Reverence to the Winds
VENUEAlpha Art Gallery (HCMC, VN)
ARTISTSGiang Nguyen
Giang.it
Lim Kok Yoong
Renick Bell
ENGINEER
Hoang Pham Gia Khang
“Reverence” is a series of innovative art-tech projects that merges the ephemerality of nature with artistic renditions in reactive installation art. It seeks to bridge the gaps of distance and awareness by transforming live environmental data into dynamic, evolving artworks, crafted to deepen our connection to the environment.
The first chapter of this project, “Reverence to the Winds,” draws inspiration from recent environmental crises shaped by wind — an element that serves both as a vital force for humanity to harness and a powerful reminder of nature’s unforgiving strength.
This installation utilizes weather data sensors and algorithmic systems to create a multi-sensory experience — a technological mimesis of the traditional Asian “Four Arts” (cầm, kỳ, thi, họa) through AI and computational processes. It embodies a form of poiesis that reflects the ever-changing natural world, illustrating how even the subtlest shifts in climate can ripple into profound consequences, much like the butterfly effect.
Integrating a weather sensor with three interconnected algorithmic systems, the piece generates a multi-sensory experience encompassing visual, auditory, and tactile elements. Extending the tradition of poetic responses to the environment and changing seasons, the installation dynamically mirrors the natural world that inspires it, evolving in real-time.
VENUECity Tết Fest
CURATORSTung Monkey
Monkey Minh
Tien Vo
ARTISTSGiang Nguyen
Giang.it
Lim Kok Yoong
Renick Bell
ENGINEER
Hoang Pham Gia Khang
Im•persona•tion
↗ Case Study on Behance
↗ Exhibition’s Overview
VENUEVietnamese Women’s Museum (Hanoi, VN)
CREATIVE DIRECTORGiang Nguyen
DESIGNERSMinh Nguyen
Phong Pham
Chau Nguyen
DEVELOPERSMinh Nguyen
CODY
“Will AI Replace Creative Workers?”
This was a question pondered by the studio during their creation of the visual identity for the Vietnam Festival of Creativity & Design 2023. The studio addressed this question by emphasizing the irreplaceable essence of human creativity, relegating AI to the role of a powerful adjunct in executing and enhancing human creative visions. In a humorous and intentionally lowbrow response, the team collaborated with AI to forge a generated human character/digital avatar, termed an “AI-generated creative.”
The project involved developing a design system in tandem with ChatGPT that maps complex cognitive data — from personality traits like extroversion/introversion to creative thinking styles and methodologies inspired by the works of J.P. Guilford and Edward De Bono — into the simple visual characteristics of what they have aptly named “Persona.” This system, utilizing creative coding within a 3D environment, enables the audience to generate their own Persona via a series of questions and then interact with it using motion tracking.
This interpretation of “unserious” human data, while holistic, is fundamentally an artistic endeavor through speculative and generative design. It serves as an answer to the original question, affirming the indispensable and irreplaceable role of the creative author in the work.
At Each Encounter,
Imagine a Thousand Things
VENUEAsia Culture Center (Gwangju, KR)
CURATORSSulki & Min
Tetsuya Goto
ARTISTGiang Nguyen
CREATIVE CODERSGiang Nguyen
Minh Nguyen
The artwork reflects the multi-faceted influences of Vietnam’s history, including foreign colonization, liberation, and ideologies. It acknowledges the role of digital media and the Internet as new catalysts of cultural influence in Vietnam and expresses a desire to celebrate and embrace the ever-evolving socio-cultural landscape.
The artwork’s foundation is a collection of 350 generative modules taken from “L’Art à Huế” (1919), an archival book by Léopold Cadière that captures the traditional ornamental details of Vietnam’s former capital — Huế. These modules underwent computational processes to create digital images with digitized and degraded effects.
↗ Artist’s Interview
VENUEGallery Medium (HCMC, VN)
CURATORDuong Nguyen
ARTISTGiang Nguyen
CREATIVE CODERSGiang Nguyen
Minh Nguyen
Republish — Typography as...
CO-ORGANIZERSSimon Phan, Long Long Long, Minh Ngoc
CREATIVE DIRECTORGiang Nguyen
DESIGNERSMinh Nguyen, Linh Duong, Anh Nguyen, Phong Pham
CREATIVE CODERMinh Nguyen
PRODUCERS
Ha Doan, Anh Ha
“Republish: Typography As…” is an exhibition organized by Behalf Studio as part of the Republish Project. It showcases the studio’s dedicated process of researching, reviving, and digitizing vernacular typographic remnants that are intrinsically familiar to Vietnam’s urban landscape.
