Exhibitions
Vin Gallery
Sep 21 - Oct 26, 2024
All images courtesy of Vin Gallery
Vin Gallery is hosting XEM, visual artists collective from Vietnam, on a solo show titled “XEM Meta - 10th Anniversary Saigon Tour”. As a collective, XEM has continually pushed the boundaries of photography, emphasizing that their work is not confined to traditional photobook formats but extends into broader visual experimentation. This show will exhibit their long journey and commitment to challenging notions of photography and unravel its creative potential.
Over the years, XEM's members have navigated the complexities of collaboration while maintaining their individual artistic paths on the line. In their collective dynamics, they are able to compromise, discuss, support and share resources, in order to thrive as a group. Through shared experience, has led to the development of a unique visual language which puts experimentation in the foreground. The methods used such as incorporating techniques like collage, which arose unexpected results in their work.
Clockwise: Phan Quang, Self Portrait, Photographic print, 170cm x 100cm, 2013
Hoang Duong Cam, Falling Cloud, Video, 2008
Truc, Days and Nights Tell No Lies - Living in Paradise No. 1, Photo print in aluminum, 120 cm x 80 cm, 2014
UuDam Tran Nguyen, Contemporary Saint Giongs, Painted aluminum, 190cm x 120cm x 3cm, 2023
Quang Lam, Terra Utopia, Digitally enhanced photographs, (size variable), 2023
XEM is a collective of five Vietnamese visual artists: Phan Quang, Nguyễn Thanh Trúc, Hoàng Dương Cầm, Quang Lâm, and Ưu Đàm Trần Nguyễn who started publishing an art magazine as friends, connecting with the public through their art. With their diverse backgrounds, XEM as a collective, showcased their work, according to their own expertise within a shared space, bringing what was in several editions of the magazine over the decade, to realizing it as a seminal exhibition by group beyond the shores of Saigon.
Through a wide selection of videos, photo images, gaming sets, multimedia projections as well as found objects installation, and an inflatable sculpture (TBC), the show XEM Meta reorientated us to converse without speaking directly, creating room to contemplate on the carousel of meanings that surround things; reflect on what we see, who we are and how we make sense of things as we encounter them in our visual field.
