Youth Culture Library Finds Niche in Saigon Cafe
The Youth Culture Library sets out to become an outlet of self-expression for young people and non-commercial artists through the ultimate form of alternative culture: zines.
After Curatorial Shift, Saigon Artbook Delivers Best Exhibition to Date
Founder Dang Thanh Long and curator Shyevin S’ng talk about the work behind Saigon Artbook’s sixth edition and what the future holds for the local nonprofit art initiative.
Saigon Skill and the Rise of Alternative Art Projects
Saigon Skill’s first art group show was a vibrant and uplifting display of Saigon’s unheralded talents. Hopes are high that this new project will expose the untapped creatives in the city.
Meet Inrasara, the Poet Keeping Cham Culture Alive
Born in the oldest Cham village in Vietnam, poet and literary critic Inrasara has been keeping Cham literature alive for over 30 years. From textbooks to poetry, literary criticism to publishing, the ...
Dislocate: Artist Bui Cong Khanh Deconstructs Vietnamese Identity
A beautiful large-scale recreation of a fortress, a photographic essay and a documentary video feature in Bui Cong Khanh’s latest exhibition, Dislocate, an impactful reminder of Vietnam’s heritage and...
Quach Phong’s Monumental Take on Vietnamese History
An ambitious and essential art project, Sketching Vietnamese History – the first major solo exhibition by established artist Quach Phong – is a tribute to Vietnam’s history and its people. It is a wor...
Gender Behavior: An Artistic and Interactive Social Experiment
Gender Behavior brings to Saigon’s The Factory a research-based photography, dance, film and performance show which discusses the notion of gender in Vietnamese society.
Sophie Hughes: Drawing Links Between Vietnamese History and Contemporary Art
Art is not the first thing on people’s minds when they come to Saigon, and yet the independently organized Sophie’s Art Tour has managed to become one of the southern hub's top attractions.
OXYMORON: An Exploration of Sound, Dance and Light
If it were possible to condense the creative output of Saigon’s urban dance and music scene into one show, OXYMORONmight be it. Creative directors Lai Tran and Chieu Tori – a DJ duo also known as Chee...
Unlocking the Potential of Vietnam's Art Market
As one of Vietnam’s most prolific art organizations reduces its cultural and residency programs, we look at the state of national contemporary art in the global market and its economic impact on Vietn...
Livinwondr: A People’s Art Project
The first installation of new community project Livinwondrexpresses the stories and creative ideas of the public through transformative media art.
'Farmers Got Power': A Satirical Look at Social Upheaval
Satire and humor have long been recurring tropes employed by artists to deal with uncomfortable topics, to challenge people to discover on their own the object and meanings of their satire. Nowhere co...
Technology Has Officially Entered Saigon’s Art Scene
From the invention of farming to the advent of military drones, technology has shaped the economy, politics and culture of every society. It was inevitable that such a vital element of our lives would...
April Films at Saigon’s Alternative Movie Venues
A filmmaker fights censorship, an architect’s endeavors reassess the leftist ideology and documentarians raise awareness about contemporary capitalist practices as well as development. From fictional ...
'Tokyo, Blind': Eerie, Black-and-White Images From a Saigon Photographer
In Tokyo, Blind, the first solo exhibition in Vietnam by Saigon-based photographer Ryan Neilan, men and women emerge as ghostly bodies, depicted either as a composite of fragmented shadows or as isola...
Q&A: Thai Artist Bends Reality With Kaleidoscopic Saigon Photo Collage
Saigon is the latest city to join the urban landscape photo collage series by Thai artist and graphic designer Pariwat A-nantachina, also known as Big. With drastic perspective compositions, rich deta...
A Tribe of Survivors: The Ethereal Jewelry of La Fiancée du Facteur
The new collection by Saigon-based jewelry designer La Fiancée du Facteur is an ode to human strength where the mystical and the mythological merge in wearable original art pieces.
March Movies at Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
Transporting a novel or news story from the page to the big screen does not always have to be disastrous, as Carol,Room, High Fidelity andSpotlighthave demonstrated. Saigon's March film program shows ...
