SAN ART presents ‘To Ho Chi Minh City with Love: A Social Sculpture’ by Phong Bui, open at San Art from Friday, 20 May. The exhibition will run through July 23.
Like artist Joseph Beuys before me, I’m as equally invested in his idea of “social sculpture,” which is similarly motivated by the utopian belief in the potential of art to transform society. Thereby upon the invitation of San Art I thought of nothing else but my dreaming of a social organism as a work of art that could perhaps manifest as a token of my homage to the community of creative individuals in my very first trip to Vietnam since 1980’. Phong Bui
Working with a range of local artists, Phong Bui (artist, writer and independent curator) will transform the gallery space of San Art into a new spatial experience. Paintings, photographs, drawings, video, poetry, music by local artists and much more will be featured, though perhaps not displayed in the typical conventional way you may expect. Painting ordinarily hung on the wall may be found leaning on the floor, while photographs usually framed and placed at eye level may be placed up high so you have to stand to view on tip-toe. Other work may be hung one on top of the other in a new kind of sculpture. These are all deliberate gestures by Phong Bui who is interested in the social interactions between art and audience and how they encounter an art experience. Titled ‘To Ho Chi Minh City with Love: A Social Sculpture’, this exhibition celebrates the talent of this city and its artistic friends, while also marking Phong Bui’s first visit to Vietnam in over 30 years. Please visit www.san-art.org for list of local participating artists.
Phong Bui is an artist, writer, publisher and independent curator. Phong's artistic practice plays with ideas of space, both physical and textual, often challenging how we choose to interact with principles of perspective. As a visual artist, his numerous installations have won the Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Eric Isenbeurger Annual Prize for Installation from the National Academy Museum. His work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the USA, China, Greece and Italy. Between 2007-2009 he was curatorial advisor at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center/Museum of Modern Art, New York. He is also co-founder, editor and publisher of the monthly publication 'The Brooklyn Rail. Phong Bui was born in Hue and currently lives and works in New York City.
San Art wishes to thank the Asian Cultural Council for their generous support of this exhibition.
Artist: Phong Bùi
Participating Artists: Antonia Manoochehri, Dinh Q. Le, Đỗ Nguyễn Lập Xuân, George Papadimas, Hoàng Dương Cầm, Jonas Mekas, Lâm Hiếu Thuận, Lena Bùi, Nguyễn Hồng Phương, Nguyễn Thị Anh Đào, Phan Quang, Phan Minh Tuấn, Thierry Bernard-Gotteland, Trần Quốc Trung, Trương Công Tùng, Tammy Nguyễn.
Date: May 20 - July 23, 2011
Venue: Sàn Art, 3 Me Linh street, district Binh Thanh, HCMC, Vietnam
