Hà Nội-based filmmaker and artist Nguyễn Trinh Thi. Photo courtesy of the artist

HÀ NỘI - Vietnamese artist Nguyễn Trinh Thi and the Nhà Sàn Collective have been selected to participate in the 15th edition of contemporary arts exhibition Documenta (Documenta 15) in Germany’s Kassel next year.

Thi is a Hà Nội-based filmmaker and artist. She uses montage to compose her works, drawing on different media, from her own audio and visual recordings to found footage and still images from postcards, photography, newsreels, Hollywood films and ethnographic footage.

She is also interested in incorporating new media into current works, including organic materials and natural forces.

Her films and video artworks have been shown at festivals and art exhibitions, including the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (2018); 21st Biennale of Sydney (2018); International Film Festival Rotterdam (2016); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2015); CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux (2015); 13th Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale (2015); Asian Art Biennial, Taichung (2015), among others. 

In 2009, Thi founded Hanoi DOCLAB, an independent centre for documentary film and moving images in Hà Nội. In 2015 – 2016, she was a fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Programme.

Nhà Sàn Collective began operating as an independent artist collective in Hà Nội in 2013, when a group of friends set up a publicly accessible space.

Nhà Sàn Collective has worked with fellow companions and collaborators to organise exhibitions, workshops, film screenings, talks, and other activities as a support platform for artists in the community.

Documenta is one of the world's most prestigious exhibitions of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. 

The 15th Documenta will be curated by an artist collective from Indonesia and will take place from 18 June to 25 September 2022. 

Works of art representing the disciplines of painting, photography and art installation will be presented at various exhibition venues scattered throughout the much-anticipated event of artists' communities worldwide. VNS