‘My Friend Makes’ art tour series, initiated by Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran, is an intimate sharing program featuring the artist’s close friends. These friends have been fostering a long-term friendship, growing together, and collaborating in artistic activities.

The program will kick off with the first session featuring artist Phan Thao Nguyen, who will visit Arlette’s solo exhibition ‘iii.x_Unrealized Utopia’. Thao Nguyen and Arlette have known each other since 2006 at Saigon Open City, a significant contemporary art effort in Southern Vietnam. This friendship led to a new collaboration when they co-founded the Art Labor collective in 2012, which is still active. Drawing from her deep understanding of her friend’s aesthetic and historical interests, Thao Nguyen will guide participants into the world of utopia, providing profound insights into Arlette’s practice and artistic journey.

About Phan Thao Nguyen: Phan Thao Nguyen is a visual artist based in Saigon who has exhibited at prestigious venues such as Pirelli HangarBiccoca Milan, the Venice Art Biennial, Tate St Ives, Chisenhale Gallery London, and WIELS Brussels. The subsequent sessions of My Friend Makes will feature groups of peers like Thao Nguyen and Arlette. These artists began their art practice during the transitional period of the mid-2000s in Saigon and are now considered a pioneering generation of contemporary Vietnamese art.

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