Event Open Studio - Sàn Art Studio no2

+ Location: Sàn Art, Units B6.16 and B6.17, 6th Floor, Block B Office, Millennium Masteri, Ward 6, District 4, HCMC (enter via Nguyen Huu Hao street)

+ Date/Time: Friday & Saturday, 19 & 20.05.2023 @ 3:00-8:00 PM

+ Language: Vietnamese/English

Curious about what it takes to build a tree out of fabric? Encounter current Artist-in-Residence Trần Thảo Miên’s haunting tree shrine-in-the-making at a 2-day open-studio event at Sàn Art.

In the process of material-based practices and experiments, Mien approaches arboreal and living creatures according to animism from an anthropological perspective. From "The Golden Bough" in Roman mythology to the latest scientific report of Tel Aviv University on detecting trees that emit sounds when in danger, Miên's investment in the medium of textile and its capacity for storytelling and mythmaking informs all her work, including her sculptural installations, which brings this belief into three dimensions.

Over these last six weeks at Sàn Art, Miên has been expanding upon her (tree) Altar series, and the intricate sculptural forms that characterize her work, to create a new shrine inspired by Sàn Art space and nature in the city. Miên sets out to reclaim trees as spiritually embodied, weaving into being the invisible roots of faith for imagination, contemplation, and provocation.
This bridging of faith, form, and material creates space for viewers to probe the ever-present connections between real and artificial, ancient and contemporary, nature and spirituality, and largely, the various forms of belief that are scripting the relationship between human and other-than-human worlds.

Pop in and say hi! Our open-studio is a great opportunity to meet the artist and get a chance to see a residency project in the making. Miên’s tree altar-in-progress will be on view Friday, May 19th and Saturday, May 20th, 3 - 8 PM.

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About the Artist

Trần Thảo Miên (b.1991) is a Hanoi-based artist. Her works examine the role of individual living beings on Earth, which she believes are individually, differently and equally important. ​Mien revisits the idea of the order of nature, where perspectives of the hierarchy are out of human hands.

Holobiont is the initiation, in which Mien questions whether human thought, touch, and emotions are controlled by microbial systems inside and outside our bodies. The (tree) Altar series then invite trees back to their long-forgotten-sacred-position, where trees once were offered and prayed to in ritual activities of humans.

Graduating from the University of the Art London, majoring in Fashion technology: Surface textiles, Mien has developed her own embroidery techniques using monofilament yarn on various types of fashion waste, while moving toward collaboration with nature beings. "I try to approach nature with sincerity and respect as tenderly as I can. I let them lead the path and flow like water, slowly and gently learning from them."

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About Sàn Art Studio

Started in 2021, Sàn Art Studio is a six-week residency and mentorship initiative dedicated to supporting artists in developing one proposed creative project while nurturing the cultural agenda of the city. Artists are able to utilise the gallery’s platform and resources as an incubator for Ho Chi Minh City’s arts scene and community exchange.

More on SA Studio >>  https://tinyurl.com/bp5w8uzp