Performance An Interview with Little Peanut and the multimedia storytelling workshop
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06–07 May 2023
RELATED:
An exercise in feeling negative space
– cùng Tắm Đêm
On Saturday, 7 December, at EMASI Nam Long, we hosted a program led by Tắm Đêm and Le Thanh Thao. Inspired by Linh San’s ceramic works, participants had a chance to together feel and fill in the negative space – inside and out – through a series of activities: mindful prompts, collaborative writing, and clay-pressed secrets.
Throughout the event, creative poems with rich narratives were written in response to the works of artist Linh San, especially the nights currently on display at the exhibition In absence, presence of EMASI Nam Long.
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Notes from Tắm Đêm:
Are these blank papers made from ceramic actually… blank? What was on these pages, what is hiding in between the folds, tucking their shoulders into the corners, now fossilized, forever unspoken? And yet… its silence seems, somehow, so loud.
Linh San’s main practice was the written word before she looked for other materials into which to transfer her poetics. If Linh San attempted to find poetry in non-verbal forms, in this negative space she leaves us with, together, we will attempt to vocalize the unspoken and hopefully, discover what the silence is saying.
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In absence, presence is not merely a one-dimensional experience, but rather a vibrant network between actors and actants* that are interlinked and constantly interacting. In this network, materials serve as both the main and supporting actors. Positioning art as a connector rather than the sole focus, the public programs revolving around In absence, presence uses physical materials to respond to cultural and social issues beyond the white cube. Let your eyes be deceived, your sense of touch misled by illusory textures, to break down any preconceptions and embark on a journey of self-interpretation and continuous meaning-making.
This event is part of a series of public and education programs initiated by Nhi Duong in co-curation with Bill Nguyen, in association with In absence, presence, an exhibition organized by Nguyen Art Foundation.
*Bruno Latour, in Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory (Oxford, 2005)