Nguyen Manh Hung is a Vietnamese contemporary artist. His art draws on the national and cultural history of Vietnam, as well as personal and contemporary life experiences. As a multi-disciplinary artist, he creates sculptures, paintings, digital images and installations. He is a performing artist and musician as well. Influenced by early and contemporary surrealism this emerging artist is living and working in Hanoi, where he is also known as the curator of the Nhasan Studio.
"Living together in Paradise" a diadorama sculpture by Nguyen Manh Hung.
I was born and raised for 20 years in an apartment block in the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi. Contemporary thinking might see this urban structure as one that isolates people even while living at such close quarters. I experienced it more as a complex "village" stacked vertically rather than spread out horizontally.
"Living Together in Paradise" is an extension and improvement of this urban village and living space. One where farming, growing vegetables and upgraded living conditions prevail. A place where people share everything, but do not have much privacy. I asked myself: "Could angels live together in a paradise?"
"One Planet / The Barricade"
In this difficult time of the subsidized economy, a standard apartment can be shared by two or three families. They have to negotiate how to divide the space to live together. If one family gets the bathroom then they have to give up the kitchen to the other family, and share the toilet. With cramped living conditions, lack of water, and a difficult economy, these families often have to expand the living space with a cage, install their own water pump and pipes, and bring livestock and poultry into their apartments to improve their life.
These factors alter the shape and structure of the building as much as they affect the lifestyle of the inhabitants. Life in these buildings isn't the usual life of people in urban areas, but rather a high-rise village superimposed on its urban cousin.
The people of Vietnam continue to suffer the consequences of a violent war history. In this work, I use images associated with Vietnamese life and war, such as apartment blocks and barricades, combined in one installation. This presents a perspective about war in the language of art.
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