Thao-Nguyen Phan wins the Han Nefkens Foundation – Loop Barcelona Video Art Award 2018

On November 21, Han Nefkens Foundation, Loop Barcelona and Fundació Joan Miró jointly announced Ho Chi Minh-based artist Thao-Nguyen Phan as the winner of the 2018 Han Nefkens Foundation – Loop Barcelona Video Art Award, which recognizes the practices of artists of Asian origin or nationality who work in the field of video art. The artist will receive USD 15,000 to produce a new project that will be exhibited at the Fundació Joan Miró in November 2019, concurrent with the festival Loop Barcelona. The work will then tour to several international art centers over two consecutive years.

Phan’s multimedia work, which ranges from painting to installation, moving image and performance, investigates issues arising from social conventions, history and traditions through storytelling. Regarding her practice, the awarding jury writes: “Promising young artist Thao-Nguyen Phan has a strong eye and, remarkably, for an artist of her age, she has found a voice that is both unique and incisive. Her diverse practice includes complex, layered narratives, which create a form of storytelling that is at once grounded in her local landscape and in the communities with whom she works, while at the same time referring back to fictional texts [. . .] The jury feels that, at this moment in her career, Thao-Nguyen Phan will be able to take full advantage of this opportunity by producing a new work that will without doubt further her career.” She was selected unanimously from nine shortlisted candidates, including Wong Ping, Nao Yoshigai, Hsu Chia-Wei, Issac Chong, Ho Tzu Nyen, Yin-Ju Chen, Au Sow Yee and Wu Chi-Yu.

Phan has previously held solo and group exhibitions at Para Site, Hong Kong (2018); Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (2018); Dhaka Art Summit (2018); Factory Contemporary Art Centre, Ho Chi Minh City (2017); and Nha San Collective, Hanoi (2017), among other international platforms. In addition to her work as a multimedia artist, she is co-founder of the Art Labor Collective, which explores cross-disciplinary practices and develops art projects that benefit the local community in Ho Chi Minh City.

The jury panel for this year’s Han Nefkens Foundation – Loop Barcelona Video Art Award was chaired by the founder of the foundation, Han Nefkens, and included founding co-director of Loop Barcelona, Emilio Álvarez; director of the Fundació Joan Miró, Marko Daniel; co-director of the Serpentine Galleries, Hans Ulrich Obrist; and New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s associate curator, Barbara London.

Julee WJ Chung is ArtAsiaPacific’s assistant editor.

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