Mail: thithanhhang.nguyen00@gmail.com
Instagram : @hanghang.oneSite: https://hanghang.one/
Born and raised in Vietnam, Hang graduated with a Master’s degree in scenography from the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2023. She embraces intermedia resonance by blurring the lines between theater and performance art, using micro-histories and oral history. Her practice focuses on inquiries into the silencing of memory under different social contexts and pressures. Currently based in France, the cultural difference encourages her to explore the intergenerational traumas of the Vietnamese people who have endured violent conflicts and displacements. By examining her own family history, she seeks to convey the untranslatability and forms that resist explanation across generation.
Collectives and activities:
In 2018, Hang founded the Phu Lang Sa Collective to create a community of emerging Vietnamese artists and cultural practitioners living in Europe, with the aim of supporting fellow art practitioners from minority communities in Europe. In July 2023, She co-curated its first group show « Neither fish nor Fowl » at Galerie BAQ in Paris, featuring eight young Vietnamese and Asian-descent artists.
In 2022, Hang participated in her first exhibition design project for the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Vietnam, while her personal works were showcased at various locations, including the Théâtre de L’Aquarium in Paris, the Nhà Sàn Collective’s Emerging Artists program in Hanoi for Documenta 15 in Kassel, Galerie BAQ, and Maison de l’ours in Paris.
She is currently engaged in the itinerant laboratory CommonLAB, supported by the Creative Europe program, which is a project uniting performing arts organizations, artists, and audiences to explore the evolving concepts of identity and diversity in a shifting European society. Over the course of eight weeks, this laboratory unfolds at MC93 in Bobigny, Riksteatern in Stockholm, Festival D-Caf in Cairo, and Festival Alkantara in Lisbon.
« Bố Không Biết mình đang ở đâu »
“Bố » means papa in Vietnamese.
“Bố Không biết mình đang ở đâu » means » I don’t know where I am »
In a garden of introspection, a father and his two daughters gather, prompting questions about how to define the boundaries of a physical space. Within this space, the interaction between the characters, the evocation of family memories, and the performative power of words transport us to a contemplative landscape of profound intimacy.
« … Lý do là một bông hoa.
Lý do là một cái rễ.
Lý do là một con chó.
Lý do là hai con chó.
The reason is a flower.
The reason is a root.
The reason is a dog.
The reason is two dogs.
La raison est une fleur.
La raison est une racine.
La raison est un chien.
La raison est deux chiens… »
This project was created in 2023 and received support from IFF (International Flavours and Fragrances) and Jaclab.
Production team:
Performers: Hang Hang, her father, and her sister.
Project Assistants: Elmest Poudoulec, Isaure Brunel, Camille Jambou.
Theoretical & Conceptual Support: Stéphane Degoutin, Elise Capdenat.
Sound Creation: Arthur Canac and Hang Hang
Olfactory Creation: Domitille Michalon and Hang Hang
Light and Technical Assistance: Pierre-Yves Dougnac, Hugo Franconeri.
Assistance in creating object: Triet Nguyen, Nhut Nguyen.
Jacquard Fabrication Assistance: Jaclab – Isabelle Richard, Margot Bonnafous.
Rehearsal Assistance: Maya De Vulpillieres, Linh Chi Tran, Louis Strokov, Koa Pham, Hung Nguyen.
Video filming: Pierre-Yves Dougnac, Ilaria Andreotti.
Photography: Mathieu Faluomi, Arthur Canac.
« Le public est avalé par un dispositif que Hang nomme « jardin ». Elle nous invite dans un espace baigné de bleu et d’argent, composé d’éléments étranges et imprégnés d’une odeur de terre après la pluie. Trois personnes entièrement habillées de bleu récitent un poème alternativement en vietnamien, anglais et français, puis Hang sort lentement d’une valise de nombreux dessins, photos, livres. Ça parle d’impossible traduction, de forme qui résiste à l’explication ».
« The audience is engulfed by a setup that Hang calls the « garden. » She invites us into a space bathed in blue and silver, composed of strange elements and infused with the smell of earth after rain. Three people dressed entirely in blue recite a poem alternately in Vietnamese, English, and French. Then Hang slowly takes out from a suitcase numerous drawings, photos, and books. It speaks of impossible translation, of a form that resists explanation. »
Text written by Stéphane Degoutin
Accompanied by her sister and father, who had traveled all the way from Vietnam to be a part of this moment, Hang guided us through her cherished memories of her vanished garden. With a resounding leitmotiv, « Je ne sais pas où je suis; I don’t know where I am, » she wove a beautiful tapestry of nostalgia, incorporating a canvas adorned with family pictures, an aluminum dog sculpture, and the scent of the earth after the rain, created by VP Perfumer Domitille MICHALON BERTIER. As the scent permeated the air, it stirred something deep within me, moving me to tears.
In this performance, the combination of visual art, sculpture, and scent merged harmoniously, creating a multisensory experience that touched the hearts of all who encountered it.
Perfume: The Ultimate Analog Sensory Journey in a Digital World by Judith Gross
« Thị »
« Thị est un abre
Thị est un clan
Thị est un fruit parfumé
Thị est un marché
Thị est une clarification
Thị est un nom intercalaire
Thị est une femme silencieuse
Thị est elle
Et Thị est moi »
Thị is a project centered around a childhood house in Vietnam. The first installation was conceived and executed in a long corridor at the Théâtre de L’Aquarium in Vincennes in 2021. Between the fragmented history of a family and the space of representation, a return to the childhood home, an excavation of archives, and an effort to embrace a personal history. Here, Thị is a silent woman.
The word ‘Thị’ carries various meanings depending on the specific context, as the Vietnamese language has been influenced by Latin, Chinese, French, and English. Thị is a tree, a clan, a fragrant fruit, a market, a clarification, an intermediate name, and Thị is also a woman.
The second part of the project is a script alternately in Vietnamese, English, and French that revolves around a house, narrated by Thị. The story begins with an anecdote told by her maternal grandfather. As the film starts, the female character is drawing the plan of the house, while in parallel, in the north of Hanoi, her father is in the process of demolishing it.
