Biographies
He has been a member of the Curatorial Board of Nhà Sàn Collective since 2013, a member of the Curatorial Board of Á Space since 2024. As an individual curator he has curated: Đâu Hoàn Đó (Á Space, Hanoi, 2025), Skylines with flying people 4 (Mini Kingkho, Hanoi, 2020) with the Appendix Group, 4th Quarter Report (Á Space, Hanoi, 2023), Heart on the Margin (Manzi Art Space, Hanoi, 2023), Morning – Noon – Afternoon – Evening (Á Space, Hanoi, 2022), IN:ACT (Nhà Sàn Collective, 2017-present) and Tái Nạm (Mơ Art Space, Hanoi, 2022).
As an experimental theatre maker working under the alias Tr. A I, he has in recent years quietly ventured into fiction writing and theatrical experimentation. This sustained creative pursuit culminated in the novel Trân Trân, compiled through careful observation and material drawn from both life and literature. A Lưu, an experimental theatre production (Hanoi Children’s Palace, 2024) marked his third theatrical adaptation of Trân Trân. It follows Mr. Phó Hà San – A Floating Cricket Carcass (The Outpost Art Organisation, 2023), based on short stories from Trân Trân, and A Rendezvous at Minh Dĩ Ký 明以記 (Á Space, 2022), inspired by a true story recorded in Volume II, Chapter 34 of the memoir by Trần Áng, a writer for the Agriculture Department.
Nguyễn Huy An is one of his generation’s most dynamic and innovative Vietnamese artists, known for performances, that are almost meditative in their precision and for works that measure, capture, and consolidate what is intangible, formless, and conceptual. Using humble materials such as strands of hair, threads of textile, coal, ink, and dust — often imbued with deeply personal significance, like his mother’s hair or textile threads from his childhood village, Huy An evokes a vivid, shadowy, and melancholic atmosphere. His practice reflects a yearning for fading times in the face of rapid modernity and delves into the darkness of psychology through painting, performance, and installation. His works have been highly acclaimed by international critics and curators for their introspective, simple, and conceptually strong approach.
Huy An has exhibited widely in Vietnam and internationally. Key exhibitions and festivals include: White Noise (Nguyen Art Foundation, HCMC, 2023); Âm Sáng (Galerie Quynh, HCMC, 2019); Calculus Exercise #6/5 (Manzi Art Space, Hanoi, 2018); 78 Rhythms (Galerie Quynh, HCMC, 2014); 14th Istanbul Biennial — SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms (curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, 2015); Miền Méo Miệng: Contemporary Art from Vietnam (Bildmuseet, Umeå University, Sweden, 2015); Residual: Disrupted Choreographies (Carré d’Art — Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nimes, France, 2014); If The World Changed (Singapore Biennale, 2013); Sounds of Dust (somniloquy) (943 Studio Kunming, China, 2011); Lim Dim (Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway, 2009); Tầm Tã (San Art, HCMC, 2009); and the Nippon International Performance Art Festival (NIPAF, Tokyo, 2007). In 2010, he co-founded Phụ Luc) with artists Vu Duc Toan and Hoang Minh Duc, a performance art collective that has appeared in festivals across Vietnam, Singapore, and China. Nguyễn Huy An graduated from the Vietnam Fine Art University in 2008. He currently lives and works in Hanoi.
Huy An has exhibited widely in Vietnam and internationally. Key exhibitions and festivals include: White Noise (Nguyen Art Foundation, HCMC, 2023); Âm Sáng (Galerie Quynh, HCMC, 2019); Calculus Exercise #6/5 (Manzi Art Space, Hanoi, 2018); 78 Rhythms (Galerie Quynh, HCMC, 2014); 14th Istanbul Biennial — SALTWATER: A Theory of Thought Forms (curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, 2015); Miền Méo Miệng: Contemporary Art from Vietnam (Bildmuseet, Umeå University, Sweden, 2015); Residual: Disrupted Choreographies (Carré d’Art — Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nimes, France, 2014); If The World Changed (Singapore Biennale, 2013); Sounds of Dust (somniloquy) (943 Studio Kunming, China, 2011); Lim Dim (Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway, 2009); Tầm Tã (San Art, HCMC, 2009); and the Nippon International Performance Art Festival (NIPAF, Tokyo, 2007). In 2010, he co-founded Phụ Luc) with artists Vu Duc Toan and Hoang Minh Duc, a performance art collective that has appeared in festivals across Vietnam, Singapore, and China. Nguyễn Huy An graduated from the Vietnam Fine Art University in 2008. He currently lives and works in Hanoi.
Ngô Thành Bắc is an artist currently living and working in Hanoi. In 2008, Bắc graduated from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts. His practice revolves around obsessions with the past and the ease with which memories can fade. Through works characterized by slow, journey-like rhythms, Bắc confronts the past, gains clarity about the present, and reimagines the future. In addition to performance, he has a deep understanding of lacquer (sơn ta) and creates spatially responsive installations.
Ngô Thành Bắc has participated in various exhibitions and performance art festivals both in Vietnam and internationally. Most recently, he took part in the 12th Berlin Biennale with his work Trồng Cây Chuối (Headstand, 2007/2022) and in Documenta 15 as part of Nhà Sàn Collective’s BẾN Project with a group work by The Appendix’s I-Ching Hexagram #59.
Ngô Thành Bắc has participated in various exhibitions and performance art festivals both in Vietnam and internationally. Most recently, he took part in the 12th Berlin Biennale with his work Trồng Cây Chuối (Headstand, 2007/2022) and in Documenta 15 as part of Nhà Sàn Collective’s BẾN Project with a group work by The Appendix’s I-Ching Hexagram #59.
For over a decade, Hải Đăng has focused on developing training and visual arts appreciation programs for students of various ages. He currently manages, teaches, designs, and implements visual arts curricula for the Vinschool education system. He also regularly consults on the development of visual arts programs for other educational systems and international schools.
She received her artistic training from Hanoi DOCLAB, an independent space for experimental filmmaking and video art. From 2019 to 2021, she began her curatorial career at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Vietnam’s first purpose-built contemporary art space in Ho Chi Minh City. From 2022 to 2024, she served as Artistic Director of Á Space, an independent, non-profit art space dedicated to experimental practices in Hanoi, she spearheaded numerous exhibitions, cultivated a platform for emerging artists and curators, co-convened the first national curatorial conference in collaboration with Vietnam National University, Hanoi (2024–ongoing), and served as one of the chief curators of the Hanoi Creative Design Festival (2023–2024).
In 2025, Vân relocated to Bangkok to join deCentral as curator and deepen her engagement with Southeast Asia, while continuing to serve on Á Space’s Curatorial Board.
Our Collection focuses on artists connected in any way to Vietnam and refuses to limit artists by a definition of identity that is restricted to nationality, instead prioritizing their practice, experimentation, and criticality as defining factors. The Collection thus features work from both Vietnamese and foreign artists, enlarging the definition of what can be considered “art from Vietnam”.
With education at the core of our values, NAF partners with the EMASI Schools and Renaissance International School Saigon, embedding artworks into the students’ daily life by featuring its Collection and hosting thematic exhibitions, both across different campuses and in dedicated art spaces. NAF aspires to connect with and offer students, as well as our local audience, a chance to engage with groundbreaking forms of artistic production from Vietnam and beyond.
Last updated: 25/09/2025 — subject to continuous revision