Inside THE BOAT: Phnom Penh’s Floating Art Space
Last October, Phnom Penh's ambitious floating art center, THE BOAT, announced its plan to renovate a majestic but disused vessel docked where the Tonle Sap River meets the Mekong. Earlier this mo...
Readers' Picks: 20 Best Films From the Year of the Goat
We asked both our readers and regular moviegoers at local alternative film venues like DeciBel and Saigon Outcast to weigh in on the top three films from the Year of the Goat. The results are in and A...
Nuoc 2030: Inside Vietnam's Visually Stunning, Character-Driven Sci-Fi Flick
A wonderfully shot love story set in a water-logged dystopian world, Nuoc 2030 is the first Vietnamese sci-fi film produced to international standards. Filmmaker Nguyen Vo Nghiem Minh discusses t...
Saigoneer’s Picks: 20 Best Films From the Year of the Goat
Life Itself, a film about the life of the late film critic Roger Ebert opens with one of his quotes: “We are born with a certain package. We are who we are [...], we are kind of stuck inside that pers...
February Movies at Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
This year's controversial awards season is drawing to an end. With the BAFTAs and the Oscars still to come, Saigon's February program includes two long-awaited biopics, one of the most revolutionary a...
Saigoneer’s December and January Art Picks
Between Christmas and Tet, everything slows down in Saigon's art world, but a few venues have still found time to put on new shows. Here is some of our favorite work from the holiday season's exhibiti...
January Movies at Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
With both the Golden Globes (you can find a full list of nominations here) and the Oscars looming, it is an (almost) all-American program this month at Saigon's alternative film venues. From a sci-fi ...
Zelda Goes To The Gallery: Hope
From social critique and political satire to the celebration of human strength, Hope – the inaugural exhibition of Craig Thomas Gallery's new downtown location – is the most personal exhibition to dat...
Saigoneer’s Picks: 10 Places to Buy Artsy Gifts in Vietnam
From rich textile traditions to innovative contemporary art, ethnic minority handicrafts and dozens of local and international designers, there's far more to shopping in Vietnam than conical hats and ...
Soul Archive Captures Vietnam’s Spirit Through Its Photographers
A quick Google search is all it takes to learn that photography about Vietnam is still predominantly linked to the war or, if not, dominated by images of the country’s iconic landscapes. Yet anyone li...
Saigoneer’s November Art Picks
With Saigon's first-ever affordable art fair taking place last month as well as three exhibitions from two of the city's major galleries, November left art lovers spoiled for choice. Here are sev...
December Movies at Saigon's Alternative Film Venues
The awards season has officially started and for once, we welcome the razzle-dazzle that will come in the next three months, after a very dull summer, which was rescued only by independent cinema. The...
Zelda Goes to the Gallery: In Opposite 2
Ngo Van Sac presents a fragmented and polarized reality in his latest solo exhibition In Opposite 2. Magic and reality, tradition and capitalism, nature and fabrication are the opposing elem...
Maison Kenji: Emerging Designers Push the Vision of Fashion in Vietnam
As one of the newest players in the town, Maison Kenji brings a Euro-Asian flare to Saigon’s fashion scene. These Japanese-inspired, modern and ethically conscious threads distinguish this new indepen...
Zelda Goes to the Gallery: The Power of Semiosis
French-based Japanese artist Yohei Yama lights up Vin Gallery with a feast of colorful Op art canvasses during his debut exhibition, The Power of Semiosis.
Saigoneer's October Art Picks
October saw several Saigon debuts of emerging, mid-career and established artists from a variety of artistic backgrounds. Here are the pieces that caught our attention over the previous month.
November Movies at Saigon's Alternative Film Venues
As award season approaches, November might be the last chance you have this year to dive into the world of alternative and low-budget films, which is dominated by French and American productions.
Zelda Goes to the Gallery: Jack Clayton Solo Exhibition
Fragmented images of a bustling Saigon, Vietnam’s past and present, the theories of Francis Bacon and Carl Jung – all find a place within the intricate woodcut prints and ink illustrations of Jack Cla...
