Talk by Andrea Fam
Assistant Curator, Singapore Art Museum

Who wants to remember a war? Which war, what memories and remembered by whom?

Vietnam – her land and people – has witnessed a range of wars across her history, and depending on whom you speak to, the accounts of their experiences would differ. Pivoting around the conceptual underpinnings of contemporary art from Vietnam, this talk will examine works by artists from North, Central and South Vietnam as well as diaspora artists in relation to the socio-political rebuilding of post-war / post-Doi Moi Vietnam. Of particular focus are the works by Nguyen Phuong Linh and other artists that worked with the former Nha San Studio and the present Nha San Collective, the Le Brothers, Bui Cong Khanh, and The Propeller Group.

This talk is organised in conjunction with the exhibitions “Who wants to remember a war?” and LINES: War Drawings and Posters from the Ambassador Dato’ N. Parameswaran Collection, which features posters, woodcuts and drawings from the French phase of the Indochina war of resistance against the Americans, and drawings and sketches of life and people at the frontlines.

About the speaker
Andrea Fam is an assistant curator at the Singapore Art Museum where she oversees the Indochina portfolio. She recently co-curated the exhibitions Singapore Biennale 2016 – An Atlas of Mirrors, Imaginarium: Over the Ocean, Under the Sea (2016), and Odyssey: Navigating Nameless Seas (2016).

Image : Detail from Linh Phuong Nguyen, Memory of the Blind Elephant (2016), Image credit to Ta Minh Duc.