World-renowned artist intertwines mythology and folklore with contemporary environmental and social changes

Thao Nguyen Phan
Reincarnations of Shadows
13 March – 11 August 2024

Kunsthal Charlottenborg is proud to present the first solo exhibition in Scandinavia with Thao Nguyen Phan to coincide with CPH:DOX, Copenhagen’s international documentary film festival. Internationally recognized for her combined use of moving image, painting, and sculpture, the artist creates dreamlike and poetic narratives that trace the history of her country in relation to contemporary environmental and social changes. Conceived as a layering of audio, visual, and tactile references, the exhibition explores Phan's practice highlighting its symbolic and imaginative qualities.

Invitation to the press preview: 12 March, 11.00-12.00
Kunsthal Charlottenborg invites the press to a preview of the exhibition, where artist Thao Nguyen Phan and curator Henriette Bretton-Meyer will be present and introduce the exhibition. Phan will be available for interviews in Copenhagen 4 – 15 March. For registration and interview requests, please contact: jmh@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk.

Thao Nguyen Phan studied painting at Ho Chi Minh University of Fine Arts, Lasalle College of Arts in Singapore and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Later she was later introduced to the moving image through the filmic works of, amongst others, the Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu, Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Joan Jonas, a pioneer of video and performance. Phan has developed a visual language in which pictorial matter, acting as a conceptual, narrative, and connective element, is combined with different media and supports, from textiles to printed books. In her videos, painting comes alive, creating a dreamlike imagery in which folk traditions, fairytale narratives, literature, philosophy, and everyday life merge. The artist traces Vietnam's turbulent historical events, reflecting on environmental and social changes related to human impact, such as the exploitation of natural resources and the destruction and colonization of the landscape.

Reincarnations of Shadows is organized by Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (where the exhibition was presented in the autumn of 2023) in collaboration with Kunsthal Charlottenborg. The title of the exhibition is adopted from Phan’s latest video, Reincarnations of Shadows (moving-image-poem) (2023). The work delves into the figure of artist Diem Phung Thi (1920-2002) – one of the first Vietnamese modernist women sculptors – who lived and worked between France and Vietnam. The video reflects on the social meanings of art history and architecture and the intergenerational relationships between women artists in post-colonial contexts. Here, Phan questions the possibilities for the reincarnation and re-signification of hidden symbols, gestures and rituals that have remained in the shadows, passed down through whispered oral narratives and often overpowered by the lingering effects of colonialism. Accompanied by a selection of Diem Phung Thi's own sculptural works from the 1970s-90s the video installation celebrates the career of this artist, until now an overlooked figure to the history of Vietnamese Modernism.

To access the latest work, the visitor is invited to walk through the large installation, No Jute Cloth for the Bones (2019-2023), composed of suspended raw jute stalks. The work is a reference to the Great Famine that occurred during the Japanese occupation of French Indochina between 1940-45, partially caused by the transformation of rice fields into jute plantations. This historical episode is also personally reinterpreted by the artist in the three-channel video, Mute Grain (2019), in which the collective trauma is retraced through folktales and photographic archives in dialogue with fantastical imagery with a decisive poetic force.

In Becoming Alluvium (2019-ongoing), an installation composed of video, lacquer paintings and watercolor on silk, the artist investigates the economic and social role of the Mekong River for the Southeast Asian region through a fable-like, surreal narrative. The story of two brothers and their successive reincarnations interweaves multiple perspectives on nature, love, and consumption, becoming a metaphor for human exploitation of the environment and its potential for regeneration.

The artist’s interest in local architecture and the Mekong River, a fundamental source of nourishment and connection for the people of Southeast Asia, is also reflected in the video, First Rain, Brise Soleil (2021–ongoing). Presented at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, the work is divided into several episodes, creating a poetic narrative between the real and the imaginary. Immersing the viewer in dreamlike choreographed glimpses inspired by the collective memory and myths of the historical conflicts between Vietnam and Cambodia (1977-91), the work explores universal themes relating to the environment, colonialism, and industrialization.

Thao Nguyen Phan says:
”The exhibition introduces the concepts of reincarnation and shadows. Indirectly, reincarnation is inspired by my Buddhist upbringing. Shadows in intrigued by my observations and many conversations with my mentor Joan Jonas, as well as from literary sources such as Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s ‘In Praise of Shadows’. Both concepts are loose and open-ended, and I hope – through a combined use of moving image, painting and sculpture – to embrace the poetic and lyrical dimensions regardless of the difficult subject matter.”

Tracing the artist's career from a new perspective through the overlay of canvases, screens, and moving images, the visitors are confronted with central themes of Phan's practice: The relationship between humans and nature; the colonization of Vietnam and its social transformations; the cultural intermingling of East and West, tradition and modernity, locality and globality; and the combination of memory, folklore, and myth to create collective narratives as an alternative to the official historical accounts imposed by dominant political forces.

The solo exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg is curated by Henriette Bretton-Meyer and introduces a deep layering of audio, visual and tactile references. Through more than 100 works from the past 10 years, the exhibition will present the artist's delicate and captivating oeuvre to the visitors including poetic film installations, meticulously executed silk and lacquer paintings, light sculptures, delicate watercolours and architectural interventions.

Over the years, CPH:DOX has manifested itself as one of the world's largest documentary film festivals. The exhibition with Thao Nguyen Phan opens on the same day as the festival, which has had its headquarters at Kunsthal Charlottenborg since 2017. Every year during CPH:DOX, Kunsthal Charlottenborg is converted into an international festival palace with both exhibitions, cinemas, debates, an industry forum and a virtual reality cinema.

The exhibition is supported by The Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen's Foundation, The Augustinus Foundation, The Beckett Foundation, The Danish Arts Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, The William Demant Foundation.

About the artist
Thao Nguyen Phan (b. 1987, Ho Chi Minh City; lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City) has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in international institutions including Pirelli HangarBicocca (2023), 59. Venice Art Biennale, Tate St Ives (2022), Kochi-Muziris Biennale, New Museum Triennial, New York, MOMENTA Biennale de l'image, Montréal (2021); WIELS, Brussels, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2020); Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, Lyon Biennale, and Sharjah Biennial (2019); Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh, and Para Site, Hong Kong (2018); Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha San Collective, Hanoi (2017); and Bétonsalon, Paris (2016). Between 2016 and 2017, she was included among the Protegée Rolex, accompanied by Joan Jonas as a mentor, among the most recognized living artists and performers. In addition, in 2019 she was shortlisted for the Hugo Boss Asia Art Award and won the Han Nefkens Foundation - LOOP Barcelona Video Art Award 2018. Thao Nguyen Phan is co-founder of the Art Labor collective, Ho Chi Minh City, which explores interdisciplinary practices and develops art projects to benefit the local Vietnamese community.

Practical information
Thao Nguyen Phan: Reincarnations of Shadows
13 March – 11 August 2024
Press preview: 12 March, 11.00-12.00
Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Kongens Nytorv 1, 1050 Copenhagen K
Further info here

For more information about the exhibition, please contact:

Henriette Bretton-Meyer
Curator, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
hbm@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk / (+45) 3374 4680

Press contact
Jeannie Møller Haltrup
Head of Communications, Kunsthal Charlottenborg
jmh@kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk/ (+45) 3374 4629

www.kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk
www.facebook.com/charlottenborg.kunsthal
www.instagram.com/kunsthalcharlottenborg
www.youtube.com/c/KunsthalCharlottenborg