Amidst shifting social currents, industrialized landscapes, and a fast-paced world, how does a community preserve its heritage, rewrite histories, and confront colonial legacies? In this long-term collaboration with the Jrai community, ‘Angin Cloud’ by Art Labor explores these questions through a multi-floor installation at National Gallery Singapore that poetically intertwines Gia Rai (Jrai) beliefs, traditions, and environmental change.

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"Oh it’s easy to go to the rubber and hard to return, / Men leave their corpses, women depart as ghosts."

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“It’s not something unfamiliar, but it’s been a few years since I last heard it. Stumbling upon this beautiful bucolic scene now has made me fall in love with the Mekong Delta’s đờn ca tài tử melodies again.”

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As a pleasant post-Tết gift for fans in Vietnam, a stop in Saigon was announced as part of the Asian leg of keshi’s world tour.

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When I pitched a review of Hanoi’s massive new Vietnam Military History Museum to the Saigoneer editorial staff, I expected to find the museum somewhat boring. After all, although I am a historian, I am not really that interested in military stuff, and I’d been to the original location on Điện Biên Phủ Street several times — how could this new museum improve on the old one? What could this new museum say that the old one didn’t? What could I learn here that I haven’t already learned at Saigon’s War Remnants Museum and Hồ Chí Minh Campaign Museum, at Điện Biên Phủ’s war museum, at Hải Phòng’s naval museum, and at the countless other shrines to Vietnamese martial prowess across the country? Quite a lot, it turns out.

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Joss papers and effigies consumed my experiences before I began to even question their meaning. On the anniversary of my grandfather’s death (giỗ), my grandmother routinely set up a large pot in our tiny front yard and burned a stack of replica paper money. It is quite a scene to watch — the fire turned the paper to smoke and ash, and within minutes it was as if the paper never existed.

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According to Vietnamese traditions, the first, second, and third days of Tết are reserved for one’s paternal family, maternal family, and teacher’s family, respectively.

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When I was a high school student, Lunar New Year brought with it a lot of excitement. Not only did we get a week-long break, we also got plenty of fun school activities leading up to the holidays. For me, one of my most anticipated events during this period of time was the high school Tết concerts. 

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There’s nothing quite as satisfying as beating all your siblings and cousins in a heated game of cờ cá ngựa. 

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From games to sweet treats to flowers to traditional attire, the nostalgic elements of Tết often tug people to the past. Saigoneer writers have reflected on the enticing, acidic aroma of once-legal firecracker smoke; the versatility of tear-off calendar pages; and hours laboring over handmade coconut candies, amongst other fond recollections. However, the holiday has no childhood connections or coming-of-age associations for me. Achieving personal relevance when I was nearly three decades into life, Tết instead offers me an opportunity to look ahead, ponder potential, and imagine what could be.

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Composer Trịnh Công Sơn once wrote: “In music, Văn Cao is as noble as a king. In the field of song composition, I am like a child dreaming that the sun is a paper kite to play with. Brother Văn's music is the music of soaring fairies. I wander among the human realm. He keeps flying and I keep sinking. Flying and sinking in our private destinies...”

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In Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s new solo exhibition, materials and forms associated with destruction, violence and death are reimagined and transformed into sculptures that evoke healing and resilience. Through sensory elements such as touch, sound and movement, the exhibition guides viewers through layers of memory, and a journey from trauma towards reflection and healing.

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Just before the upcoming Lunar New Year, “Thẩm / Thấu, Thưởng” exhibition takes viewers on a journey to explore the beauty of traditional and folk materials re-imagined in contemporary forms. It enhances the essence of contemporary art through a fresh perspective on how heritage can be reinterpreted within modern creative practices.

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Christmas celebration in Vietnam is something else altogether.

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Have you ever witnessed a live performance so powerful that it still lives in your mind weeks later? “129BPM: Động Phách Tách Kén” is not your usual hip-hop breakdance battle, but a contemporary dance performance combining live music with Vietnamese folk elements. It is a journey that requires your full presence and attention to appreciate its fleeting and transformative moments.

