A video and sound installation by artists Cao Thanh Lan and Gregor Siedl. Photo courtesy of Manzi Art Space

HÀ NỘI — Artist duo Siedl/Cao -- a collaboration between Cao Thanh Lan from Việt Nam and Gregor Siedl from Austria -- is inviting audiences to experience a five-channel video and sound installation for free at Manzi Exhibition Space in Hà Nội's Ba Đình District.

The video and sound installation, entitled The Fifth Cardinal Direction, represents an expansion of the artists' critically acclaimed musical theatre work of the same name, which premiered at the Hà Nội Opera House in 2017 and subsequently debuted in Rotterdam and Vienna.

At the heart of the installation is a solitary figure whose age and subtle movements embody her humanity. Her voice, the sole audible element in the space, resonates with the essence of each life chapter: birth, coming of age, love, work and death.

The installation reimagines their theatrical work within a new medium and spatial framework, allowing a shift in the relationship between spectators and performer.

Each video consists of a continuous shot, with the performer maintaining her posture for the entire eight-minute duration. The artwork invites the viewer to pause and to step out of the fast-paced, fragmented rhythm of contemporary life and to engage with the larger temporal structures of human existence.

Siedl/Cao is a Vienna-based artist group working in the field of sound art, transdisciplinary art and contemporary music since 2013.

The group is one of five from Austria that received the New Austrian Sound of Music 2018-2020 award in the Contemporary Music category.

The installation is open to the public for free from 11am to 7pm every day except Mondays, with a maximum of six audience members in each time slot. The event runs until March 2 at the gallery at 2 Hàng Bún Lane, Ngõ Hàng Bún, Nguyễn Trung Trực Street, Ba Đình District. VNS