From Below, Upward an augmented reality project
Organized by Manzi Space, Into Thin Air 2 is an augmented reality exhibition gathering works that exist permanently and virtually at 10 public spaces of Hanoi. Visitors can come see/listen to the work at any time.
Download Into Thin Air 2 app to your phone or tablet:
For IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/…/app/into-thin-air-2/id1405507852…
For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details…
and choose the work you want to see, come to the site, and experience it via the app.
From Below, Upward, a virtual Installation by Oanh Phi Phi
This work is located in the skywell at the back of the Hôm Market, Huế Street entrance, Hai Bà Trưng District, Hanoi.
Through this work, Oanh Phi Phi points to the challenges of finding unclaimed and unprofitable spaces in the chaotic environment of a densely populated city and to the sense of detachment created by this urban habitat among migrants from rural areas.
In the selected location of the Hôm Market, fabrics, cheap clothing, foodstuff and general knick-knacks occupy every square meter of this utilitarian commercial space except for this sky well. Phi Phi Oanh utilizes this disregarded interstitial space to create the an image of a fish pond, projecting the gaze of the viewer from the urban setting into a nostalgic landscape.
A microcosm in constant motion, a fish pond or ao nhà has a symbolic place in village architecture that brings nostalgia to many Vietnamese. In Oanh Phi Phi's case, it is an inherited nostalgia learned from the stories of her father’s childhood and his memories of free play and endless time.
“From Below, Upwards”, references Di sotto in su, a type of Baroque ceiling painting that feature illusionistic breaks in architecture to reveal open skies above the viewer. Here, playing off the bodylessness of augmented reality, the source of this image file is lacquer painting on glass, a surface the artist has used in previous projects to experiment with dematerialisation and projected scale.
Obelus, 2016. Vietnamese Son Ta Lacquer on 315 individual iron bricks. Photo by Josephine Herbelin.
SCRY
An experimental exhibition of lacquer on glass at Manzi Alternative Artspace, Hanoi
December 16, 2016–January 16, 2017
Opening: December 16, 6:30pm
Manzi, 14 Phan Huy Ich, Hanoi
Scry exhibition. Viewing a Lacquerskin through a magnifying lens
Brief Artist statement:
Scrying is the act of divination through focused gazing into a glass or reflective medium. In this exhibit magnifying glasses are used to view the lacquer skins. The title, Scry, suggests the character of the images presented as embracing of ambiguity and visual magic and a desperate grasping at what the future beholds.
For this series of paintings, the dimension of the skins emulate that of a touch tablet screen. Using this visual trope, I loosely reflect on contemporary imagery or images that new technologies such as drones, digital, satellite, nano can visualize. They too are a kind of looking glass through which we can come to grasp the future.
The magnifying glasses augment the illusion of allurement in lacquer painting while simultaneously giving away its means of construction. The skins are back lit and front lit to optimize the pure qualities of the lacquer painting one would not be able to see on another surface.
Phi Phi Oanh,
Hanoi, November 2016
Parallel Slogan Paintings
Two sets of parallel slogan paintings interpreting classic poems. Four column paintings, 217x55cm/each, Son ta lacquer on Dau wood, Hanoi 2015.
Parallel Slogans
A smaller sculptural work titled Armour Piece
““This armor is composed of parts from different territories, cultures and historical times that have shaped my identity as a person. Representing a uniform, it shows how we are often called to be the bearer and custodian of contradictory thoughts and ideologies.” ”
Armor Piece, Son ta lacquer on epoxy composite reinforced with carbon fiber, sculptural painting, created in 2013. Photo from A Woman's View group show, at the Goethe Institute, Hanoi, March 2014.
Exhibition information
Opening: Fri 07 March 2014, 6 pm
Exhibition: 07 – 23 Mar 2014, 9 am – 7 pm
Woman’s Cinema – Film evening of the women: Sun 23 March, 2014, 6.30 pm
Goethe Institut
Curated by the Goethe Institut and Art Vietnam Gallery
The Great Wall, Collection of Chula, Hanoi
About the work "The Great Wall"
Bricks stacks line roads and villages waiting to be used in the construction frenzy overtaking Vietnam. The Great Wall contemplates the transformation of earth into a human dwelling, and how, piece by piece, mountains and fertile land transform into cities.
Relic-like, the brick stacks evoke the "glory" of ownership and the human desire to demarcate boundaries, possess territory, and exploit resources for consumption. This power left unbridled upon the fragile relationship with our surroundings is the ultimate cause of our global economic and environmental crisis.
The behavior of the son ta, a natural resinous substance, parallels this idea of material transformation. Although used here to represent brick, lacquer embodies the tactility of any solid matter- texture, weight, mass-- like no other painting medium.
The Great Wall examines this under-explored attribute of son ta lacquer.
Vietnamese natural lacquer (son ta) on wood with silver, aluminum and pigments
190 x 240 x 8 cm
Four panel painting (190 x 60 cm each)
Hanoi, 2009