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Step into Severine Phương Trần’s first-ever exhibition in Saigon, where you can explore the artist’s inner world of vibrant colors and different emotions. To fully enjoy this exhibition, it is best to let your inner child and imagination roam free and allow the flow of colors and different sceneries to guide you through a journey of creativity, self-discovery, and personal artistic transformation.

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I never pass up an opportunity to reflect on chò nâu and its dipterocarp relative, cây sao. The massive trees that gracefully drag bare limbs upwards to unfurl canopies far above our heads were brought from their native highland terrains by the French in the 19^th century and grown in Thảo Cầm Viên Sài Gòn. From there, they were distributed throughout colonial developments, including Trà Vinh. Today, they not only provide shade and beauty but invite ruminations on legacies of nature's place in subjugation and self-determination.

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Firmly taking root in everyday life, our hometown markets — chợ quê — are not simply a place to trade, but also puzzle pieces that make up childhood memories, holiday excitement, and even tales of hardships and life milestones of countless people. 

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In the depths of my childhood memories lies a peculiar ritual: my grandfather feeding me baby powder while Vietnamese revolutionary songs, or “nhạc đỏ” (red music), played in the background. Without these melodic accompaniments, I would refuse to eat.

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How did daily life on the battlefield look from the perspective of first-generation Vietnamese photojournalists? Why did colorful stamps and propaganda posters play such a significant role in the war and nation-building? Other than their original roles in communication, these historical artifacts tell us a bigger story: of long, turbulent, and resilient histories, and the birth of a nation.

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Everyone should have a võng in their home.

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It’s 12:03am in Saigon. You've just finished a movie at the last screening of the day. The asphalt in the parking lot is coated in a layer of golden light from the streetlight. You walk gingerly to your vehicle. A surprisingly cool breeze meets your skin, and you nearly shiver. It’s time to head home. What music do you put on?

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People often think that art is distant and difficult to appreciate, but a garden is different; everyone knows how to admire a flower.

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Comprising a range of ceremonies and traditional activities reflective of Vietnam’s rice-growing culture, Keo Hành Thiện Pagoda’s annual festival is a momentous occasion for locals to pay respect to their community’s Đức Thánh Tổ (Holy Ancestor) — Zen master Dương Không Lộ — as well as his religious importance and good deeds.

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Looking upward, downward, left and right, we follow an invisible yet powerful flow of energy in the dark, then carefully gaze at the artworks as if they are living entities. To enjoy this multi-sensory experience, it is best to slowly spend time with each artwork with a concentrated mind and without looking for an immediate context from it. Let our imagination roam freely, and embrace all the emotions and memories resurfacing within us.

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Tử Mộc Trà, whose real name is Phạm Thùy Dương, is a young artist born and raised in Hanoi. Her artistic pursuit was nurtured by an innate sense of creativity, family traditions, and her time spent on the road traveling.

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Taking place in Đà Nẵng and Hội An earlier in August 2024, the traveling art week Nổ Cái Bùm 2024 became a platform for local artists to showcase artworks, and attracted the attention of many local and international participants. From a museum space to a bar or cafe corner, from a beach site to a theater — any site can become a space for exhibitions, talks, screenings and performances.

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What does it mean for an artist to preserve and continue the legacy of traditional Vietnamese lacquer across generations? Through this solo exhibition, Nguyễn Xuân Việt showcases his vast expertise and his endless enthusiasm for lacquer painting.

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Cellophane lanterns, the nostalgic anchors of our past full-moon festivals, are still alive thanks to the nimble fingers of craftspeople at the Phú Bình lantern “village” in Saigon.

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Often seen as the heart of Central Vietnam, Huế is the birthing ground for many traditional crafts. Artisan products from the ancient city often exude its inhabitants' elegance and rustic quality. Among them, the handmade lion’s heads from Huế carry distinctive slivers of beauty within them.

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They say a person dies twice: once when their heart stops beating and a second time when people stop mentioning their name. If we alter this phrase a bit to include the last time one’s image is seen, Saigon’s beloved cô Mía may soon be receiving last rites.

