Quynh Nguyen
Founder
Quynh Nguyen is a successful businesswoman and long-term patron of the arts and education. Since 1995, she has been the founder and CEO of Viet Huong JSC, a leading flavour and fragrance company in Vietnam. In 2014, she established the International Modern Art Gallery (IMA Gallery) in Houston, Texas, where she served as director. Upon her return to Vietnam, she co-founded the EMASI Schools and Renaissance International School Saigon, where the arts are integral to the schools’ missions and curricula. In 2018, she marked a significant milestone by establishing Nguyen Art Foundation (NAF), dedicated to creating platforms and opportunities for artists and art workers.
Bill Nguyen
Director
Bill Nguyen (b. 1988, Vietnam) is an artist-curator committed to the researching and development of locally-driven modes of curatorial articulation and artistic practice. After obtaining his BFA at Nottingham Trent University (UK), Bill returned to home and has become an active member of the cultural landscape of Vietnam. Through various formats of artistic practices, including performance art, creative writing and curatorial pursuits, he delves into themes such as intimacy, foreignness, cultural contiguity and historical truth. Bill has collaborated with artist-run spaces such as Nha San Collective and Hanoi Doclab, while also founding alternative platforms for curatorial experimentation and audience engagement including Manzi Art Space and Curatorial Xa Quan. Bill previously served as a member of the curatorial team at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre. In January 2022, he assumed the role of Director of Nguyen Art Foundation. He is an alumnus of the 8th Berlin Biennial Young Curators Workshop, as well as the CuratorsLAB initiated by the Goethe Institut South East Asia. Some of his notable curatorial projects include No more, not yet (2023), Artist Excellence Award (2021–ongoing), We’re in this, together – a Pollination project (2018), Spirit of Friendship (2017) and 0395A.ĐC (2017)
Nhat Q. Vo
Manager
Nhat Q. Vo (b. 1991, Vietnam) is a cultural worker and multidisciplinary designer based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He graduated with a Bachelor in Architecture from California College of the Arts, San Francisco (2015). With an interest in creating education playgrounds and pushing for cultural, artistic developments in Vietnam, his works range from event and space organization to coordination, production, and curation. He often collaborates with individuals and organizations in Vietnam and across Southeast Asia. In 2018, Nhat participated in Bangkok Biennale with Art Labor as a collaborating architect for the project Radicle Room. With the support from Goethe-Institut Ho Chi Minh City and Sàn Art, he released the publication Masked Force with writer Nguyen Hoang Quyen in tandem with a retrospective of Vo An Khanh’s photographic practice (2020). Recently, he curated the exhibition Rhyming Gestures with Thái Hà and initiated PORTFOLIO+ – a series of portfolio review sessions to help local creatives effectively present and develop their portfolios. Nhat is the former manager of Sàn Art and current manager of the Nguyen Art Foundation.
Thái Hà
Curator
Thái Hà is a curator and translator whose practice centres speculation, dreaming, play, and improvisation. Hà is an alumna of the 12th Berlin Biennale Curator’s Workshop, directed by Reem Shadid, that focussed on the fugitive possibilities of language and translation. Between 2020–2021, she received a grant from the Goethe-Institut to produce CáRô – an arts education workshop for students in Saigon. In 2018, she co-founded the now-dormant Indigo Magazine, a platform for new voices from Southeast Asian arts and beyond. Her translations can be found in publications by the Tate St Ives, Carnegie Museum of Art, Asian Art Biennal, ArtReview, and NUSASONIC. In 2022, she received the Circa Art Magazine commission to produce a series of experimental essays that explore language and translation in the works of artists from Ireland and Southeast Asia. In 2023, together with Ném Space, Hà organised Films for liberation: Palestine forever, an action of unwavering solidarity that turns to cinema as a tool for mobilisation and education; the month-long programme travelled from Saigon to Hanoi, Kobe, and Tokyo.