Địa Projects is pleased to invite you to a group show by Nguyễn Trần Nam, Nguyễn Ban Ga and the Appendix group. This show is part of the interdisciplinary art program ‘Skylines with flying people 3’ – initiated by Nhà Sàn Collective (Hà Nội)

I cry for skylines
which do not have flying people
cry again for flying people
who do not have skylines.

- Trần Dần, 1987

Inspired by the boundless creativity and fierce spirit of Trần Dần – a prominent figure in Vietnamese literature – and his desire for creative freedom, the young artists of Nhà Sàn Collective started the serial art program ‘Skylines with flying people’ (hereafter SKYLINES). In its 3rd edition, the program was realized in the form of 11 sub-art projects, 6 solo, duo and group shows and a seminar series with the participation of both local and international scholars, which crisscrossed Hà Nội’s landscape in various locations from the second half of 2016 to January 2017.

If SKYLINES 1 (2010), held in London, was perceived as Nhà Sàn Collective’s attempt at continuing the poet’s legacy, then SKYLINES 2 (2012) was launched at a critical time, out of the need for a working space from a group of outcast artists who were nurtured by Nhà Sàn Studio – one of North Việt Nam’s first and most important artist-run initiatives which was forced to close down in 2010. By transforming the garden area of the Japan Foundation in Hà Nội into a mega artist studio, SKYLINE 2 followed the model of a pop-up art laboratory, where a temporary creative space focusing on public interaction was formed, and where the artists’ working process and experimentation were carried out in front of the public, with the public.

With SKYLINES 3 (2014-2017), territories, geographical limits and a general enquiry into the nature and role of practicing art in Việt Nam continue to be the topics of interest for the participating artists. Flying out of their comfort zones and into terra incognita, the artists began their journeys of exploration, through which a contemporary map of Việt Nam through the lens of a group of artists who grew up after Đổi Mới was sketched out. Whether it is a journey of self-reflection, or one that deals with boarder matters regarding the country’s contested history, each artist’s journey and project in SKYLINES 3 has continued to question existing predominant socio-political discourses, and shed light on alternative geographic narratives, from which issues of migration, exploitation of humans and nature, urbanization etc. are opened up and discussed.

Forming a part of SKYLINES 3, the group exhibition by Nguyễn Trần Nam, Nguyễn Ban Ga and Appendix group now travels to and is introduced at Địa Project in Hồ Chí Minh City. The artists (re)imagine Việt Nam as a geographical body with all its fragmentations and conflicts, existing in between while at the same time trespassing and cross-pollinating borders of times, spaces and narratives.

Opening day: 6:00pm - 8:00pm, Friday 3rd March, 2017
Exhibition duration: Friday 3rd March - Friday 7th Apr, 2017
Opening hours: 10:00am - 6:00pm, Monday - Saturday weekly
Artist Talk: 2:30pm - 5:30pm, Sunday 5th March, 2017