An exhibition by 10 Vietnamese contemporary artists opens today at San Art, an independent, non-profit, artist-run exhibition space in Ho Chi Minh City.

“The title expresses how the exhibited works capture the fast-changing picture of this city,” said Dinh Le, one of the four Viet Kieu (Vietnamese expat) artists that run San Art.

The exhibition includes 19 works by Hanoi and HCMC artists, ranging from painting and photography to performance and works on paper that illustrate the young artists’ search for “a visual language beyond the consumer art-object” and their quest to use everyday life as inspiration.

Dinh said the group tries to attract young artists who might not have the opportunity to exhibit elsewhere.

“There’s obviously limited space for artists in the city, and just imagine the number of young artists who graduate from art school and disappear from the art scene,” he said. “We want to change that.”

San Art, which opened in October 2007, is perhaps the only artist-run space in Vietnam and is funded by private donations and external grants on a project-by-project basis and from the sale of exhibited works.

Dinh said the group has enough funding to stay for a year in the new location, which features a larger exhibition area and a reading room. They plan to organize several presentations and talks by visiting artists from abroad.

The exhibition runs until July 24.

Reported by Huong Le