EDUCATION KIT | ARTIST FOLIOS
PHUONG LINH NGUYEN
VIETNAM
Memory of the
Blind Elephant, 2016
SBTV
ARTIST
WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/SAMTELLY
PHUONG LINH NGUYEN
Memory of the Blind Elephant, 2016
EDUCATION KIT
ARTIST FOLIOS
THE ARTIST
THE IDEA
Phuong Linh Nguyen (b. 1985, Hanoi, Vietnam) is a
Memory of the Blind Elephant is the artist’s long-term
multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans installation,
project on colonial rubber plantations in Central and
sculpture and video. Her work conveys a sense of the
Southern Vietnam. Nguyen has travelled to the rubber
alienation, dislocation and ephemerality of human life,
plantations and factory to research and document,
and looks at the geographical cultural shifts, traditional
using video, photography and text. Her work concerns
roots and fragmented history of Vietnam. She travels,
Vietnam’s geographic cultural shift, traditional roots
conducts field research and collects artefacts from
and fragmented history. The rubber tree and the land
borders and historical sites of exchange, and transforms
has inspired the artist with both fear and fascination.
these materials to construct alternative perspectives
She seeks to investigate the rubber tree in its natural
and interpretations of fragmented histories and personal
structure as well as its history. The rubber tree arrived in
narratives. Phuong Linh was born and grew up among
Vietnam during the French colonial era. As the rubber
many of Vietnam’s most respected contemporary
industry developed, a proletariat1 emerged and socialism2
artists, several of whom started Nha San, the first non-
began to grow. However, rather than looking at the past
profit artist-run art space for experimental art, based
with nostalgia, Nguyen wants to focus on present-day
out of her father’s home in Hanoi. After it was closed by
sites where the rubber plantations used to be. The rubber
the authorities in 2011, Phuong Linh co-founded Nha San
tree, human beings, animals and nature all hold quiet
Collective, a group of young artists who are interested
evidences of a history through multiple regimes.
in the tension between tradition and modern identity,
local roots and globalism. She lives and works in Hanoi.
1
Proletariat – the working class
2
Socialism – A political and economic theory of social organisation
which advocates that the means of production and distribution
should be owned by the community
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PHUONG LINH NGUYEN
Memory of the Blind Elephant, 2016
THE ARTWORK
Single-channel video, rubber latex, soil drawings
on paper and metal stands
Dimensions variable
Collection of the Artist
Singapore Biennale 2016 commission
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ARTIST FOLIOS
Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum
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OBSERVE AND DISCOVER
PHUONG LINH NGUYEN
Memory of the Blind
Elephant, 2016
GUIDING QUESTIONS
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
1. Take some time to watch the documentary film Memory
A. Phuong Linh Nguyen grew up at Nha San which
of the Blind Elephant. The artist travelled to rubber
was the first non-profit artist-run art space for
plantations and a factory to produce this documentary.
experimental art, and was based in her father’s
What do you think is happening in this documentary?
home in Hanoi. In 2011 Nha San was closed down
Why do you suppose the artist was interested to make
due to pressure from authorities. In 2013 Nguyen co-
this? Was it in reaction to something?
founded Nha San Collective, a working studio where
artists can create, collaborate, experiment and meet
2. The title of the documentary is Memory of the Blind
international artists and curators. Do some research
Elephant. Why do you think the artist has chosen
on Nha San and Nha San Collective. Having found
this title? What is she referring to? What name would
out about the artist’s circumstances, how do you now
you have given the documentary? What made you
feel about her work? Give a small presentation to
decide on that?
share your findings to the class.
3. Walk into the installation 9 Pieces of A Forehead
B. The artist has created Memory of the Blind Elephant
Bone. Based on what you see around you, how does
to draw attention to an issue she feels is important
this installation make you feel? What kind of mood or
to address. Nguyen pushes boundaries and ideas
emotion does this installation create with its lighting
about exploring the here and now in Vietnam. Think
and display?
of an issue in your own community or country that
you feel more people should know about and should
4. The rubber cut-outs represent prominent narratives
do something about. Produce a short video or take
of historical Vietnam. Who do you think these 9
photos to share it with others. Did you manage to
characters are? Why has the artist chosen to use this
capture what you wanted to show about your chosen
method and material in this display?
issue? Share your work with the class.
