Symposium #5: Exhibitions as a site for historiography

Bill Nguyễn (b. 1988, Vietnam) is an artist-curator committed to the researching and development of locally-driven modes of curatorial articulation and artistic practice. After obtaining his BFA at Nottingham Trent University (UK), Bill returned home and has become an active member of the cultural landscape of Vietnam. Through various formats of artistic practices, including performance art, creative writing and curatorial pursuits, he delves into themes such as intimacy, foreignness, cultural contiguity and historical truth. Bill has collaborated with artist-run spaces such as Nhà Sàn Collective and Hanoi Doclab, while also founding alternative platforms for curatorial experimentation and audience engagement including Manzi Art Space and Curatorial Xà Quần. Bill previously served as a member of the curatorial team at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre. In January 2022, he assumed the role of Director of Nguyen Art Foundation. He is an alumnus of the 8th Berlin Biennial Young Curators Workshop, as well as the CuratorsLAB initiated by the Goethe Institut South East Asia. Some of his notable curatorial projects include “No more, not yet” (2023), “Artist Excellence Award” (2021–ongoing), “We’re in this, together – a Pollination” project (2018), “Spirit of Friendship” (2017) and “0395A.ĐC” (2017).

Vũ Thị Hà is a researcher at the Office of Christianity at the Institute for Religious Studies and Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi (2001) and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (2019). Working at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology from 2003 to 2023, she has been participating in researching, collecting, and organizing numerous exhibitions on the cultures of Vietnamese ethnic groups. Additionally, her current research interest lies in urban anthropology, social-cultural changes, and the adaptation of ethnic groups in Vietnam within the context of urbanization through the stories of specific individuals. She believes that individual people are actively practicing and contributing to the creation of cultural diversity on a daily basis.

Lê Thuận Uyên is a curator based in Hanoi. She is currently the Artistic Director of The Outpost – – a Hanoi-based organisation dedicated to the collection, presentation of and audience generation for contemporary art in Vietnam. Informed by her former training in political science, Uyen is interested in alternative histories, personal narratives that are rendered absent, sidelined or undesirable by the official record. Her practice investigates formal articulations that are rooted in the social context and aesthetic traditions of Vietnam. She often works with artists in close collaboration, seeking to unpack artistic articulations and stimulate critical, creative enquiries.

Some of her past curatorial projects include: “Fractured Times” (The Outpost, Hanoi, 2022); “And they die another death” (Nguyen Trinh Thi for Documenta fifteen, 2022); “Domestic Bliss” (Ilham Gallery, KL, 2019); “Gang of Five Chancing Modern” (Hanoi, 2017); “Sindikat Campursari” (Jakarta, 2016); Embedded South(s) (co-curator, Sàn Art, online, 2016); “Skylines With Flying People 3” (co-curator, Hanoi, 2015-17); “Miền Méo Miệng” (assistant curator, Bildmuseet Umea, 2015);… She was a resident curator at Art in General (NYC) from April–August 2017 through a fellowship with the Asian Cultural Council. Over time, Uyên has worked with numerous artists and orgranisations, providing administrative and programming support for spaces including Nhà Sàn Collective, Sàn Art, The Factory Centre for Contemporary Art, APD (Centre for Art Patronage and Development), Nguyen Art Foundation.

Nguyễn Như Huy is curator, poet, art critic and translator. As an art critic, Nhu Huy writes, translates and publishes widely  on Vietnam contemporary art, visual culture and art theory. Huy is guest speaker of many international art conferences and symposiums, such as “Vietnam Art Post-Doi Moi”, Singapore Art Museum, 2008; “Alternative Route: Art & Cultural Exchange In Asia”, Yokohama, Japan 2014; “Asian curator conference”, Malaysia and Singapore, 2010; “Asian Curatorial Forum”, New Delhi, India 2019. 

He was co-editor and one of the guest writers for the first and only (to date) bilingual anthology on modern and contemporary Vietnamese art since 1945-1990, “Essays on modern and contemporary Vietnamese art”, which was published by Singapore Art Museum. He is also the author for the Vietnam session in the book “Video, an art, a history”, which was published by Pompidou Art Center and Singapore Art Museum in 2010. Nhu Huy has published two collections of his poems; “the complex sentences” (Vietnam Literature Publishing House, 2008), and “The Truth is the Joy” (Vietnam Literature Publishing House, 2022). His ten poems were also featured in Stand Magazine, England (volume 12, 2024).

Như Huy was a co-curator of Singapore biennale 2013, Kuandu biennale 2016. From 2013-2016, he was curatorial advisor for long-term art project Koganecho Bazaar, Yokohama, Japan. Nhu Huy was a guest curator for Brand New Art Project 2015, an art award founded by Bangkok University, which aims to promote Thai contemporary art young talent. From 2016-2018, Nhu Huy was the artistic director of the two-year art project “Asian In/visible Station”, which was funded by Japan Foundation. In 2019, Nhu Huy was co-curator of Out of Range, the collaboration art project between Taiwan and Vietnamese artists, which was funded by Taiwan Art Council. Như Huy’s most recent project was the exhibition “Nguyen Tu Nghiem, a dialogue with time”, which took place in Dalat in March 2024.

Như Huy is the Vietnamese translator of “a Kant dictionary” by Howard Caygill (co-translator), “But is it art?” by Cynthia Freeland, “The ways of seeing” by John Berger, 7 days in the art world by Sarah Thortorn, “Heidegger’s philosophy of art” by Julian Young, “I draw therefore I am” by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein. He is the first Vietnamese to translate the terms curator/to curate/curatorial into Vietnamese. Nhu Huy is founder and artistic director of ZeroStation (www.zerostationvn.org), an art-project-based space in Saigon.