Life
Art Talk “Story of the Water Puppetry”
“Story of the Water Puppetry”, the talk is part of the project “Reimagine Artist/Artisan”, hosted by artist Ngo Thanh Bac and puppet artisan/ performance artist Phan Thanh Liem will be held at Six Space on 8 Jan.
Through the conversation, audience would be introduced to mini water puppetry and its value in the field of visual art.
The two artists will share their personal journey in art, talk about the value and structure of water puppets as a mini version, as well as their coordination and roles within the scope of the “Reimagine Artist/Artisan” project.
Ngo Thanh Bac graduated from Fine Art University in 2008. He participated in numerous exhibitions with visual and performance work. He is one of the six members of Annex Group – a performance art group that use daily objects as analogical tools to demonstrate repetitive and somewhat unreasonable behavior over an extended period of time in order to reflect social issues or personal preoccupations.
Phan Thanh Liem was born in a family with seven generations that have been preserving water puppetry in the northern province of Vietnam. His granfather, Phan Van Huyen, was a puppet craftman and artisan and his father, the famous puppeteer Phan Van Ngai, created the mobile water puppetry stage. He also made chu Teu (a humorous farmer) puppet, which is displayed in France’s Louvre Museum. Phan Thanh Liem is the very first artisan who created mini water puppetry and has been performing both in Vietnam and oversea.
After various field trips to traditional craft villages, artist Ngo Thanh Bac, as a member of the research project, chose water puppets as the main materials for his work “Do I 
Need to Introduce My Name Here?”, which will be exhibited along with other four art works in Six Space from January 5th to January 12th, 2017. He has learned from and worked together with artisan/artist Ngo Thanh Liem to make the puppets, and then cooperated them into his installment of a mini communal house and pond built within a small crate.
Need to Introduce My Name Here?”, which will be exhibited along with other four art works in Six Space from January 5th to January 12th, 2017. He has learned from and worked together with artisan/artist Ngo Thanh Liem to make the puppets, and then cooperated them into his installment of a mini communal house and pond built within a small crate.The two artists will share their personal journey in art, talk about the value and structure of water puppets as a mini version, as well as their coordination and roles within the scope of the “Reimagine Artist/Artisan” project.
Ngo Thanh Bac graduated from Fine Art University in 2008. He participated in numerous exhibitions with visual and performance work. He is one of the six members of Annex Group – a performance art group that use daily objects as analogical tools to demonstrate repetitive and somewhat unreasonable behavior over an extended period of time in order to reflect social issues or personal preoccupations.
Phan Thanh Liem was born in a family with seven generations that have been preserving water puppetry in the northern province of Vietnam. His granfather, Phan Van Huyen, was a puppet craftman and artisan and his father, the famous puppeteer Phan Van Ngai, created the mobile water puppetry stage. He also made chu Teu (a humorous farmer) puppet, which is displayed in France’s Louvre Museum. Phan Thanh Liem is the very first artisan who created mini water puppetry and has been performing both in Vietnam and oversea.