5. Look at the series of drawings on the wall. The artist
has used red basalt soil to draw on raw rubber sheets.
Why has the artist chosen to use red basalt soil to
make the drawings? What are the drawings about?
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FIND OUT MORE
PHUONG LINH NGUYEN
Memory of the Blind
Elephant, 2016
ARTWORK
INTERVIEW
Trailer Black, White and Red.
Artists and Historians: A Conversation with
Retrieved September 20, 2016, from
Nguyen Phuong Linh, Retrieved September 20, 2016,
https://youtu.be/TwmlIERmFQ4
from https://youtu.be/uItpprnCZb4
Seoul Art Space_Geumcheon. Linh Nguyen.
Art Media Agency. Being an artist in Vietnam:
Retrieved September 20, 2016, from
Interview with Nguyen Phuong Linh,
http://geumcheon.blogspot.sg/2012/03/
Retrieved September 20, 2016, from
linh-nguyen.html
http://en.artmediaagency.com/88936/being-anartist-in-vietnam-interview-with-nguyen-phuong-linh/
BIOGRAPHY
SBTV
Phuong Linh Nguyen, Retrieved September 20, 2016,
from http://plinh.com/uc/index.html
Phuong Linh Nguyen is featured in our SBTV series,
created especially for Singapore Biennale 2016:
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Nhasan Collective, Retrieved September 20, 2016,
An Atlas of Mirrors. Visit SAM’s Facebook and YouTube
from http://nhasan.org/about
pages to view the series. www.youtube.com/samtelly
ABOUT SINGAPORE BIENNALE 2016
AN ATLAS OF MIRRORS
AT ONCE, MANY WORLDS
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ARTIST FOLIOS
FROM WHERE WE ARE,
HOW DO WE PICTURE THE WORLD ­—
AND OURSELVES?
Humankind has always devised ways of seeing
beyond sight. Two such instruments are the map
and the mirror, which make visible more than
just physical terrains. While the atlas – a book of
maps – locates where we are and charts where
we want to go, the mirror shows us to ourselves,
sometimes unreliably, and in curious ways.
Through an exploration of the literal and
metaphorical characteristics of atlas and mirror,
An Atlas of Mirrors reveals artistic perspectives
that arise from our migratory, intertwining
histories and cultures, particularly in Southeast,
East and South Asia.
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ABOUT THE ZONES
NINE
CONCEPTUAL
ZONES
The main title of the Biennale is woven through nine
• CULTURAL & COLONIAL LEGACIES
‘conceptual zones’, or subthemes, which locate each
•BELIEFS
artwork in particular curatorial contexts. These zones
• COLLECTIVE MEMORY
shape the flow of the Biennale experience, like chapters
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in a book or sections in a poem. Like the title – ‘An Atlas
Haunted by the past and pregnant with the future, the
of Mirrors’ – which is built on the relationship between
present is preoccupied. As shoals of shivery metal fish
a collective noun (“an atlas” as the collective noun) and
materialise out of a Malay folktale, and a ghostly fabric
what is being thought of ‘collectively’ (“mirrors”), these
‘cast’ of a centuries-old Korean gate from a family home
zones are conceptually themed along specific collective
hovers, spectral gold-hooded figures row out of a gallery
nouns and what they hold together for contemplation
wall in charred Indonesian longboats, and the walls
and experience. Artworks located within each zone
between worlds thin. Nothing is really lost: lest we forget,
resonate on many levels, and at the same time, all nine
lest we be forgotten – we touch the past and the past
zones coincide, intertwine and reflect each other along
touches us in return.
the conceptual continuum of ‘An Atlas of Mirrors’ as
a whole.
Retrospection reveals the present as a thoroughfare
where all realms coincide and are mirrored – where the
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Each zone represents concepts, ideas and ways of seeing
personal nudges collective memory; the seen implies the
as explored in the 58 artworks and projects.
unseen; legacy evokes loss and forgetting.
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© 2016 Singapore Art Museum | © 2016 Individual contributors
All works are © the artists unless otherwise stated. Information correct at the time of publication. All rights reserved.
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