DIACRITIC

The blogspot account was created to allow me comment on other weblogs where a blogger account was required. I do have my blog hosted and updated at: diacritic.org

DIACRITIC
Some things are stewed in details that any explanation becomes overblown. This will be one of them. So, to keep it short. Loatin roots: dia (through, between, apart, across) and crit (to separate, discern, judge). To distinguish and clarify. Diacritical marks, for example, are the typographic marks used in the Vietnamese written language to determine tone, vowel and consanant. For example, my birth name, Trần Trọng Đạt.

Currently, diacritic consists of only weblog. Until I can put some time into a reorganization and design, the documentation my work can be found at the artandlanguage link to the right. I can update the weblog quicker than I can produce finished works for exhibition.

ME
I am artist and designer, hoping to be better at both. I received a BFA from the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Research and teaching are critical to my artwork and include a teaching fellowship at Harvard University (2000-2004) and design research at the MIT Media Lab with the Aesthetics and Computation Group (2000). I was a visiting lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University for a course on contemporary video art (2003), completed a one-month media arts residency in Chiang Mai, Thailand (2004) and currently a Lecturer in design at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) Vietnam. I am an arts correspondent with Art.Es Magazine (Madrid) and the Ho Chi Minh City editor for Contemporary Magazine (London)

RESEARCH
My current research focuses on media and cultural production in Southeast Asia. Current issues explored in my work include memory, popular media, war & tourism, exile and transition, language, and narrative. Recently, I have been working on a personal research project spanning the Mekong River nations (Thailand, Cambodia, Myannmar, Vietnam, Laos and China). My focus is on how media and information access affect contemporary arts production by artists, curators and arts organizations both within and among these nations. I relocated to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2003 to further my work in these areas.

MOGAS STATION
Mogas Station was formed in 2005 primarily to work on the A.ART publishing project that premiered at the 2006 Singapore Biennale. It's members include Atelier Wonderful founders Sandrine Llouquet and Betrand Peret, artists Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba and Hoang Duong Cam, architects Vo Phi Tam and Gulschan Gothel, and myself.

PROJECTONE
The idea for an arts collaborative in Saigon began in the spring of 2002. In December 2003, ProjectOne launched their first projects (a total of 4 separate exhibitions in 4 locations in one month coupled with the organization of a contemporary arts panel discussion at the fine arts university!). The core of the group consists of five artists from varying backgrounds from media to fashion, poetry to painting. These artists are currently exploring creative expression in video, installation, film, sound art, and experimental performance and theater. We are open to new members, particularly from fields such as programming, architecture, film and criticism.

FUTURE PROJECTS:

Currently looking for short-term arts residencies in Asia and Europe. And a project to work on in the US (my mother misses me).

SOME PROJECTS:

2006
A.ART Magazine & LZ Singapore Biennale 2006. Bilingual Vietnamese/English publishing project and site specific installations. † Mediating the Mekong. Awardee of the 2005 Martell Asian Art Research Grant with the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong † S*H*A*M (video. work in progress). Group show, Xin Chao! My Darling at the Stone & Water Supplemental Space. Anyang, Korea. † Dongkuk (single-channel video). ArtTechMedia. Barcelona, Madrid and Bilbao, Spain. † Reflow (painting/performance/installation) at the Java Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

2005
06x60x600 photo project. six international curators, 60 artists, 600 photos. exhibition replicated in six countries † Projectone group exhibition at the French Cultural Centre, HCMC † Orange (installation). Hugh Lane Gallery. Dublin, Ireland † World Citizen (installation). Dalat and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam † Missed Connections (video) screens in Vermont, New York and Nantes, France † Group exhibition. Gallery Wowalls, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia †Land of Milk and Honey. Installation using live honey bees. HCMC. †Alternative Arts Spaces in Southeast Asia. Presentation for the HPAIR (Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations). Mori Building, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo.

2004
Gitmo/Satchmo (Performance): 2004 Gwangju Biennale; 2004 Seoul Performance Art Congress † Orange Lounge, a new media resource by the Orange County Museum of Art † NetVideoLab, a multinational video art project funded by ArtNetworkAsia † Body frame/Video frame (video installation) L'Espace in Hanoi, made possible by the Alliance Français. † Fact, Fiction, Faction. Research on phenomena in Southeast Asian media. Presentations were given in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.