TRUONG CONG TUNG - VIETNAM
Trương Công Tùng grew up in Dak Lak among diverse ethnic communities in Vietnam's Central Highlands. He graduated from the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University in 2010, majoring in lacquer painting. With a research focus spanning science, cosmology, philosophy, and environmental studies, he works across various media, including video, installation, painting, and found objects. His work reflects personal contemplations on the cultural and geopolitical transformations driven by modernization, as seen through the evolving ecology, beliefs, and mythology of his homeland. Trương is also a member of Art Labor (founded in 2012), a collective that bridges visual art and social/life sciences to produce alternative, informal knowledge through artistic and cultural activities in various public contexts and locales.
Trương Công Tùng has exhibited extensively both in Vietnam and internationally, as a solo artist and as part of the Art Labor Collective. Selected exhibitions include: "Trail Dust" a solo exhibition at Canal Projects, New York (2024); "The Disoriented Garden... A Breath of Dream" at Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2023); Sa Sa Art Project, Phnom Penh (2024); Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok (2024) and MUSEION, Bolzano (2024), supported by the Han Nefkens Foundation, where he won the Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant 2023.
His work also featured in The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia (2024), "Cloud Chamber" (2024) Para Site,Hong Kong; "The Spirits of Maritime Crossing" (2024), organized by the Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation as a Collateral Event of the 60th Venice Biennale. Other notable exhibitions include “Is it morning for you yet?” at the 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA (2022); “State of Absence…Words out there. A collaborative installation by plants, insects, earth, water, ash, air... and Trương Công Tùng,” at Manzi Art Space, Hanoi (2021); “The Sap Still Runs” (2019) at Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City; “Between Fragmentation and Wholeness” at Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City (2018); “A Beast, a God, and a Line” at Para Site, Hong Kong (2018), and at the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2018); Dhaka Art Summit(2018); “Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs” at Para Site, Hong Kong (2017) and at Kadist, San Francisco (2016); “Across the Forest” for Project Skylines with Flying People 3 at Nhà Sàn Collective, Hanoi (2016); and “Gestures and Archives of the Present, Genealogies of the Future” at the Taipei Biennial, Taiwan (2016).
Trương Công Tùng lớn lên ở Đăk Lăk, giữa nhiều dân tộc thiểu số ở Tây Nguyên, Việt Nam. Anh tốt nghiệp Đại học Mỹ thuật Hồ Chí Minh năm 2010, chuyên ngành sơn mài. Với quan tâm nghiên cứu về khoa học, vũ trụ học và triết học, và môi trường Trương Công Tùng thực hành đa phương tiện với video, sắp đặt, hội hoạ và vật phẩm (found objects), phản ánh suy nghĩ và băn khoăn cá nhân về những biến thiên văn hoá và địa chính trị trong tiến trình hiện đại hóa, thường nằm ẩn trong thay đổi của hệ sinh thái, niềm tin hay thần thoại của một miền đất. Anh cũng là thành viên của nhóm Art Labor (thành lập năm 2012), một collective làm việc giữa nghệ thuật thị giác và khoa học xã hội/đời sống nhằm tạo kiến thức thay thế và phi chính thống qua hoạt động nghệ thuật-văn hóa trong những bối cảnh công cộng và địa phương đa dạng.
Trương Công Tùng đã triển lãm rộng rãi ở Việt Nam và quốc tế với tư cách cá nhân cũng như tham gia triển lãm nhóm cùng Art Labor Collective. Một số triển lãm gần đây bao gồm “Nhựa Cây Vẫn Chảy” (2019) tại Sàn Art, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Bangkok Biennale (2018), “Between Fragmentation and Wholeness” (“Giữa Phân Mảnh và Toàn Thể”) tại Galerie Quỳnh, Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (2018), “A Beast, a God, and a Line” (“Một Thú, Một Thánh, Một Đường Kẻ”) tại Para Site, Hong Kong (2018) và Bảo tàng Nghệ thuật Hiện đại, Warsaw (2018), Dhaka Art Summit, tại Dhaka (2018), Carnegie International phiên bản thứ 57 tại Bảo tàng nghệ thuật Carnegie (2018), Hội chợ nghệ thuật Cosmopolis tại Trung tâm Pompidou, Paris (2017), “Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs” (“Đất và Đá, Hồn và Khúc Điệu”) tại Para Site, Hong Kong (2017) và Kadist, San Francisco (2016), “Across the Forest” (Bên Kia Rừng Rậm)—một sắp đặt cho dự án Những Chân Trời Có Người Bay 3 tại Nhà sàn Collective, Hà Nội (2016) và “Gestures and Archives of the Present, Genealogies of the Future” (“Hành vi và Lưu trữ Hiện tại, Gia phả Tương lai”) tại Taipei Biennial, Đài Loan (2016).
