We would like to present a series of photographs documenting the exhibition Singing to the Choir? at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in the city of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, curated by Zoe Butt and Bill Nguyễn. Housed in an apparently abandoned factory or warehouse in an up-and-coming part of town, embraced by the Saigon River. The space felt less like an industrial site but more like a factory for brewing ideas. The exhibition concluded in January 2020 and presented works from three emerging Vietnamese contemporary artists: Ngọc Nâu, Phan, and Trần Minh Đức.
We are all familiar with the phrase “singing to the choir”, the question mark at the end of the exhibition title, however, introduced a paradox and suggested another layer of connotation. Does the subject genuinely believe what he or she is singing because the choir already appears convinced, or are they merely performing belief?
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” This statement, written by Karl Marx in the introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, published in 1844, was quoted in the exhibition, and its ideas permeated the works throughout. The artists challenged notions of self-worth and social order, examining the relationship between reality and illusion, reminding us of lost and erased memories.
