UuDam Tran Nguyen
UuDam Tran Nguyen (b. 1977, Vietnam) was born in Kon Tum to a family of artists. Although he had lived in the US for almost two decades, during which he was trained as a figurative sculptor at UCLA and the School of Visual Art in New York, Vietnam remains a central theme in his works. Using a range of media from video, sound and text installations to guerilla interventions, UuDam engages broad social concerns in his large-scale works. Often posing philosophical questions in a humorous manner, UuDam’s works have addressed environmental degradation in Vietnam, as well as speculated on the geopolitical landscapes of the world many years into the past and future.
UuDam has organized solo exhibitions domestically and internationally, including In God We Trust, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Lim Hak Tai Gallery, Singapore, 2023; Serpents’ Tails, Galerie Quynh, HCMC, Vietnam, 2019; UuDam Tran Nguyen: TIME BOOMERANG California Edition—From S.E.A. Sea Atolls to the Next Dead Stars, Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, USA, 2019; Dream a Future Dream, Goethe-Institut Hanoi, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2017. He has also participated in group exhibitions, notably Illuminated Curiosities, Nguyen Art Foundation, HCMC, Vietnam, 2022; Phantasmapolis, ASIAN Art Biennale 2021, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan, 2021; Opaque Signs, San Art, HCMC, Vietnam, 2019; Pro-regress: Art in an Age of Historical Ambivalence, Shanghai Biennale, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, 2018; Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video, The Jewish Museum, New York, USA, 2016; If the World Changed, Singapore Biennale, Singapore, 2013.
He won the Jury Selection Prize of the prestigious Japan Media Art Festival in 2015. UuDam is also a cofounder of the collective XEM artist book in HCMC.
Studio Visit with UuDam Tran Nguyen
In this interview, UuDam Tran Nguyen discusses his journey of growing up in an artistic environment, studying abroad, and later returning to Vietnam to work. With a bold spirit and a constant urge to challenge himself, UuDam engages in experimentation with a wide range of materials, from robotic technology and smart devices to found objects and everyday phenomena like motorbikes, discarded plastic bags, and even exhaust gasses. Additionally, UuDam highlights the “eureka” moments in his practice that have enabled him to discover connections across various realms – between art and technology, historical issues and contemporary environmental concerns – in the hope of transcending boundaries to foster peaceful dialogues.
This video is part of a series of interviews by Nguyễn Art Foundation.