EDUCATION
2010 Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts, major in Lacquer Painting, Ho Chi Minh University of Fine Arts, Vietnam.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 "Trail Dust" a solo exhibition at Canal Projects, New York (2024)
2023-2024
"The Disoriented Garden... A Breath of Dream" at Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City (2023); Sa Sa Art Project, Phnom Penh (2024); Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok (2024) and MUSEION, Bolzano (2024), supported by the Han Nefkens Foundation, where he won the Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant 2023.
2021 A State of Absence…Words out there. A collaborative installation by plants, insects, earth, water, ash, air... and Trương Công Tùng, Manzi Art Space, Hanoi, Vietnam
2018 Between Fragmentation and Wholeness, Galerie Quynh, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2016 Across the Forest, Nha San Collective, Hanoi, Vietnam
2011 Above The Sky, Under the Sea, San Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2008 The Scratch, Himiko Visual Salon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia
"The Spirits of Maritime Crossing" , organized by the Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation as a Collateral Event of the 60th Venice Biennale.
2022 Is it morning for you yet? 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, USA
2020 People, Victory and Life after the War, A two-chapter exhibition from the Nguyen Art Foundation collection, Vietnam
Home: Looking Inward to the Outer World, The Factory Contemporary Art Centre, Saigon, Vietnam
2019 The Sap still runs, San Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2018 Constructing mythologies, Edouard Malingue gallery, Hong Kong
A beast, a god, and a line, curated by Cosmin Costinas, travelling exhibition at Para Site, Hong Kong; Dhara Art Summit, Bangladesh; and Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Poland
Spirit of Friendship, Factory Contemporary Art Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2017 Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs, curated by Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero, Para Site, Hong Kong and Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, organized by Kadist and Para Site
2016 Taipei Biennale, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs, curated by Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero, MCAD, Manila, Philippines, organized by Kadist and Para Site, Hong Kong
2015 Mien Meo Mieng/ Contemporary Art from Vietnam, curated by Tran Luong, Bildmuseet Umea University, Sweden
South by Southeast, curated by Patrick Flores and Anca Verona Mihulet, Osage Art Foundation, Hong Kong.
Magic Mountain, Museum Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, USA.
2014 Ghosts – Spies – Grandmothers, curated by Park Chan Kyong, SeMA Biennale Media City, Seoul, Korea
Haunted Thresholds: Spirituality in Contemporary Southeast Asia, curated by Lauren Reid, Kunstverein Gottingen, Germany
Fictive Communities Asia, curated by Shingo Yamano and Makiko Hara, Koganecho Bazaar, Yokohama, Japan
2013 The Festival of Independents, Charlie Dutton Gallery, London, England
Destruo, Nha San Collective, Hanoi, Vietnam
2012 South Country, South of Country, curated by Nhu Huy, Zerostation,Vietnam & Outsiders Factory, Taiwan
2011 Art Swap 1207, 1207 Temporary Art Space, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Books Set Sail, in collaboration with Thao Nguyen Phan, Asia Art Archive and San Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2010 My Older Sister, curated by Zoe Butt and Tammy Nguyen, San Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Bolero, curated by Nhu Huy, Zero Station, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Giao Chi, Gallery of Applied Arts, HCM University of Fine Arts, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Naptime noise, curated by Tammy Nguyen, L’usine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
169.7, 169.7, Apartment Gallery, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2009 Young Painters, HCM Fine Arts Association, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
EXHIBITIONS WITH ART LABOR COLLECTIVE
2024 Cloud Chamber, Para Site, Hong Kong
2021 Paradise Kortrijk, Triennale for contemporary art, Kortrijk, Belgium
2018 Carnegie international, 57th edition, 2018. Carnegie museum of art, Pittsburgh, USA
Bangkok Art Biennale, Beyond Bliss, 2018
A Beast, a God and a Line, Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh and Para Site, Hong Kong
2017 Cosmopolis#1: Collective Intelligence, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Asian Art Biennale, National Taiwan Museum of Fine arts, Taichung, Taiwan
2016 Public Spirits, curated by Meiya Cheng, Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland
The launch of Jarai Dew, Papet village, Gia Lai province, central highland of Vietnam,
2015 South by Southeast, a Further Surface, curated by Patrick Flores and Anca Verona Mihulet, Guangdong Times Museum, China
2014 Haunted Thresholds: Spirituality in Contemporary Southeast Asia, curated by Lauren Reid, Kunstverein Gottingen, Germany
2013 Unconditional Belief, SanArt, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam