For 15 years Nhà Sàn has been synonymous with underground art in Hanoi. Now the younger generation, known as the Nhà Sàn Collective, is taking a new direction. Tuấn Mami talks about getting their work recognised by the authorities and seeking a wider audience in a space within hearing distance of St Joseph’s bells.
Words by Fabiola Büchele ● Edited by Rose Arnold ● Images by Thu Ha Dao
Tuấn Mami, contemporary artist and creative director of the Nhà Sàn Collective is standing in the doorway of a freshly painted room. This is to be the new exhibition space for Hanoi’s most controversial group of artists. For now it’s furnished by a ladder and a table with four Mac books where the upcoming opening is being planned.
An electrician is wiring a ceiling lamp, rubble is strewn all over the outside patio and the adjoining café looks like a furniture warehouse. The address is 24 Lý Quốc Sư. Within walking distance of Hoan Kiem lake, the complex is also home to Bar Betta’s second attempt on a second venue and Art Vietnam Gallery’s new showroom, which is at a similar stage of renovation. Bricks peek through half finished walls, concrete dust covers beautiful tiles and building rubble is obstructing the staircase leading up to the exhibitions space. The ancestor shrine has already been lit and it is unmissable that something to be excited about is in the making.
With the new location comes a shift in how Nhà Sàn artists are dealing with the authorities. A relationship which up to now was probably best described as mutual contempt. Permissions are being sought and granted. Changes are also being made to Nhà Sàn Collective’s organisational structure. What has been an artist led group up to now is embracing having directors, marketing staff and help with admin.
“We are suffering too much as an artist run space,” Tuấn Mami shouts over the skirl of a welder, “as artists we already have to deal with authorities. To then also have to do it as an organiser of shows is double trouble. To change that we have to change our status and have people working in different fields to support each other. ”
It is has been 15 years since artists Nguyễn Mạnh Đức and artist cum curator Trần Lường first established Nhà Sàn Studio. A safe haven for avant-garde art in Hanoi, it was forced to stay flexible and morph into various shapes as the art associated with it was viewed as provocative and prone to censorship. In 2013, three years after Nhà Sàn Studio unofficially closed, a vibrant second generation of experimental artists emerged as the Nhà Sàn Collective. It is they who are now gearing up to present their work to a wider audience.
After the closing of their first official space as Nhà Sàn Collective in Zone 9, which happened so quickly that not even their website is caught up yet, they took the lessons learned and asked themselves where it was they wanted to go. What it was they wanted to achieve. And though Tuấn Mami says this wasn’t an easy conclusion to come to, they did land on wanting to attract a bigger audience. That entails emerging from their underground existence and interacting with people outside of their close knit group: “When the public sees that we are legally accepted they will accept us as something right to engage with. They no longer have to fret over whether coming to one of our events is too underground.”
Is there any part of this process that scares him? “I am never scared. I don’t accept that feeling, but this is a very big deal for us as a collective, because the soul of our space is at stake. We were really careful about this change. We put all the matters on the table and asked is working with the authority a step back for us?” For Tuấn Mami the answer is no.
The artists would create art whether someone is looking or not, but, he says “its kind of a pity, because though art can move culture forward, it will affect nothing if no one sees it.” The new venue facilitates the space for the kind of interaction the collective is now seeking. Two rooms, ample outside space and the walls of a café offer plenty of display options. “When you have more people supporting what you are doing, your voice gets stronger, you have more power. And that is the only way to support the development of the culture here.”
Tuấn Mami points to a black brick wall, this is where Nguyễn Trinh Thi’s video will be shown. Photography by Nguyễn Quốc Thành and Nguyễn Thuỷ Tiên’s work will be exhibited on the opposite wall. Together with fellow artist Phương Linh, Tuấn Mami has chosen artworks from all 10 current Nhà Sàn members to show at what is their very first exhibition as a collective.
“I am bit nervous,” Tuấn Mami says to Suzanne Lecht, owner of Art Vietnam Gallery, who is taking a break from waiting for her walls to dry. She reassures him, they talk about future collaborations, growing pot plants on their shared entrance space – genuinely being excited about putting the finishing touches on a new art hub in Hanoi.
There was no time or money for new work, but rather The Clouds Will Tell will show the range of style and media and the experimental essence of the Nhà Sàn artists. Just what makes a Nhà Sàn artist though is an ongoing debate, says Tuấn Mami: “It was other people who started calling us Nhà Sàn artists. Internally we are still discussing what that means. The collective that we have established [in 2013] is not about the similarity of work, but the love for the experimental practice and the encouragement for each other to find new forms of art.”
Phương Linh emerges from the work room and calls time. Five minutes. Tuấn Mami needs to get back to work, enough chit chat. Just a quick last question: Why make art in the first place? “What else do you have? Money? It is not even a question.” It is his most impassioned answer yet: “I don’t believe anyone who says ‘I love money. Money is my god.’ I just don’t believe it.”
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Nhà Sàn Collective’s new space will open on 7 September with an exhibition showcasing work from all 10 current members. The works will be on display at 24 Lý Quốc Sư until 5 October 2014. The following artists and works will be shown:
Nguyễn Phương Linh – Mây/ Sanctified Clouds
Tuấn Mami– 1000 Nghệ phẩm mất bối cảnh – 1000 Art Objects Which Has Lost Its Context
Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng – đi chợ / streets of memory
Vũ Đức Toàn – Pháp chạy – Nhật hàng – Vua Bảo Đại thoái vị / “France Run- Japan Surrendered – Emperor Bao Dai abdicated”
Nguyễn Banga – Mặn/Salted
Nguyễn Trần Nam – Những chương vỡ/ The broken chapters
Nguyễn Trinh Thi – Jo Ha Kyu
Nguyễn Thuỷ Tiên – Case 1953
Nguyễn Quốc Thành – Qua phố nhớ gì?/ Street memory
Nguyễn Huy An – Ao/ Pond
