Exhibition: 22/05 – 03/06/2020, 09:30 am – 07:00 pm

Manzi Exhibition Space

No2, Hàng Bún Alley, Hanoi

From the organizer

In September 2018 Vietnam participated in the London Design Biennale for the first time.

After having been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the installation ‘Khải’ created for the 2018 Biennale will finally have its inaugural exhibition in Hanoi, Vietnam this May.

Due to restrictions and social distancing guidelines the opening will be by invitation only, if you would like to attend the event on Thursday night, please DM this page or one of the events co-hosts.

About the project:

Research by Dr Marta Gasparin from the University of Leicester School of Business provided the guidance and narrative for the project’s origin. Led by Gasparin’s research and British curator Claire Driscoll alongside designers Thao Vu, Giang Nguyen and Le Thanh Tung; Khải was created as a response to the Biennale theme ‘Emotional States’.

The Vietnamese pavilion sought to address the issue that there is no global knowledge of what Vietnamese design today looks and feels like and does so by showcasing how young designers look forward by way of reclaiming their past as the country transforms. ‘Khải’ is an invitation to pause and reflect on this idea while introducing a country’s relationship to its heritage of working with one’s hands – the long tradition of a design rooted in social need, that has and continues to shape design made in Vietnam.

The three designers showcased in this exhibition, each have an aspect of this in their practice and the choice has been made to curate their work in a way where they come together as a unity – their work being at once an extension and part of one another. This is to highlight the complexity of the Vietnamese identity today, a unity made up of diversity.

The very process of the traditional craft production referenced throughout the Vietnamese pavilion often brings an unconscious meditative state to the makers and as such the design showcased here both transmits emotion and transcends it.

In Vietnam process has long been born out of social necessity, which translates simply into doing what is necessary to fix an issue. But in this process of doing, one is able to be emotionally reflective and thus gain a degree of clarity – as you are weaving, carving, stirring, dying, drawing, outlining, printing and mapping, an influx of emotions is possible. The craft process is the key to emotional release. In these processes stories are told, secrets are shared and lives are lived.

This project has been generously supported by a number of organisations, without their support, investment and commitment to Vietnamese art and design, none of this would have been possible. Our special thanks to: University of Leicester School of Business, Incite Research Team, E.S.R.C, Dragon Capital, NashTech, Vietnam UK Network, British University Vietnam, Vietnam Airlines, New World Fashion Group, British Embassy Hanoi, Embassy of Vietnam in the UK, British Council, Work Room Four, Manzi Art Space and the Goethe Institut Hanoi.

Follow updates on event page.