The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre is pleased to collaborate with Guangdong Times Museum (Guangzhou, China) with ‘All the Way South Residency in Exchange’ in 2020/2021.

Congratulations to Ngọc Nâu (Vietnam) and Lee Kai Chung (Hong Kong), selected artists for ‘All the Way South Residency in Exchange’ program in 2020! 

In the second half of 2020, Ngọc Nâu will undertake a one month residency in Guangzhou; while in 2021, Lee Kai Chung will spend one month in Ho Chi Minh City. Following the exchange, one of the two selected artists will be granted with a production fund, based on a proposal developed in response to these geopolitical coordinates.

‘All the Way South” Residency Exchange’ situates artist research and production in a rich and complex constellation of the souths by revisiting, re-interrogating and recuperating undercurrents of culture across national and ideological borders. Historically, Canton (today known as Guangzhou) – where Guangdong Times Museum is located in – was the port of colonial trade and subaltern migration between China and the Souths of the world. Over the past thirty years, such trajectories and imageries have been largely overshadowed by the accelerated capital and material flow. By consolidating direct circuits between southern China and the souths of the world, and by supporting research-oriented residencies and commissions, the exchange aims to create new agencies of south-south resonance and cosmopolitanism. 

Further info on the artists and their projects:

Ngọc Nâu (lives and works in Hanoi, Vietnam) is a multimedia artist who graduated from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts, majoring in Art History and Criticism. Her work spans from moving images, video projection and hologram projection to augmented reality and collage photography. Ngọc Nâu has participated in various exhibitions and art projects in Japan, Hong Kong, Iceland, Korea, England, Canada, Singapore and Vietnam. Select exhibitions include: “Singapore Biennale 2019”, Singapore; “South Wind Rises Asia-Pacific Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Taiwan Art Education Center, Taiwan (2018); “Asian Diva: The Muse and The Monster”, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul (2017); “In Search of Miss Ruthless”, Para Site, Hong Kong (2017); “Technophobe”, The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City (2016); “Art Together With The Town”, Koganecho Bazaar, Yokohama (2015).

Nau’s visit to the Times Museum is tentatively scheduled for the second half of this year. Her intent is to explore the connection between the ritual of worshipping the ‘Three Palaces’ and ‘Four Palaces’ in Vietnam; and the Tin Hau (Empress of Heaven) religion in China. Tin Hau Temple, a temple for the worshipping of the Sea Goddess, is located in District 5 of Ho Chi Minh City. The temple was built in response to the migration of the Chinese from Guangdong to Vietnam in the 18th century, the same period when the worship of the Three Palaces and Four Palaces was publicly practiced. On the one hand, some research on religion in Vietnam has shown that the Three Palaces and Four Palaces was influenced by many aspects of China’s culture such as ritual etiquette, costumes, and philosophy. On the other hand, the Vietnamese government has sought historical evidence to confirm that the Three Places and Four Places rites originated in Vietnam.

Lee Kai Chung (lives and works in Hong Kong) performs research on historical events, political systems, and ideologies. His work addresses the lack of proper governance over archival records and forms of historiography. Through research, social participation and engagement, Lee considers the individual gesture as a form of artistic transgression, which resonates with existing narratives of history. Lee’s ongoing research project “Archive of the People” addresses the political standing of documents and archives in the social setting. In 2016, Lee established the collective “Archive of the People”, which serves as an extension of his personal research to include collaborative projects, education and publications. Lee Kai Chung was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong in 2014. He received the Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts) of Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2017 from Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2018. Recent exhibitions and projects include “Seoul Mediacity Biennale 2018”, “12th Shanghai Biennale: Proregress – Art in an Age of Historical Ambivalence” and “Artist Making Movement – Asian Art Biennial 2015”.

In mid 2021, Lee will spend time in Ho Chi Minh City. Since 2017, Lee has initiated a series of five projects under the notion of “displacement” and its historical implications under a pan-Asian context. The first in the series, The Retrieval, Restoration and Predicament (2017-19) examines material and ideological transitions in public statues in Hong Kong; the second, The Narrow Road to the Deep Sea (2019-20), scrutinizes human displacement in Hong Kong and Guangdong during the Imperial Japanese Occupation that led to the notorious Nanshitou Massacre. His proposal for research in Vietnam is derived from the second project, which centers on the usage and aftermath of the chemical weapon (CW)— Agent Orange— during the “American War” (Vietnam War). Taking this history of war as a point of departure, his initial intent for the residency project is to expand his research on biological and chemical warfare,  to examine the aftermath of its use, to study post-war arguments on reparations and redistribution of social resources.

Updates on their respective residencies will be shared as they progress!

For further information please contact: info@factoryartscentre.com

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