Photography series of Que by Kaarem's pre-opening, our brick-and-mortar in Saigon, documented by Đạt Vũ in 2019.
Celebrating Que's one-year since the soft opening today, 12.12.20.
A little over a year ago when tiles where still being lain, wood for our floors, newly installed after a long journey in transport from Cam Ranh (Kaarem studio director's hometown), and a tiny bridge connecting the back of our space to Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh was in- progress—we invited friend and artist Đạt Vũ to come document our space.
This is a selection of images from a day Đạt spent photographing Que in November of 2019. We cannot believe it has been a year, and what a year it has been! We are immensely grateful for all of your support this past year. Thank you to our friends, collaborators and supporters for helping us fill this space with warmth and making it extra cozy, just like home : ).
Đạt Vũ is a Vietnamese photo artist born in Saigon in 1991. He lived and studied abroad for about 10 years before returning to Vietnam in 2016. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree with High Honors in Art Studio from Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT, USA) in 2015. Having spent a large part of his formative years abroad, he has learnt to rely on photography as a medium to explore and to acclimatize with each new environment, as well as to build his syncretic identity. Through the medium, he grapples with the contexts and concepts that situate himself: masculinity, sexuality and nationalism.
He develops his visual language through observing suspended human behaviors in public and private spheres, and about vernacular spaces in transition. In his work, he has become concerned with the idea of representation, intervention and performativity. In turn, his photographic practice plays with different modes of decontextualization and deconstruction: constructing narratives through combining the found and the staged.
Vũ Tiến Đạt từng học tập tại Singapore và Mỹ trong suốt 10 năm và trở về Việt Nam vào năm 2016.
Các sáng tác nghệ thuật của anh khai thác các ý tưởng của tính biểu thị, của sự tác động và vận hành thông qua những vùng địa lý, lịch sử và chính trị khác nhau, Anh phát triển ngôn từ của hình ảnh xoay quanh các nghiên cứu về không gian và cử chỉ của cơ thể, cách cư xử và mối quan hệ giữa con người. Đồng thời, anh cũng tiến hành phối hợp nhiều phương thức khác cùng với nhiếp ảnh như nghệ thuật sắp đặt, biểu diễn và video.
Link: datvu.format.com
Credits
Location
Que by Kaarem
118 Pham Viet Chanh
Phuong 19, Binh Thanh District
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Related Features
‘A Room of One’s Own’ by Thy Trần + Trang Đoàn featuring Chân Mày was both filmed and screened in the same room at Que Upstairs in Saigon. Images captured by Đạt Vu from an offline screening of Kaarem’s SS20 video on July 15th.
A video by Thy Tran and Trang Doan. ‘A Room of One’s Own’ creates space to engage in dialogue with oneself—a necessary space of reflection. To be able to call a corner of the world one’s own, even if it may be just a small section of a room; to arrange things to one’s liking, which only becomes disorderly by one’s own doing is a pleasure. In this space, Chân Mày sits with their favorite things: a glass of wine, a green pomelo, a taro colored outfit and a white terrazzo bench. The room itself becomes a physical representation of one’s dreams; a quiet and safe space to sit in contemplation; enjoying the simplicity of singular gestures and the passing of time.
Que by KAAREM's upstairs space is opening for the first time this Friday and Saturday. We'll be serving cozy drinks and bread by Chuong. Rice wine cocktails, organic wines and homemade sourdough bread will be available for purchase.