» An exercise in time, remembrance, and touch

An exercise in time, remembrance, and touch
– with Nguyen Thuy Hang and Bill Nguyen

At In absence, presence, Nguyen Thuy Hang introduces two bodies of work: The Warriors (2011–2015) and Dew Drips, Smog Seeps (2019). Though created during different time periods, the works begin with the artist’s obsessions with (up)rootedness, the Motherland, forgetting, letting go, and transcendence. Fictional, magical, and absurd, Nguyen Thuy Hang’s artworks – whether in text or visual form – follow one another in a long chain of connections and developments, relying on one another to flourish.

The human–animal hybrids are stuck between thresholds, straddling different realms. Lights flicker and the weight of night; butterflies and the ghost of old souls; the brilliant red of blood and transparent bodies, cleaned of memories. From literature and painting to sculpture and installation, these forms and sentiments appear repeatedly in Thuy Hang’s works, forcing us to question:

What are they really trying to tell us?

An exercise in time, remembrance, and touch invites you to delve into Thuy Hang’s process of creating her magical realist characters, and, stepping out of her imagination, their life as independent and individual entities. Thuy Hang, alongside curator Bill Nguyen, illuminates her system of signs – seemingly simple yet profound signals woven into her visual art and literature – through explorations of her nuanced conceptual approach, the exhibition design, and the ethereal interplay of light embedded within this installation. Thuy Hang also showcases her sketches and experimentations, archival materials, and her alchemical process of material manipulation and artistic creation.

–

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)