Specula spectacles

Published: 12/12/2009 05:00

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A view of ‘Specula,’ which runs from December 4-31 in Hanoi

A conducive space for contemplation – of both our physical and mental selves.

This is what “Specula” seeks to offer – a place where viewers not only understand, but experience art.

Outside the entrance to Nguyen Oanh Phi Phi’s installation exhibition on Dinh Tien Hoang Street in Hanoi, the 30-year-old Vietnamese American artist writes that she hopes “Specula” will foster contemplation of his or her own individual thought.

The name “Specula” derives from the word Speculum, a medical tool used for investigating body cavities, Phi Phi says.

Viewers encounter a narrow cavity “where a diffused light glows through the frosted glass floor, illuminating the darkness and casting the viewer’s shadow, drawing attention to one’s own physical presence.”

A view of “Specula,” which runs from December 4-31, at the Hanoi Exhibition Hall at 93 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Hanoi

Born in Houston, Texas in 1979, Phi Phi returned to Vietnam in 2005 as part of a Fulbright Grant to research traditional lacquer in Hanoi and has been working in the country ever since.

“Specula”, which took her and other co-workers two years to complete, is a lacquer painting installation that forms a narrow passageway 7.2 meters long and 2.4 meters wide.

Inside “Specula” represents the interior of a cave, a temporal theater where the viewers can use their own imagination to experience the rich textures and the deep colors beneath the smooth surface.

Phi Phi says the idea for “Specula” began at a coffee shop in Hanoi. She found Hanoi’s architecture, defined by many narrow pathways, intriguing and mysterious.

Explaining why lacquer remains the focal ingredient in her latest solo exhibits, Phi Phi says, “I find that it’s a medium that is very rewarding for an artist… it’s one that is relatively unexplored and that is exciting for an artist.”

“Specula” exhibition was opened last Friday and will last until December 31.

Reported by Huong Le

Provide by Vietnam Travel

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