, China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan.

The organizing board said that the 15 finalists show the breakthrough in idea and expression, which make viewers moved.

These works will be displayed at the Singapore Art Museum from November 11, 2011, to March 4, 2012. During this time, talks with curators and artists will be held to help the audience get a profound look of the works.

Previously, the artworks of five Vietnamese artists were nominated for the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize 2011, including Bui Cong Khanh, Ly Hoang Ly, Nguyen Minh Phuong, Le Thua Tien and Pham Huy Thong.

Launched by the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation, in collaboration with the Singapore Art Museum, the prize is open to all forms of art and artists in the Asia Pacific region. It seeks the most outstanding contemporary artworks produced in the Asia Pacific.
15 works going to the final round will be displayed at the Singapore Art Museum and the winner will receive US$37,000 in cash. The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on November 18.

First held in 2008, the prize this year gathers 130 works by 129 artists from 24 countries and territories in the Asia Pacific region.

The prize jury includes five experts, including Fumio Nanjo, director of Japan’s Mori Art Museum and Gregor Muir, Executive Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

This is the second time Vietnamese artists participating in the APBF Signature Art Prize. The first time was 2008.

V.Tien