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Tough-looking, yet elegant metal ribbons spark, spill, move and occupy all corners of the empty space: up and down, left and right, and in countless directions. Through a new series of sculpture works and a site-responsive sculptural installation, Vy Trịnh blurs the lines between the street scene and the exhibition space.

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An enormous chim Lạc snatches Mai from her school library in the present day and lifts her high above Sa Pa more than 2,000 years ago.

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Having been abroad for more than a year, I was excited at the mere mention of Vietnam anywhere, so I was even more delighted when I learned of the popular musical Miss Saigon. Posters of it were plastered up in musical-themed bars in Manchester and different theaters across London. The musical is constantly on tour, having recently been staged in Brisbane, Manila, and Singapore. I was curious to see what about the play created such a cultural phenomenon in western theater and pop culture, especially when all people ever seem to know of Vietnam is the war and phở. The play, however, with its questionable history and writing choices, didn’t live up to my expectations.

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How does an artist turn haunting memories into powerful artworks that speak for himself and on behalf of countless lives? Mahdi Abdullah’s paintings serve as social commentary on the realities that the artist has witnessed and lived through, and allow us to rethink the chaotic world we live in today.

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The solo exhibition allows the audience to time travel to the world of the late painter Lưu Công Nhân. From watercolor sketches to large-scale paintings, old documents, and even a typewriter on display, the paintings will take us through different time periods of his artistic career.

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Even though both the painting’s creator and muse have left us behind, a part of their life will live on with us in an important relic of Vietnam’s 20^th century history.

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An exhibition that brings the audience through the transition between day and night, and movements between dream and memories. There is no beginning and no end, and all elements above somehow reflect the cycle of our existence.

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To Đặng Thái Tuấn, the talent behind illustration project “Vietnam Retropunk,” whimsical depictions of robots and animatronics sprouting out from everyday objects and activities embody the space in between the ancient and the futuristic.

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It’s not Hoàng Thùy Linh’s catchy dance track ‘See Tình’ or the crossover Mekong Delta hit ‘Con gái miền Tây,’ the first Vietnamese song to amass one billion — or bill-ion, if you will — on YouTube is a children’s song about ducks.

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“This is not a tour, remove that word from your minds. This is an interacting and exploring journey,” explained Angeline Gong, an experienced art host known by Saigon’s artists and galleries as Z-Gong.

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Nature has numerous ways to make itself known: male peacocks fan out their glorious tail made up of iridescent eye-patterned feathers to attract peafowls; blue-ringed octopuses don’t need to invent any dance, just their menacing aquamarine coat is enough to warn predators about a poisonous death should they dare to take a bite; on the chaotic streets of Saigon, xe trái cây flaunt their colorful mosaics of freshly peeled tropical fruits, as plump and juicy as the divine offerings of Zeus’s banquet, to entice heat-stricken riders to stop by for a refreshing respite.

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The punishing mid-day sun dictates the pace of life in the corridor between Phan Rang and Cam Ranh, where locals escape to their living rooms or hammocks, and tourists seek the cooling breeze of the beach, seafood restaurants or resort pools. Perhaps one of the most underrated ways to take refuge from the heat is to duck into one of the nearby grape vineyards where winding vines create a natural oasis.

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A delightfully bizarre place, Quy Nhơn’s Quy Hoà leprosy colony deserves exploration in full, but clustered in a grove of trees on its outskirts in Nhân Ái Park stands a particularly peculiar assemblage of more than 50 cement busts atop podiums. Who are they? One must walk closer to find out.

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Fabric scraps, often considered industrial waste, are “revived” by members of Vụn Art cooperative by turning them into intricate silk artworks.

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How can photo booths be a new trend if they’ve been around forever?

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Contemporary art can intimidate viewers. People often think they need familiarity with certain histories, theories, philosophies and biographies to appreciate a painting. I have friends who do not have a formal art education or extensive art background and thus think visual art is not for them. 

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Staying in one place for an extended period can lead to what's known as the "boiled frog effect."

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Stuck in traffic on a Honda Cub, but make it fashion.

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Ever since the beginning of time, Ê-đê people have treated water as a respected resource of the community. Water, in their belief, is the life force bringing about bountiful harvests for the villages.

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