Nhi Le

Space and Performance Bodies

Nhi Le

AUTHOR

29 Nov 2024

Nhi Le is a performance artist based in Sai Gon, Vietnam. Her practice focuses on spiritual energy, improvisation, and interaction with her audience and space. Nhi observes social behaviour and connections between humans, space, and time; she recreates familiar movements and gestures, and then places them into uncanny contexts to invite new perspectives and questions about their conception and meaning. Outside of the performative element, Nhi aims to discover new methods of creating artistic experience for spectators by making them a part of her work and adjusting their physical positions in the performance.

Performance art, to Nhi, is stepping out of the current flow of time to find an original self not confined or shaped by any factor, waiting to be awakened.

Courtesy of artist

On November 2, 2024, Nhi Le implemented a performance titled “The Laundry Room” at VAC Hanoi Residency. Each spectator was required to experience the performance by oneself without knowing what to expect. Throughout the performance, Nhi Le worked with volunteers whose bodies were considered part of the work.

Here, Nhi Le shares with us about her thoughts on the performance, “The Laundry Room”:

The bodies are moving continuously, from place to place. I always wonder what is the meaning of a performance body in space.

Perhaps I can not feel the presence of myself in the living moment. Therefore, the destinations that I have been to will always catch my attention. I think each place has its own shape, history, and special connection with its people. As a performance artist, not only the structure of one space, lighting, and present conditions but also its energy and strange but unique features will be the things I work with.

Courtesy of artist

During my VAC residency, I found myself often working on the fifth floor beside the laundry room of the building. I often read books on the black square table beside a teal mug and magnify the vision of the lake view. Gradually, it becomes my hidden place and brings the scenario as if it were the peak of the mountain.

Meanwhile, other rooms of VAC are all filled up with modern and newish interiors, lighting systems... The laundry room is strangely old and surrounded by darkness. The walls are moldy. High ceiling with soft light from the rooftop. The wet atmosphere and the heat make us feel annoyed, which reminds us of some familiar places in the past. The door to the laundry room has three lockers. Does it represent something that is hidden or forgotten?

During the night, I usually stand staring inside the laundry room and its blank space, imagining bodies show up all of a sudden; they do not talk and maintain a stare at me... It was the moment I knew there would be a performance here.

An artist’s sense is always activated to observe the world. I want to create a space where it could evoke others' senses. Instead of standing around and watching the performance, the audience stands in the artwork. The artwork not only takes on the form of the artist’s body but also the air and surrounding features. All the tangible and intangible materials connect with each other, creating more for audiences to see and feel. Laying in the present space, I’m trying to create a middle ground between reality and illusion.

Courtesy of artist

In performance art, its site-specific nature brings a new angle to places; it gives artists a chance to create specific and profound interactions. To some extent, it is a way for the artist to show appreciation for the things that has passed through her life, whether home, souvenir, or abandoned land.

The meaning of the performance for the laundry room is similar to the meaning of the laundry room for the artist. The performers appear and temporarily occupy the space. When they go away, they leave some part of their “body” in the space.

Nhi Lê là một nghệ sĩ trình diễn sống và làm việc tại Sài Gòn. Thực hành của cô tập trung vào năng lượng tinh thần, khả năng ứng biến, tương tác với khán giả và không gian. Nhi quan sát những hành vi trong xã hội, sự kết nối giữa con người, không gian và thời gian, tạo ra những chuyển động và cử chỉ quen thuộc, sau đó đặt chúng vào những bối cảnh kỳ lạ nhằm khơi gợi những góc nhìn mới, những câu hỏi mới về quan niệm và ý nghĩa của chúng. Ngoài yếu tố biểu diễn, Nhi hướng đến việc khám phá những phương pháp trải nghiệm nghệ thuật mới cho khán giả bằng cách biến họ thành một phần của tác phẩm, sắp đặt vị trí của họ trong buổi biểu diễn.

Nghệ thuật trình diễn, đối với Nhi, giống như việc bước ra khỏi dòng thời gian hiện tại để tìm lại cái tôi nguyên bản, không bị giới hạn hay định hình bởi bất kỳ yếu tố nào, chờ đợi để được đánh thức.