Saigon's First-Ever Affordable Art Opens This Week
Following two successful events up north, affordable art fair Art for You is coming to Saigon with the help of Hanoi-based galleries Work Room Four and Manzi. We caught up with the fair's organizers t...
Islands, Archipelagos and Other Liquid Territories: Exploring the High Seas with Map Office
Acclaimed Hong Kong-based artists Laurent Gutierrez and Valerie Portefaix of Map Office bring to Dia Projects their first solo show in Saigon, titled Islands, Archipelagos and Other Liquid Territories...
Saigoneer's September Art Picks
After the city's gallery scene took a summer hiatus, Saigoneer is back with our art picks for the month. September was off to a good start with a variety of exhibitions, employing everything from urba...
New Edition Of Standpoint Theories Will Hit Saigon This Month
Multi-disciplinary production company Standpoint Theories returns to Saigon with three performances of Legends of Vietnam: Remix, an evolution of last year's Legends of Vietnam. The new and improved p...
October Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
It is not Halloween without a dose of horror. Check out which spooky films made the list this year at Saigon's alternative movie-viewing venues. If zombies, ghosts and paranormal activity are not your...
Zelda Goes To The Gallery: Khói Sóng
Khói Sóng, Ha Manh Thang’s new exhibition and his second at Galerie Quynh, is part of the artist's ongoing Vietnam Landscapes (2010 – present) project, in which his reflections on Vietnamese...
The Story of the Greatest Female Pirate Retold via Cinemagraph
When it comes to brave, daring women, Asia has no shortage of badass heroines. In Vietnam alone, historical figures like Vo Thi Sau and the Trung sisters are hailed for their courage and str...
Zelda Goes To The Gallery: Urbana
When I arrived at deciBel Lounge last week, ready to meet two of the three artists behind photography project Urbana: City View, I was dreading what I would see. Too often, urban-themed artwork turns ...
Metiseko: How One Local Designer Created An Eco-Friendly Brand
When it comes to fashion, sustainability is not always a high priority in Vietnam. These days, Vietnam is beginning to see more campaigns which aim to raise public awareness around environmental issue...
Zelda Goes To The Gallery: A Material History Of Man And Animal
Cave paintings, the Latin poet Lucretius, the slavery of consumerism and, more prominently, the evolution between mankind and nature are some of the ingredients effortlessly intertwined in the rivetin...
September Movies At Saigon's Alternative Film Venues
This month’s film line-up ranges from stories centered around the world of music to the tale of post-civil war Mali, an animal uprising and a biopic of the painter that would change landscape painting...
August Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
This month, Saigon’s alternative film venues are offering up a solid selection of foreign films, Hollywood classics and recent hits.
Vănguard: Giving a Voice to Saigon’s LGBT Artists
The launch of Vănguard’s second issue last week followed the slow but swelling wave of support for LGBT rights in Vietnam.
San Art Laboratory Launches Kickstarter Campaign
Saigon-based non-profit art organisation San Art has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their Laboratory.
Fashion Is Art At Dzung Yoko’s First Solo Exhibition
While in Paris the Helene Bailly Gallery is hosting an art show by designer Maurizio Galante and Viktor & Rolf are dressing models in canvasses, here in Saigon, we have the city’s very first show that...
“One Country” Celebrates 15 Vietnamese Contemporary Artists
Vietnamese fine art is often looked through a geographic lens (South, Central and North) or by groups of artists rather than individual ones.
Saigoneer's June Art Picks
Two video installations from the 6th San Art Laboratory, a sculpture from one of Vietnam’s most prolific artists, photographs depicting life in Vietnam and the works from the latest Saigon Artbook are...
Vietnamese Performance Artist Featured At The Artists’ Film International in London
Vietnamese pioneer performance artist, Tran Luong, continues to attract huge interest abroad. His video, Lập Lòe/Welts, is currently being shown at White Chapel in London (UK) as part of Artists’ Film...
July Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
Dinosaurs, androids, socio-political documentaries and juicy indie films from around the world make up this month’s menu at Saigon’s alternative film venues.
Esoteric And Reimagined Religious Rituals Lay The Ground For “Carne Vale” At Galerie Quynh
Greco-Roman ruins and imaginary masked characters set the stage for “Carne Vale,” the new exhibition by Nadege David and Sandrine Llouquet at Galerie Quynh.
