Things to do in Vietnam this week

Book Exhibition “Vietnam Eye: Contemporary Vietnamese Art”
“Vietnam Eye: Contemporary Vietnamese Art” is a publication featuring 56 Vietnamese emerging contemporary artists, 19 out of whom will have artworks presented in the exhibition at Casa Italia, Hanoi from 14 Nov 2016 to 13 Jan 2017.
The book and the exhibition offer an overview of one of the newest and most exciting scenes in the global art world. Vietnam has developed rapidly in the last ten years with a new generation of contemporary artists who balance cultural and social issues with a contemporary outlook. This is a generation of artists who are aware of both the history of Vietnamese art as well international art world. The exhibition is curated by Serenella Ciclitira (Founder of Parallel Contemporary Art), Nigel Hurst (CEO of Saatchi Gallery), Niru Ratnam (Director of START) and Tran Luong (artist). It features work by both established and emerging Vietnamese contemporary artists. The book is edited by Serenella Ciclitira and published by SKIRA. Alongside detailed information on each artists, it includes contextualizing essays on Vietnamese contemporary art, offering an in-depth look at country’s artists.
Alongside the main exhibition there will be a series of satellite exhibitions, which will take place at nest by AIA in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The satellite exhibitions will combine artist presentations and educational workshops for children and families. The first satellite event launches on 19 November in Hanoi, featuring artist Ha Tri Hieu.
Art Exhibition “Life Is A Game”
An art showcase of brand new collections by Nguyen Da Quyen (Mixed Media, Acrylic) and Christopher Skouenborg (Photography) on the theme “Games of Childhood” through different means of arts: mixed media, photography. A temporary art event at unexpected places, less formal than a gallery or museum but more formal than private artistic showing of work. The concept began in 2007 in New York City. This Pop-Up Exhibition is hosted at a French-style building built before 1945 and recently renovated to be a café and restaurant
The exhibition will end up on 15 Jan 2017 at XƯA, 69 Ngô Tất Tố, Bình Thạnh District, HCMC
Exhibition “Scry” by Phi Phi Oanh
SCRY features Phi Phi Oanh’s latest series of lacquer paintings on glasses which she has worked and experimented on for years.
Scrying is the act of divination through focused gazing into a glass or reflective medium. In this exhibition, magnifying glasses are used to view the lacquer skins. The title, Scry, suggests the character of the images presented as embracing of ambiguity and visual magic and that they are desperate attempts to grasp what the future beholds. For this series of paintings, the dimensions of the skins emulate that of a touch tablet screen. Using this visual trope, through lacquer painting, the artist loosely reflects on contemporary imagery—that which new technologies such as drones, digital, satellite, nanotechnology can visualize. They too are a kind of looking glass through which we can grasp our surrounding and material world.
The magnifying glasses augment the illusion of magic in lacquer painting while simultaneously giving away its means of construction. The skins are back lit and front lit to optimize the pure qualities of the lacquer painting that one would not be able to see on another surface.
The exhibition will end up on 16 Jan 2017 at Manzi Art Space
Vietnam – Korea Giant Lantern Festival
Following the huge success of previous festivals in many countries such as the UK, the USA, Korea, Japan and Taiwan with millions of visitors, the first giant lantern festival will be held in Vietnam. The event, sponsored by both Vietnam and South Korea, includes the display of 40 giant lanterns (each 10-30 meters tall) that depict popular animated characters as well as famous scenic spots in Vietnam and Korea.
Festival will end up on 22 Jan 2017 at LePARC shopping mall Gamuda City, Phap Van, Hoang Mai, Hanoi.
 “The Prolonged Interventions” by Le Phi Long
This project features photographs and an installation by Le Phi Long, accompanied by a video documentary directed by Le Phi Long, commissioned and produced by Madeleine Cao – founder of the social enterprise OpenM Corp.
Le Phi Long is always attuned to representations and interventions of site. Initially trained in interior design, he states that site plays an important role in influencing the audience’s experience with a photograph or installation. These objects, in return, can provide keys to challenge conventional assumptions about the site, or unlock discourses and social issues pertinent to it. One such issue that concerns him is the impact of human waste on the land. Thus, his project at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre (The Factory), The Prolonged Interventions, explores both Lê’s fascination with site and his preoccupation with the overwhelming presence of waste in both urban and rural environments. The photographic series Hidden Future is documentation of a site-specific project that Le produced as part of a larger environmental endeavor called ‘Clean Up the Beach’, organized by OpenM Corp. Situated on Ly Son Island, an increasingly popular travel destination in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam, the production of these photographs was a
collaborative effort between Le and 70 volunteers to collect garbage around the island, sort it according to size, shape, and colors, and stitch the pieces together with rope to create a ‘trash’ nets that wraps around To Vo Gate – Ly Son’s iconic limerock archway created by volcano lava and worn out by sea waves over millions of years. The camera angle, in some of the photographs, mimics snapshots taken by tourists standing underneath To Vo Gate. In Le’s imagery however, the brightly colored net that consumes this local icon disrupts the popular scenic location, bringing to light the usually hidden problem of how a natural landmark is being suffocated by the artificial garbage left behind by locals and tourists. In Hidden Future, Le juxtaposes the natural wonder of Ly Son with the waste of human life, posing the question of ecological repercussions of modern consumer attitudes.
The exhibition will end up on  22 Jan 2017 at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, 15 Nguyen U Di, Thao Dien, D.2, Ho Chi Minh City