Duong Thuy Nguyen
Duong Thuy Nguyen
Born in Hanoi, Vietnam
Lives and works in London, UK
EDUCATION
University of the Arts London - Central Saint Martins (2021 - 2023) MA in Fine Art (Distinction) - Research Project: "Ghosts of a Damaged Present: Framing the Changing Habitats of Hanoi"
Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema (2014 - 2016) MA in Theatre studies
Hanoi Academy of Theatre and Cinema (2009 - 2013) BA in Costume Design for Performance
PRIZE/ AWARD/ OPEN SUBMISSION
2023 Maison/0 This Earth Award
2023 Winner of the art writing competition, FRESH TAKE 2023, hosted by Art and Market
2023 Shortlisted Mullenlowe Nova Award
2023 the Cass Art Prize Honourable
2022 Panel Discussion: how can Asian diasporic art and activism in the UK resist the UK’s hostile environment and connect with broader political struggles - Migration Museum, London, United Kingdom
2022 Art of Expression: Make yourself heard - Museum of The Home, London, United Kingdom
2022 Home Truths: Setting the Southeast Asian Scene Symposium - Museum of The Home, London, United Kingdom
2022 Local Gathering funding: Mekong Cultural Hub’s meeting point program, London, United Kingdom
2021 University of the Arts London International Postgraduate Scholarships
2021 Local Gathering funding: Mekong Cultural Hub’s meeting point program, Hanoi, Vietnam
RESIDENCY
2022 Shaping Group for Vietnamese Archive Residency at The Museum of the Home, London, United Kingdom
2022 Art residency, MAKING WAVES: RHYTHMS, PATTERNS, FORCES, the Scientist in Residence, Programme partnership between Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London and Tokyo Institute of Technology
2020 Art residency, stage design program, in collaboration with Đàn Đó group, Vincom Centre for Contemporary Art, Hanoi, Vietnam
CURATED SHOW
2023 Dreams of a New Moon - Lethaby Gallery and the Library, Central Saint Martins, London, United Kingdom.
2022 The Lost and The Remained - The Koppel Project Hive, London, United Kingdom
2022 De-Oriented - The Ugly Duck, London, United Kingdom
SELECTED EXHIBITION
2024 Enigma of arrival - Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom.
2024 NAE Open 2024 - New art exchange gallery, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
2024 Boundaries exhibition - curated by Mirror Mirror art collective, London, United Kingdom.
2024 Affordable Art Fair Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
2024 Welcome to the UK - Ugly Duck, London, United Kingdom
2023 Shape and Thing - Open Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2022 Dwelling on the Clouds - The Ugly Duck, London, United Kingdom
2022 Home/Away - MP Birla Millennium Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2021 Every Woman Biennial - group exhibition. SuperchiefNFT New York, United States and The Copeland Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2021 Nổ Cái Bùm - Art festival, Da Lat city, Vietnam
2021 Silent Story - Online Group Exhibition
2020 Rục rà rục dịch - Group exhibition, organised by Goclab - Toong coworking space, Hanoi, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2020 Đi đêm lắm có ngày gặp ma - Darkroom exhibition, organised by Kho Muc studio, Ho Chi Minh city
2020 Cộng Sinh - Group exhibition, Ho Chi Minh City
2020 Remembrance Species - Online group exhibition. Curated by Bell Lungs of Remembrance Species Scotland and Laura Luna Castillo of Lunetario Editorial
GROUP EXHIBITION
2023 Altar-native - Ugly Duck, The Greenhouse, Courage Yard, Shad Thames, London, United Kingdom
2023 (Un)done - Hypha Studios, London, United Kingdom
2023 The Space Between - Made in Arts London curated, TMLightning Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2023 Our vision is clouded - Warbling curated, Garden Walk, Shoreditch, United Kingdom
2023 No Place Like Home - The Museum of the Home, London, United Kingdom
2022 Reassemblages - Window Gallery, Central Saint Martins Museum and Collection, London, United Kingdom
2022 Into Our World - Central Saint Martins, Group MA Fine Art exhibition, Archway studio, London, United Kingdom
2022 This is not a party, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, United Kingdom
PRESS
2023 Central Saint Martins - Student stories:
https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/stories/lunar-new-year-celebrations-at-central-saint-martins
https://www.instagram.com/p/CnhDnBNtPD4/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
2022 Art and Market - Dialogues by Zhai Qiutong: https://artandmarket.net/profiles/2022/5/30/duong-thuy-nguyen
2022 Art and Market - Fresface by Zhai Qiutong:
https://artandmarket.net/profiles/2022/5/30/duong-thuy-nguyen
2022 Whisper Zone - Interview with Yurika:
Artist statement
Broaching themes particularly pertinent to the local community, Nguyen investigates questions of origin, memory, and belonging concerning place and landscape. The domestic and the role of humans in society are also themes probed in her work.
Nguyen's employment of material spans weighty mediums like cement, metal and wood to lighter and more ephemeral ones like paper, and dust. Through abstract and biomorphic forms, her experimental works concurrently allude to the historic circulation of products and people, to cycles of life, death and rebirth, concerns over environmental collapse, notions of individual history, intergenerational exchange and inherited trauma.
Using habitats as the basis, her practice employs innovative strategies to engage spectators. Nguyen's work seeks to decolonise narrative construction processes by considering both ruptures brought on by colonial histories and the impact of modern-day industrialisation. The inclusion of my interpretation of historical documents considers cohabitation as an aesthetic form.
Nguyen works pay heed to the (slow) process of knowledge production, in which intellectual rigour is prioritised so that an analytical and heterogeneous space might re-catalyse her thinking. In the process of making her work, the past is used to reconsider and reconfigure processes of knowledge production in the present.