Saigoneer’s Recent Art Picks
The haunting installation by a Saigon-born writer/artist; a visual diary of Vietnamese portraits; a visual map of Saigon’s urban changes and the opening of the first urban gallery in town are among ou...
Designer Spotlight: Linda Mai Phung
The last couple of months have been exciting for Saigon-based fashion designer, Linda Mai Phung. The young French-Vietnamese designer recently celebrated the 5th anniversary of her eponymous bran...
Vietnam’s Cities Are Losing A Lot More Than Their Old Buildings: Experts
“A city is enriched by accumulation over generations. Accumulation incorporates destruction but keeps enough fabric to retain cultural identity, while obliteration erases everything includin...
June Movies at Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
This month’s films show us that it’s possible to make a great sequel from an 80s classic, that Twilight has accidentally done something good for cinema and that Hollywood producers can’t always constr...
Dragonfly: Setting the Standard for Theater in Saigon
Oscar Wilde, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Samuel Beckett, Rajiv Joseph and now Tennessee Williams - those are some of the figures whose literary works have been brought to Saigon by the only professional...
May Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
There’s a bit of everything in store this month at Saigon’s alternative film venues, from some recently acclaimed independent films and genre classics to the two most talked about documentaries from t...
Saigoneer’s March Art Picks
Last month was, without a doubt, the most extravagant (artistically speaking) in the past four years; Saigon was a theatre unto itself with a variety of art shows and exhibitions. Here are some of our...
Forgotten Vietnamese Communities Come To Life At Sao La
Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai’s latest thought provoking and socially conscious exhibition, Day by Day, is currently on view at Sao La.
Zelda Goes To The Gallery: World in My Mind
For his first exhibition, The World in My Mind, now on view at deciBel Lounge, Saigon-based concept designer and illustrator Hoang Trung has assembled nine medium-scale digital paintings inspired by h...
April Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
As we slowly move away from the awards season, our local film venues go back to what they do best: indie and cult cinema.
Three Saigon-based Artists Bring Their Diverse Urban Art To Vin Gallery
This evening, American illustrator and street artist Kristopher Kotcher AKA Frenemy is bringing his work back to Vin Gallery with a new exhibition, Trialogue. It has been almost a year since his first...
March Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
This month’s film programme is packed with films that address socio-political issues including gay rights, civil rights and freedom of speech. If that’s not your cup of tea, you have the opportunity t...
The Best Cultural Happenings In The Year Of The Horse
As we say goodbye to the year of the Horse, our editorial team looks back at the increasingly expanding cultural scene in Saigon and beyond. From theatre to art exhibitions, these are, in no particula...
Saigoneer’s February Art Picks
Saigoneer's arts & culture guru, Zelda, highlights some of the best art being displayed and exhibited around town this month.
Exhibition Spotlight: Leonid Keller
Leonid Keller is the first and only exhibition in Saigon by Berlin-based artists Julia Ossko and Eugen Schulz.
Galerie Quynh and San Art Announce Relocation Plans
On January 31, Galerie Quynh permanently closed its original location in 65 De Tham, leaving the new downtown gallery on Dong Khoi as its sole exhibition space.
February Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
Classic and witty comedy, the one of the greatest sci-fi epics in recent history, the biggest Oscar contender of the year and a special screening from Saigon-based film festival, Impressions are some ...
Behind The Curtain: Standpoint Theories
Brimming with creative ideas, the multi-disciplinary Standpoint Theories, which first made an appearance last year at Cargo Bar, will grace Saigon once more for three days in January.
Artist Spotlight: Tonstartssbandht
Tonstartssbandht is one of those bands which occupy that very rare dimension in music defying categorization. Psychedelic-rock, pastoral vocals, pop undertones, rock-n-roll and lo-fi are all terms tha...
December Movies At Saigon’s Alternative Film Venues
The Christmas holidays are fast approaching but our alternative film venues have more in store for you than just Christmassy-flicks. Philosophy in cinema, the first Saudi Arabian film in history and a...
