Bill Nguyễn is an artist-curator committed to nurturing alternative, locally-driven methods and platforms for curation and art education in Vietnam. He is Director of the Nguyen Art Foundation (HCMC) and co-founder of Manzi Art Space,Hanoi. His select curatorial works include: ‘Realigning the Cosmos’ (2020–ongoing), ‘We’re in this, together’—a ‘Pollination’ project (2018), ‘Spirit of Friendship’ (2017) and ‘0395A.ĐC’ (2017).
Linh Le (b.1993) is a curator, researcher and writer from Vietnam.
Listen to the podcast below or on Soundcloud.
For more information on the artists, events and studios mentioned in this podcast, please refer to the links below.
The Nguyen Art Foundation: https://nguyenartfoundation.com/
“Flying Up” / “Bay lên”, a performance by artist Lại Diệu Hà. Link: https://vietnamnet.vn/en/terrifying-performance-by-vietnamese-artist-E4939.html
In:Act : https://inactevent2010.wordpress.com/
Nhà Sàn studio: https://nhasan.org/introduces [The same collective that Bill mentioned at 28:30]
38.00 — Bùi Quang Viễn’s case: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/culture/artist-forced-to-destroy-paintings-for-unlicensed-exhibition-4500695.html
41:00 – artists work that is not shown and posting of “Excuse Me” posts. → Trương Tân: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/truong-tan
This audio production was produced as part of a project researching arts and culture in Southeast Asia, organised by ArtsEquator.com. The project is funded by the Swedish Arts Council. For more content produced under this pilot project, go here.
Bill Nguyễn
Bill Nguyễn is an artist-curator committed to nurturing alternative, locally-driven methods and platforms for curation and art education in Vietnam. He is Director of the Nguyen Art Foundation (HCMC) and co-founder of Manzi Art Space (Hanoi). His select curatorial works include: 'Realigning the Cosmos' (2020–ongoing), 'We're in this, together'—a 'Pollination' project (2018), 'Spirit of Friendship' (2017) and '0395A.ĐC' (2017).
Linh Le
Linh Lê is an independent curator, writer and researcher from Saigon, Vietnam. Her work investigates the changing landscapes and ecologies of Saigon and other parts of Vietnam under the pressure of modernisation and urbanisation, while at the same time exploring and filling in the gaps in contemporary art historical discourses in Vietnam, particularly in experimental art forms such as performance art and video art. Since July 2024, she has been working on Đo Đạc, a site-responsive curatorial project that attempts to survey the impact of forced resettlement in Thủ Thiêm peninsula, Sài Gòn. She is currently a Curatorial Board member of Á Space (Hà Nội), and a research fellow of ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asia Artistic Freedom RADAR project.