Opening: 06.04.2018 @6:30pm
Exhibition on view until 07.04.2018
Location: San Art reading room
3F, 264 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, District 3

A few memories of our past programme Back-to-Back: A Collaborative Series of Discursive Encounters that took place in April 2018.

Week 1 focused on Conceptual art, as we explored key texts written by Apinan Poshyananda, Joseph Kosuth, Pamela Corey, Elisabeth Schellekens and Joan Kee. While initially questioning the value of “ideas” in art, the cognitive importance of aesthetics and debating the relevance of essays originating from the West, our group slowly drifted towards ‘knotty’ debates. How does one judge the quality, content or framework of a non-Western work when art is still being scrutinized through the lens of the Western canon? What criteria should be used when selecting art in a global framework? Should the aesthetic qualities of a work give way to ethical matters for the sake of globalism? These are some of the many questions we have tried to address as a group.

Spanning over 6 afternoons, Back-to-Back was a month-long public education programme that debated relations of contemporary art in Vietnam to Western canonical models. With the idea of constructing a long-term project that could contribute to the local art scene, Back-to-Back served as our initial starting point where we could examine and dissect theories and practices in art history/curating and exchange our knowledge as either artists, curators, critics or active members of the art scene in Vietnam or abroad. Back-to-Back was organised by Do Tuong Linh, Marie David and Tra Nguyen.

Stay tuned – Back-2-Back will return soon!