Vào ngày 2 tháng 11 năm 2024, Nhi Lê thực hiện dự án có tên “Phòng giặt, là” tại không gian lưu trú của VAC. Vẫn nét đặc trưng xuyên suốt những thực hành của Nhi Lê, cô luôn tìm kiếm sự tương tác trực tiếp giữa khán giả và nghệ sĩ trình diễn. Do đó, mang đến VAC lần này, Nhi Lê cùng các tình nguyện viên đã làm nên “Phòng giặt, là”, số lượng khán giả được giới hạn để đảm bảo sự trải nghiệm trọn vẹn cho mỗi người.

Dưới đây là những chia sẻ của Nhi Lê trong quá trình thực hành dự án này:

Các cơ thể luôn di chuyển liên tục, từ nơi chốn này đến nơi chốn khác. Tôi luôn tự hỏi ý nghĩa của cơ thể trình diễn trong không gian là gì?

Có thể vì tôi không cảm nhận được sự hiện hữu của mình ở thực tại nên luôn bị thu hút bởi nơi chốn từng đi qua. Tôi nghĩ tất cả các nơi chốn đều có hình dáng, lịch sử và mối quan hệ mật thiết với con người. Là nghệ sĩ trình diễn, tôi không chỉ làm việc với cấu trúc không gian, ánh sáng, điều kiện sẵn có, mà còn quan tâm đến năng lượng, các đặc tính khác biệt, kì lạ của nó.

Khi lưu trú tại VAC, tôi thường làm việc trên tầng năm gần phòng giặt là. Tôi đọc sách trên một chiếc bàn đen vuông nhỏ, đặt kế bên là một cốc nước trong suốt màu xanh lục, hướng tầm nhìn ra hồ. Dần dần, nó trở thành nơi trú ẩn của tôi, giống như trên đỉnh một ngọn núi.

Trong khi các không gian khác của VAC đều rất hiện đại với đồ nội thất và hệ thống đèn mới, phòng giặt là lại cũ và tối. Những bức tường ở đây ẩm mốc. Trần cao và ánh sáng nhẹ được thả từ trên mái xuống. Hơi ẩm và cái nóng làm ta khó chịu, gợi nhớ đến một nơi thân quen nào đó trong quá khứ. Căn phòng này có đến ba chốt cửa, có phải nó đại diện cho điều chúng ta muốn giấu đi, hay đã bỏ quên?

Buổi tối, tôi thường đứng ở cửa nhìn vào không gian trống của phòng giặt, tưởng tượng các cơ thể đột ngột xuất hiện, họ không nói gì và nhìn tôi chăm chú...Đó là thời điểm mà tôi biết mình nên bắt đầu một trình diễn ở đây.

Các giác quan của người nghệ sĩ luôn hoạt động để nhìn ngắm thế giới. Tôi muốn tạo ra một không gian có thể đánh thức các giác quan của người xem. Họ không còn đứng xung quanh mà giờ đây họ nằm trong tác phẩm. Cơ thể tác phẩm không chỉ hiện hữu dưới hình dáng cơ thể người diễn, mà còn nằm trong không khí và các sự vật xung quanh. Các yếu tố nội tại và bên ngoài liên kết với nhau, điều này gợi nhiều hình ảnh và cảm giác cho người xem hơn. Nằm ở một nơi chốn hiện hữu, tôi cố gắng tạo ra một miền ở giữa thực tại và ảo ảnh.

Với nghệ thuật trình diễn, các tác phẩm site-specific đem đến góc nhìn mới và đa chiều cho nơi chốn, nghệ sĩ có cơ hội tạo ra các hành vi tương tác cụ thể, mạnh mẽ hơn. Theo khía cạnh nào đó, nó là một lời tri ân cho nơi chốn ta từng ghé qua, là nhà, là cửa hàng tiện lợi, hay mảnh đất bỏ hoang...

Ý nghĩa của tác phẩm với căn phòng cũng giống như ý nghĩa của căn phòng với tôi. Người trình diễn xuất hiện và tạm thời chiếm giữ không gian, khi họ rời đi, họ để lại đó một phần “cơ thể” của họ.