HÀ NỘI — Artists of different nationalities and backgrounds will co-organise an event that features an interplay of literature, art and music from the East and West in Hà Nội next month.

Gương vô cực (Infinity Mirror), an exhibition-performance, will take place from September 14 to October 31 at ‘L’Espace’, the French cultural centre in Hà Nội. The event is a fusion of different inspirations. ‘Encounter and Convergence’ features calligrapher Christian Hadengue from France, painter Lê Thừa Tiến from Việt Nam, composer Mark Lockett from England and poet Hubert Haddad from Tunisia.   

The unique blend of styles will offer audiences a chance to discover Christian’s calligraphic works and Tiến’s paintings, with a backdrop of Mark Lockett’s music and Hubert Haddad’s poetry.

“This is a meeting between artists who have adopted a language naturally ‘out of step’ with their cultural background (Western and Asian). A creation that reveals a deep fascination with ‘otherness’ in matter and in spirit,” according to Christian.

Christian wrote on fr.ulule.com that: “The question of cultural transversality becomes a deliberate choice. The notion of ‘origin’ is sidestepped, so that an instinctive and intuitive vision is found: a way of thinking beyond defined cultural boundaries.”

After having developed a style of sculpture during fifteen years of research into Raku techniques (Japanese ceramics) and having practiced thermoformed glass and bronze, Christian turned, in 2000, to a form of abstract calligraphy, which he developed in the form of leporello and paper mounted on canvas.

He also lead experimental workshops in sculpture, printmaking and painting in France, Mexico and Laos. Christian has participated in numerous exhibitions in Europe, North America, and Asia and worked with Valérie Schlée and Alexandre Bergamini on the production of artists’ books.

Tiến lives and works in the ancient royal city of Huế.

His exceptional work reflects the culmination of a long and uncompromising search for a conceptual basis of abstraction. His large black mirror-effect lacquers are an architectural interpretation of the temple complex of Angkor, a symbolic work whose principle of reflection, refers to the questioning of space and time. 

Tiến exhibits in Việt Nam, Cambodia, Australia, Japan, the United States, France and Holland and teaches at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Huế.

Mark Lockett is a composer-performer, interdisciplinary artist and educator. His work addresses the evolution of forms and languages of improvisation, intercultural collaborations (notably Indonesian gamelan and Indian music), sound installations and performances.

His recent compositions explore the ideas of time and place, the present moment and its resonances with the past. As a pianist, he is best known for his interpretations of experimental music, from Erik Satie to John Cage, to Morton Feldman, as well as to his original compositions. From 1989 to 2002, he was director of the first degree course of Indian Music in the UK at City University, Birmingham. He now teaches ethnomusicology, composition and piano at the Carcassonne conservatoire. — VNS