"Becoming Alice: Through the metal tunnel” features 13 artists from within and outside of The Outpost Collection: Trần Văn Thảo, Đỗ Hoàng Tường, Hoàng Thanh Vĩnh Phong, Nguyễn Thanh Trúc, Nguyễn Sơn, Hà Mạnh Thắng, Nguyễn Duy Mạnh, Lý Trần Quỳnh Giang, Võ Trân Châu, Lê Hoàng Bích Phượng, Dương Thùy Dương, Đỗ Thanh Lãng and Quỳnh Đông.
Inspired by the magic of imagination casted by English author Lewis Carroll in his famed literary work - “Alice’s adventures in Wonderland”, this exhibition invites the viewers to be inquisitive and playful upon entering the display space. The story is widely understood to connote the transition from the innocence of youth into the confusing and (perhaps) fascinating world of adulthood through a multitude of strange yet intriguing encounters, subjects, and anthropomorphic animals.
Though unparalleled in its nature and unfolding, the approach to curating this exhibition echoes Alice's aspiration to explore. Given that documentation of all the works (the multilayered social context, into which the works were created; the processes through which they were conceptualised; and its relevant records) is not abundant, the curatorial team opts to embrace their unknown chronicles. If “Stratum Zero” was an effort to contextualise the social climate and conditions that characterise The Outpost’s collection, “Becoming Alice: Through the metal tunnel” enables a different kind of landscape, one that is perhaps more lyrical and desolate in its ambience.
We allow ourselves to absorb the visual enchantment of the works and look for clues in their very visual articulations. What we discovered was that by allowing disparate ‘pairings’ and perhaps seemingly incoherent narrative to take place, we begin to visualise a much wider topography (comprising materials, expressions, ideals and emotions). Sometimes, the struggle for constant coherence may be inessential as the gaps, from time to time, can enable breathing spaces and challenge linear thinking.
We rethink how to navigate gruelling situations by learning from Alice’s open-minded and child-like sense of curiosity. So if you were asked ‘to be Alice’, what would you see in this exhibition?
The exhibition is produced by The Outpost’s Curatorial Team.
Date: 30.01.2024 - 30.03.2024
Add: Roman Plaza, B1 Towel, 2nd floor, To Huu street, My Dinh district, Hanoi
More infomation: https://theoutpost.net/