Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba
Encyclopedia
Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba was born in Tokyo
to a Japanese mother and a Vietnamese father in 1968, the year of the Tet Offensive staged by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops. He earned an M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1994 after receiving his B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1992.
He has had solo exhibitions at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Kunsthalle Wien
, Austria, Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and a retrospective of his work was shown at the Manchester Art Gallery in England. His work has been included in numerous biennials, including the Shanghai Biennale
, the Venice Biennale
, the Istanbul Biennial
, and the Sao Paulo Biennale. He currently lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Nguyen-Hatsushiba's films explore Vietnamese history and national identity, and have referenced issues such as the displacement of Vietnamese "boat people" after the Vietnam War. Alienation is Hatsushiba's principal theme. Happy New Year features a processional dragon, coiling around the reef like a sea-serpent while capsules of coloured dye explode to form underwater fireworks. The installation Garden of Globes is representative of a lunar landscape of silver orbs floats beneath a suspended canopy of rickshaws, old engine parts and other flotsam of Vietnamese urban life. Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s video work, Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex—For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards, was filmed in 2001 on the southeast coast of Vietnam. This was the artist’s first video work and offers captivating images of local fishermen pulling cyclos (rickshaws) underwater toward an area where the artist stretched about thirty mosquito nets across the sea bed. The cyclos, submerged in deep water, represent the weight of tradition and reference Vietnam’s historical past in the context of the country’s struggle with the processes of modernization.Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam also marked the beginning of Nguygen-Hatsushiba’s ongoing project Breathing is Free 12,756.3. The project is the culmination of a body of work on the global refugee crisis. As Nguyen-Hatsushiba travels around the globe he will run through the cities and environments, working towards covering a distance equivalent to the earth’s diameter (12,756.3 kilometers). To date Nguyen-Hatsushiba ran in Chicago, Taipei, Manchester, Singapore, Luang Prabang, Taichung, Karlsruhe, Ho Chi Minh City, Oami, Lucerne, and Geneva. A series of virtual earth drawings, illustrating the movement of populations around the world, serves as an exhibition counterpart along with installation pieces. Arizona State University Art Museum hosted to US premier of the exhibition. It has since travelled to Rymer Gallery, School of Art Institute of Chicago. Breathing is Free 12,756.3 is co-organized by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
to a Japanese mother and a Vietnamese father in 1968, the year of the Tet Offensive staged by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops. He earned an M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1994 after receiving his B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1992.
He has had solo exhibitions at the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Kunsthalle Wien
Kunsthalle Wien
The Kunsthalle Wien is an institution in Vienna for temporary exhibitions of contemporary international art. It opened in 1992, and was originally located on Karlsplatz, in a container-shaped building designed as a temporary site by the Austrian architect Adolf Krischanitz...
, Austria, Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and a retrospective of his work was shown at the Manchester Art Gallery in England. His work has been included in numerous biennials, including the Shanghai Biennale
Shanghai Biennale
The Shanghai Biennale is the highest-profile contemporary art event in the city and the most established art biennale in China.Aside from its main museum show, it also includes talks, lectures and installations in various venues throughout the city....
, the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, the Istanbul Biennial
Istanbul Biennial
The International Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition, held every two years in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The biennial is organised by the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. The Biennial aims to create a meeting point in İstanbul in the field of visual arts between artists...
, and the Sao Paulo Biennale. He currently lives in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Nguyen-Hatsushiba's films explore Vietnamese history and national identity, and have referenced issues such as the displacement of Vietnamese "boat people" after the Vietnam War. Alienation is Hatsushiba's principal theme. Happy New Year features a processional dragon, coiling around the reef like a sea-serpent while capsules of coloured dye explode to form underwater fireworks. The installation Garden of Globes is representative of a lunar landscape of silver orbs floats beneath a suspended canopy of rickshaws, old engine parts and other flotsam of Vietnamese urban life. Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s video work, Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex—For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards, was filmed in 2001 on the southeast coast of Vietnam. This was the artist’s first video work and offers captivating images of local fishermen pulling cyclos (rickshaws) underwater toward an area where the artist stretched about thirty mosquito nets across the sea bed. The cyclos, submerged in deep water, represent the weight of tradition and reference Vietnam’s historical past in the context of the country’s struggle with the processes of modernization.Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam also marked the beginning of Nguygen-Hatsushiba’s ongoing project Breathing is Free 12,756.3. The project is the culmination of a body of work on the global refugee crisis. As Nguyen-Hatsushiba travels around the globe he will run through the cities and environments, working towards covering a distance equivalent to the earth’s diameter (12,756.3 kilometers). To date Nguyen-Hatsushiba ran in Chicago, Taipei, Manchester, Singapore, Luang Prabang, Taichung, Karlsruhe, Ho Chi Minh City, Oami, Lucerne, and Geneva. A series of virtual earth drawings, illustrating the movement of populations around the world, serves as an exhibition counterpart along with installation pieces. Arizona State University Art Museum hosted to US premier of the exhibition. It has since travelled to Rymer Gallery, School of Art Institute of Chicago. Breathing is Free 12,756.3 is co-organized by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.