In 2018, based on the initial research of curator Qinyi Lim, Sàn Art developed Uncommon Pursuits – A temporary school for emergent curators in Southeast Asia to address the ambiguity of the curator figure in Vietnam. Six participants from Vietnam along with four from Southeast Asia immersed in a conversation with curators and educators from Latin America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The course recognizes that the unpredictable future is fertile ground for knowledge production and facilitates discussions on: Who Curators Are, What They Do, and Where Curation Takes Place. Based on the frameworks offered, the participants reassess, revise and present their final curatorial proposals. Early 2019, Sàn Art assisted the materialization of two initial proposals in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, and looks forward to assisting the remaining eight across Southeast Asia.

Should curatorship be written down as a guidebook for one’s practice, the first year served as an expansive introductory chapter. The second year focuses on a set of tools to observe, analyze, configure, and communicate. It draws from Theater, a discipline constructed on twists and turns, to propose employments of “narration” as a cross-disciplinary means to create experience. In collaboration with The Run – A Theater Project, it invites lecturers from Theater and Visual Art to lead practical conversations with participants, altogether excavating the latent potentials for creation and affect. The theme “Silence”, in the sense of abstaining from speech or the condition of stillness, is juxtaposed with that of “Satire”, the intricate use of irony as a medium to confront reality. The program thus advocates conscious undertaking and playful story-telling as sustenance for artistic production. “Silence | Satire” starts with a 14-day intensive workshop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. After the course, all participants are entitled to ongoing coaching and relevant assistance to realize their projects, from which a selected few will be featured in a special theatric-visual showcase at the chapter conclusion in 2020.

With support from Arts Network Asia & Quỹ nhà Đậu