Through interactive and transmedia installations, the exhibition investigates and reimagines the physical presence of typefaces in the social fabric of everyday life. By blending historical references with contemporary digital methods, it presents an experimental exploration of typography’s imprint on both society and individual experience, highlighting its role in shaping our personal connections to history, culture, and the place we call home.
CO-ORGANIZERWork Room Four
CREATIVE DIRECTORGiang Nguyen
DESIGNERSMinh Nguyen, Linh Duong, Anh Nguyen, Phong Pham, Tam Do, Hau Huynh
CREATIVE CODERMinh Nguyen
PRODUCERS
Trang Tran
Khải
↗ Vietnam’s Pavilion at London Design Biennale 2018
VENUESommerset House (London, UK)
FACILITATORDr. Marta Gasparin
CURATORClaire Driscoll
DESIGNERSThao Vu
Giang Nguyen
Tung Monkey
In Vietnam design has long been driven by social need — a means of making or repairing objects so that they work well and are improved through each iteration. But alongside this exists a rich history of craft – acts of weaving, carving, dying, drawing and printing, within which are embedded a wealth of emotions. Around these processes, stories are told, secrets are shared and lives are lived.
The Vietnamese installation presented the work of three contemporary designers who embrace this utilitarian heritage but combine it with a greater sense of aesthetic ambition. Fashion designer Thảo Vũ, multidisciplinary designer Giang Nguyễn and visual artist and Lê Thanh Tùng are at the forefront of a culture that, while at ease with digital methods, still believes in the emotional value of creating by hand. “There is a particular joy in the practice of making and there is a visceral connection to knowledge passed down through generations and knowing it is being carried to the future,” said curator Claire Driscoll.
The installation consisted of two rooms that explored contemporary interpretations of traditional textile production. Room one was a laboratory showing natural dye techniques. Constructed over an indigo pool, the lab showed the steps of the dyeing process and revealed how Thảo Vũ reinterpreted these methods to create new kinds of sustainable textiles.
FACILITATORDr. Marta Gasparin
CURATORClaire Driscoll
DESIGNERSThao Vu
Giang Nguyen
Tung Monkey
City Text/ure
VENUECulture Station Seoul 284 (Seoul, KR)
CURATORIAL DIRECTORKymn Kyungsun
CURATORTetsuya Goto
DESIGNER/PROGRAMMERShunya Hagiwara
COLLABORATORS Giang Nguyen SAIGON, Hung Chang-Lien TAIPEI, Javin Mo HONGKONG, Liu Jingsha + Li Shaobo BEIJING, Makoto Morimura OSAKA, Prabda Yoon BANGKOK, Sean Kelvin Khoo SINGAPORE, Shin Donghyeok & Shin Haeok = ShinShin SEOUL
“When we first visit a city, we read a map. We see a city from a panoramic or God view. We compass a city from its wholeness. However, a city from our point of view is, so to speak, a point landscape. I would say a city for a person is an accumulation of point landscapes in 360 degrees. “ASIA CITY TEXT/URE” is a series of articles in “Typojanchi Newsletter” project. The word texture includes “text;” both have come from the same Latin root word textus, meaning, “weave.” Characters are woven into text, the feel of which becomes texture. A word “Asia” originally indicates the eastern area beyond Europe. It is a rough word, however, this exhibition responds to its rough-ness. We try to remove the framework of countries, and average Asia. It exhibits point landscape of graphic designers and typographers in cities of Asia. When the points are connected, the lines will be interwoven. And, it will become a TEXT/URE. What does ASIA CITY TEXT/URE feel like?” — Tetsuya Goto
“Saigon — The Melting Pot”
The visual anthology documents the layered typographic texture of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Shaped by diverse cultural influences—from the Art Deco movement of the French colonial era to the relentless digitization of modern times—these letterforms stand as silent witnesses to a city in flux.
Suspended between past and present, heritage and reinvention, they embody the ongoing struggle to define identity while embracing the artistic imprints of each era. As these impermanent traces fade under globalization, this work serves as an ode to a visual language that continues to shape the city's soul.
CURATORTetsuya Goto
Sean Kelvin Khoo
DESIGNER/PROGRAMMERShunya Hagiwara
COLLABORATORSGiang Nguyen SAIGON, Hung Chang-Lien TAIPEI, Javin Mo HONGKONG, Liu Jingsha + Li Shaobo BEIJING, Makoto Morimura OSAKA, Prabda Yoon BANGKOK, Sean Kelvin Khoo SINGAPORE, Shin Donghyeok & Shin Haeok = ShinShin SEOUL