Maps, Modernities, Magic – Symposium

Date/Time: Sat, 4 Nov @ 9AM-4:30PM
Location: Think Space
116 Nguyen Van Thu St.
Dakao Ward, District 1,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Language: English & Vietnamese

Shifting the geopolitical towards a geopoetics—striding geomancy, poesy and prophecy–this intimate convening seeks to remap knowledge and aesthetic regimes. In the presentations, we queery modernity and its discontents: Southeast Asian (re-)enchantments and creative and critical interventions—spatial and spiritual reorientations. Keynote speakers Patrick Flores (Vargas Museum, Philippines) and Philippe Peycam (International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands) advocate for global south connections in their individual and institutional work.

Do you believe in magic? As we reconsider the “game changing” 1984 exhibit Magiciens de la terre (1984), we reconnoiter movie magic. Case study: Việt Nam’s 2024 Oscar Best Picture contender Glorious Ashes co-stars Bảo Ngọc Juliet Doling (actress & academic) and Lê Công Hoàng ( Best Actor winner, 2023 Viet Film Fest) converse about the elements–particularly fire and water–and elemental metaphors of mutating regiments, from a house party to the state party. Burning down the house (literally).

This convening was co-presented by the Practice Institute at the Asian Art Museum, Teiger Foundation, with additional support from California Humanities (a partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities). Co-organised by Viet Le, Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran and Vicky Do.