Exhibition on Vietnamese and Cambodian Contemporary Art Practices

Strategies from Within

Arthub supports mobility that creates new space for artistic experiences. The following exhibition curated by Biljana Ciric and presented by Ke Center for the Contemporary Arts in Shanghai in September provides a good occasion to explore the possibilities in this direction. Arthub contributed to this exhibition by supporting the travel of some of the participating artists from within Asia.

Exhibition Opening: 8:00 pm, Sunday September 7th, 2008
Performance: Enokiberry Tree in Wonderland by Tiffany Chung at 8:30 pm
Venue: Kai Xuan Road 613-B, Shanghai

Included Projects: Documentary Seasons of Migration by John Bishop, choreographed by Sophiline Cheam Shapiro and film S21-Killing Machine by Rithy Panh.


Exhibition: September 7th through the 24th, 2008
The exhibition is free and open to the public.

For more information see here.

For me there can be no art revolution that is separate from a science revolution, a political
revolution, and education revolution, a drug revolution, a sex revolution or a personal revolution… I
 will not call myself an art worker but an art dreamer and I will participate only in a total revolution
 simultaneously personal and public.

— From Lee Lozano’s 1969 statement for open hearings, coalition art worker Lozano declares the necessity of a personal revolution as a main point of departure for change.

This essay, and Lozano’s radical statements, intersects with the aims of the exhibition Strategies 
from Within as it attempts to present the different practices of its participants as art dreamers, much more than workers. The concept of Art Dreamers offers a more radical viewpoint of art 
making that is not necessarily reliant on the commercial world economy, which today seems almost
 impossible. Art Dreamers are those who work towards a revolution of the self, whose practices and 
strategies engage utopian ideals towards total revolution.

Strategies from Within shares this vision of the importance of personal revolutions and change. The exhibition is the result of research conducted in Saigon, Phnom Penh and Hanoi. The undertaken research attempts to allow for a wider reflection of the contemporary culture in both Vietnam and Cambodia through the presented bodies of work.

This exhibition strategically presents artists from different generations in order to show the shifts in the range of issues that they encounter and deal with, and the presentation methods of their works. 
This project also involves a variety of themes that the different individuals present as crucial to their practice, revealing a broader perception of the societies in which they inhabit through their artworks.
 The foundational curatorial concept of the exhibition is to present key figures in their local contexts; to present many established, up and coming artists in the most complete way possible, representing their overall artistic oeuvre; and to present works of art that will provide the audience better insight into the issues that the artists themselves try to raise.

Despite the use of the group exhibition framework, the exhibition attempts to emphasize the individual presence of each artist in the strongest way possible, presenting works from different periods, thereby combining the presentation of different bodies of work within the larger exhibition to create a model that is somewhere in-between the solo exhibition and group exhibition format. At the same time, the exhibition tries to push the possibilities of the artists towards more active participation within group exhibitions in general.

Vietnam and Cambodia are currently in a process of building their own intellectual critical discourses, which today remains underground, alluding to the issues of both nations’ political and economic development. The work that has been done by certain individuals and a small number of institutions in recent years spans a spectrum much broader than the visual arts. This work has provided and built new cultural and educational platforms for discussion that fill the voids left behind by many turbulent years of war and upheaval. Simultaneously, these young intellectuals and artists are building a critical discourse and practice while also trying to rebuild the cultural milieu of their own societies. The exhibition also contains a few smaller projects within its framework.

A reading room project was inspired by the artists’ practice of establishing libraries and reading rooms in their homes, and in the galleries of Saigon, as a result of the lack of art related publications available. For the exhibition we asked artists to borrow books that they think are of great significance to the local scene to be introduced throughout the course of the exhibition.

The Alternative Archive publication will also collect texts and articles about the local scene, including critical discourses and other writings, to act as a guide for a better overview of the issues and strategies employed by the professionals working in the field of contemporary art practices.

Participating Artists Include: Hoang Duong Cam, Richard Streitmatter-Tran, Tiffany Chung, Sopheap Pich, Vandy Rattana, Chan Dany, Leang Seckon, Dinh Q. Le, Truong Tan, Tran Luong, Nguyen Manh Hung, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Tuan Andrew Nguyen in collaboration with Wowy, Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba and Phe Sophon

Curated by Biljana Ciric

Presented by Ke Center for the Contemporary Arts