Theme: Make yourself at home - Tự nhiên như ở Nhà

The rice paper stretches in rhyme with the body, enfolds each cut, embraces each breath. Made in rice, the crunchy rice paper turns off-white, fragile but resilient when coming, or returning, to water.

Located amongst waterways, Saigon has witnessed, welcomed and nurtured different migrant groups. Through collective memories, stories and rapid rhythm of history and urban developments, we encounter each other. Here, “home” refers not to four enclosed walls but a sense of warmth and embracing the familiar and unfamiliar, making personal rhythm and space within a collective sharing.

With the spirit of “Make yourself at home”, “Dealing in Distance” will bring a series of exhibitions, performances, dance, drag, sound improvise sessions, workshops, screenings, collective cooking and dining, among other public programmes to Ho Chi Minh City from 16 to 18 January, 2026. Together, we will create a “place” for transnational and intercultural dialogues, where we can share and archive personal histories and collective memories through multi-sensory experience. Each practice from an artist offers an invitation to collectively share, confront and challenge rigid borders of identity, territory, and memories. They ask: How to redefine “home” and “belonging” through senses of migration?

Initiated by Goethe-Institut in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, and Manila in 2023, “Dealing in Distance” brings together artists based in Southeast Asia and Germany to explore themes of migration and identity across distance.