Southeast Asia Art Watch is a series of country-specific talks focused on both developed and emerging art scenes in the region.

Featuring:
Louise Malcolm, Curator/Writer
Tuân Mami, Artist/Co-founder of Á Space
Pham Phuong Cuc, Founder of CUC Gallery
Tuyen Nguyễn, Founder of Nguyễn Art Foundation
Moderated by Dinh Q. Lê, Artist

Operating in one of the few remaining communist regimes in the world, contemporary artists in Vietnam are increasingly participating in the wider global exchange of ideas, experimentation and social commentary. Panelists will discuss the flourishing art scenes in Vietnam that have blossomed in cities like Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi and Hue more than three decades after the economic reforms under the Đôi Mói policy.

About the speakers:

Louise Malcolm is an experienced researcher, writer and curator. She specialises in both European and Southeast Asian art that is materially innovative and conceptually rigorous. From 2014-18 she was employed by the University of Zurich where she conducted research into the intersectionalities between art, ecology and science. In 2018 she collaborated with Asia Society Switzerland to organise an exhibition and talk about contemporary Vietnamese art at Hauser & Wirth in Zurich. That year, she also organised two exhibitions in collaboration with Asian Art in London. She has lectured widely both on art and ecology and on contemporary Southeast Asian art at institutions internationally, including the University of Zurich, the University of Linz and the University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Tuấn Mami is an interdisciplinary artist. In his practice, He is known for his daring and increasingly meditative experimentations with installation, video, performance and conceptual art. Mami has held a number of solo exhibitions, including exhibitions held at Teratotera, Tokyo, 2018; Factory Art Space, Ho Chi Minh City, 2018; Heritage Art Space, Hanoi, 2017; “In a Breath-Nothing Stands Still”, Art Rotterdam, 2016; “24 Hours Tension”, PØST, Los Angeles, 2013; “What’s mom waiting for?”, Hooyong Performaing Arts Center; South Korea, 2011; and “22398 steps- 35 hours- 45 square meters- 35 Chinese’s Ink liters”, Organhaus Art Space, China, 2010. Alongside his practice, Mami is also the co-founder of MAC-Hanoi, a Mobile Art Center, Nha San Collective Art Space and Á Space.

Pham Phuong Cuc is the director of CUC Gallery, one of the very few art entities in Vietnam that consistently collaborate with renowned artists, curators, museums and other art institutions, in and outside Vietnam, for each of its exhibitions and events. In 2017, Pham first organized the exhibition of Vietnam in Venice for five distinguished Vietnamese artists including Nguyen Trung, Do Hoang Tuong, Tulip Duong, Nguyen Son and Ly Tran Quynh Giang; and in 2014, she has started working on the MAM Art Projects, the flagship collaboration project between Vietnamese Women’s Museum and Menifique Art Museum to bring contemporary art closer to the Vietnamese general public and to promote its development in Hanoi and Vietnam.

Tuyen Nguyễn is the Chairman of the Board and Co-founder of Renaissance International School, Saigon. He has significant and diverse industry experience in both Vietnam and in the international market. He was previously the Chairman, CEO and Founder of Saigon Gas Holdings Corporation which was established in 1998 and at the time, was one of the largest gas distribution companies in Vietnam. In 2008, Tuyen made a successful exit with a M&A transaction with Total Oil and Gas; Tuyen has more recently been involved in the establishment of a group of high quality, bilingual international schools that operate under the EMASI brand name.

Internationally acclaimed artist Dinh Q. Lê’s important works document the unheard stories of survivors who endured the first helicopter war, utilising the artistic process as a tool for examining and unearthing history. He has exhibited all over the world, including the Houston Center for Photography and the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies; the Speed Art Museum, Kentucky. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and The Bronx Museum, New York, amongst others.