Linh Phuong Nguyen CV

LINH PHUONG NGUYEN
Born at Nha San studio – the first non-profit studio
experimental art in Vietnam, and perhaps the most prominent
space in Hanoi based in her father’s home, Linh Phuong Nguyen
been absorbed in an artistic environment by living among
working with many of the respected contemporary artists of
Vietnamese art scene. She has demonstrated a deep understanding
involvement in the art community both as an artist and an
organizer.
for
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and
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Linh Phuong Nguyen’s works are sensual, poetic, fragmented, humble
and exalted. Her work contemplates upon the visible/invisible
truth, form and time and conveys pervasive sense of dislocation.
They concern stories that had been forgotten or things that are so
insignificant that they never reach our subconscious.
LINH PHUONG NGUYEN
Lives and works in Hanoi,
Vietnam.
Linh Phuong Nguyen has participated in various exhibitions and art
projects in Vietnam, countries in Asia, Europe, Middle East as well
as US. In 2009, she had her solo exhibition Salt at Galerie Quỳnh.
In 2011, Linh participated in 11th Winds of Artist in Residence at
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum with a solo exhibition Dust. In 2012 she
presented project Home in the exhibition Hinterlands at the Luggage
Store Gallery in San Francisco, USA. In 2013, she participated in
the large exhibition HIWAR, 25th anniversary of Darat Al Funnun in
Amman, Jordan...
Since 2010, Linh organized and curated programs at Nha San. She
found and organized IN:ACT, the annual international performance
art festival in Hanoi. In 2012, she organized Skylines With Flying
People, one of the most ambitious contemporary art events in
Vietnam in the last decade with local and international artists and
curators from Vietnam, Japan, Germany, US, Serbia, Shanghai, Korea…
at Japan Foundation, Nha San Studio, Goethe Institute, Manzi Art
Space and many public sites in Hanoi. In 2013, Linh co-found Nha
San COLLECTIVE, a group of young experimental artists and found new
art spaces for Nha San Studio in a ruined pharmacy factory and in
the center of the city.
Since 2010, Linh Nguyen has assisted artist Danh Vo in several
large scale exhibitions and projects, including his solo exhibition
at Kunsthaus Bregenz in 2012 and the large project for the Venice
Biennale in 2013…
Artist statement:
I care about the beauty of the trace of
transformation, the track of wanderlust and the
ephemeral, fiction and reality, what was lost and
what remains. I often use historical found object/
space to transform and investigate the complex
relationship between personal memories, national
geopolitical history and the contemporary life; and
to construct an alternative perspective in viewing
the history and the present in many layers.
SANCTIFIED CLOUDS 2013
“Sanctified clouds” is a sense of ridicule and
conflict that I experienced when collecting images of
the bombings and smoke during the many wars: from the
Great Wars to the Vietnam War, smoke and fire found
in terrorist acts as well as in continuous armed
conflicts throughout the Middle East, in Ukraine and
most recently in the IS-fighting battle in Iraq...
Modern Vietnamese history witnessed almost 6 decades
of continual fighting (1930 – 1980), which has left
both the peoples and their minds deeply wounded.
Smoke and flame bursting on Thich Quang Duc’s body
(self-inflamated Buddist monk)…Bombings on the
historic Long Bien bridge in Hanoi during the 60s and
70s…Gunfire blasting in the Old town of Quang Tri in
1972…
The bombing smoke and haze resemble the clouds. It
brings out a sense of glorious power, despite being
the symbol of destructive weapondry. From afar, the
smoke has an irresistible charm just like the
beautiful fireworks, but it is also dangerous as it
is the representation of power: a deadly power.
More than 500 images of bomb explosions were
collected from google source. I cropped off the
violence scene. Only the smoke and cloud remain.
Sanctified Clouds is now in the process of printing
on Vietnamese porcelain.
HOME 2012
includes a series of different works:
1/ BOAT
2/ CANDIES FOR THU HA
3/ DUST
10
BOAT
My father has the job of fixing
Vietnamese traditional wooden
houses, such as temple, pagoda,
church...
He shipped me iron wood from
the floor of a Catholic church
and windows from a Mental
hospital in the North Vietnam
to Oakland. The wood was
transported same way that
American
Government sent the
first container of weapon,
medicine, food... to Vietnam in
1967.
I bent a boat.
CANDIES FOR THU HA
These lemon candies are very simply made by
mixing sugar and lemon juice. They are very
common in Vietnam. The candies are dedicated
to my friend Thu Ha
DUST PROJECT 2011 - 2012
includes a series of different works:
1/ Dust
2/ Dustscape
3/ Rubber - Soap - Tobacco
Dust collection in glass vials
DUST
I collected dust from various places and objects such as: Long Bien bridge, the
first steel bridge in Ha Noi that was built by the French in 1887, a bomb shelter
in an old house in Japan, the border between North and South Korea, Oakland port
(USA) that shipped the first container of weapon to Vietnam, etc... This dust
journey is a way to learn history, geographic and to contemplate what has lost,
what remained. I want to visualize and archive memories and values.
All objects and spaces where the dust was from were documented and printed by blue
print in Japan. Before photocopy machine was invented, Blueprint used to be a
common method of printing, using ammoniac.
But it is banned in America and countries in Europe for strong and toxic chemical.
I bought the chemical kit online and learn to do blue printing.
Grandfather Tateishi sat on this
chair at this position to see his
house burning down by his own eyes
as he could not save it from the
bomb raid of American in 1941.
Bridges I have crossed at the border
of the North and South Korea
Doksan, the last train
station at the border of
North and South Korea
Dustscape made of 2 tons of stone dust from
the mountain after an explosion to get stone
for construction
Rubber - Soap - Tobacco
(50 x 50 cm)
Yellow Star Rubber factory and
Hanoi Soap factory were
established in Hanoi in 1960.
Thang Long Tobaco was
established in 1957.
tobaco
The appearance of these 3
light industrial factories
marked a big step of economy
development in Vietnam during
the war.
During the economic subside,
the 3 products of the
factories were very common to
every Vietnamese family.
soap
The 3 factories are in the
same street Nguyen Trai,
Hanoi. Crossing by these
factories, people can smell a
very strong and typical of
them at the same time.
rubber
SALT 2009
Vietnam has the ocean laying along the
country that makes the salt job very
popular.
Vietnamese salt is not clean, beautiful
and fine but coarse, big, dirty and wet
crystals. No industrial machine
involved, producing salt is all
handmade and mostly depended on the
weather.
Most of the salt workers are women and
children while men go sailing or work
in factories...
Salt exhibition was made after a
research trip at 5 salt villages in
Vietnam.
SALT includes
work:
1/ BOAT
2/ MOUNTAINS
3/ MELTING
4/ FLOWERS
a
series
of
different
BOAT
1x3x1m, unrefined salt, solidly
constructed from 2 tons of salt
MOUNTAINS
1 ton of unrefined salt
MELTING
unrefined salt, clay,
soil, glass tray,
water, plastic globe,
fishing wire
FLOWERS
700 articles of used clothes from
the salt workers
CURATION AT
NHA SAN STUDIO -> SKYLINES WITH FLYING PEOPLE -> NHA SAN COLLECTIVE
in a socio-political environment where experimental art can be
a risky endeavor , Taking the shape of a private home, in the
last fifteen years, Nhà Sàn Studio has proved to be a nearperfect place to host underground alternative art exhibitions
and events, In 2010 I organized programs at Nha San.
Nha San was forced to close down unofficially due to a
performance that contained nudity. Since then I have I have
curated many mobile and guerrilla projects in order to learn
and experiment ways to realize a ideal art space possible in
the local scene, not a physical one, but a form for freedom
expression and creation.
(http://nhasanstudio.org
http://nhasan.org)
LINH NGA ICE TEA
In August 2010, I opened a
small ice tea shop at Lenin
park, where the youth
practices hip hop,
skateboard, while the elder
practices classical dance and
tai chi.
This shop quickly became a
new meeting point of artists
and we became friends with
many youths who later joined
our volunteer team at Nha
San.
The shop was run for 3
months.
SKYLINES WITH FLYING
temporary art space 2012
PEOPLE
-
Since its unofficial closing in
2010, Nhà Sàn Studio has
temporarily put all of its artistic
activities on hold due to strict
censorships. However, regardless of
such restrictive political
environment, the Nhà Sàn artists
have never stopped adapting to ongoing changes and finding other
ways to continue working; whilst
carrying on supporting each other
and developing public art
audiences.
Skylines With Flying People – a
mobile interdisciplinary art space
and working studio - was born as
the answer to the problem. Over the
span of five weeks in December
2012, and with the participation of
artists and curators from Vietnam,
Japan, Korea, Germany, America,
China and Serbia, the project took
place at the Japan Foundation and
was the first of its kind in Hanoi.
The project consisted of three
multimedia exhibitions; a pop-up
gallery; an interactive kitchen;
studios for new media, performance
art and sewing; daily studio visits
opened to the public; and a series
of creative and educational
discussions and workshops on
temporary working space and
alternative ways of art-making and
exhibiting.
www.swfp.org
Family Kitchen
Sewing Factory
MAC Hanoi
Japan Foundation was
renovated to SWFP art space
includes 7 studios Sewing
Factory, Family Kitchen, MAC
HANOI, Media Lab, Gymnastic
field, ESCAPE mobile gallery,
Mini Theater, 2 exhibition
halls in the show room and
the
library,
and
an
information center.
SWFP
occupied
Japan
Foundation for more than 2
months.
Media Lab
Exhibition hall | Stage
Mini Theater
Gymnastic Filed
ENTRANCE
Escape - Mobile Gallery
Library/exhibition venue
Information Center
ARTISTS CREATE IN OPEN STUDIOS
SYMPOSIUM, WORKSHOP, TALK
EXHIBITION
NHA SAN COLLECTIVE
In June 2013, together with my colleague
friend Tuan Mami we found Nha San
Collective, including 10 young artists
working at different mediums: video,
installation, sound, performance… We
formed a new space for the local
experimental and contemporary art scene
at an abandoned pharmaceutical factory in
Hai Ba Trung district for 6 months.
Nha San Collective hosts monthly open
studio days and artist talks; educational
workshops and discussions; showcases
artworks and other creative designed
products; archiving... An residency
program for both local and international
artists is also in the process of being
formed…
After the space was closed down by the
city government Nha San Collective found
another new space in the center of Ha
Noi. I realized the physical space can be
changed but the power of the artists who
work beyond pressure are the one thing we
need to treasure and develop.
White room:
exhibition venue
- working studio
Black room:
exhibition venue working studio
Art shop with
creative designs
Thank you!