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Quan Nguyen

Publicatie, Media, installatie, Experimenteel, Documentair, Digitaal, Diaspora, Design, Archieven

Quân (b. 2002, Vietnam), is a visual artist based in Rotterdam. His practice develops transdisciplinary art concepts at the intersection of digital media, print matter, motion graphics and photography.

Growing up in Huế, Quân has nurtured a deep appreciation for Vietnamese folk traditions, as it closely intertwines with his art and design practice abroad. His work reflects themes of diaspora, identity and topophilia, challenging how culture and traditions continue to engage with the zeitgeist.

Derived from his personal stories of displacement, migration and memory, Quân’s works resonate with the shared experiences of the Vietnamese diaspora, aiming to contribute to their visibility and cultural presence in Rotterdam’s art discourse.

To My Celestial (Installation, 2024)
To My Celestial (Installation, 2024) - To My Celestial is my offering to the afterlife. This multimedia installation reimagines Vietnamese ancestral worship through personal memory and displacement. It proposes how ritual practices can be reformed and redesigned by diasporic experiences. The work takes the form of a speculative altar that reinterprets traditional Vietnamese spirituality through immersive media. This work asks what happens when rituals migrate and must adapt to new contexts. Though personal, the project speaks to many in the diaspora who live between cultures and feel the weight of distance and belonging, and shows that this is my way of making peace with that tension. I believe traditions don’t have to remain fixed, they continue to grow and evolve within the societies we now become part of.
To My Celestial (Publication, 2024)
To My Celestial (Publication, 2024) - This publication translates the installation concept into print, presenting a rich collage of visuals surrounding the ancestor veneration practices in Huế, Vietnam.
Remembering Huế (Short film, 2025)
Remembering Huế (Short film, 2025) - The 8 minutes experimental film weaves montage and narrative, derives from a 1997 DVD with the same name. It follows the journey of a spirit searching for his homeland, drifting along the Perfume River aboard a dragon boat.
Đôi Đũa (Initiative, 2025)
Đôi Đũa (Art Initiative, 2025) - Đôi Đũa is a Rotterdam-based art initiative that explores visual cuture within Asian diaspora communities, the duality of growing up between two world, East and West. Through a imagined Asian market, we examine the nostalgic feelings of missing and craving a place, weaving familliar images and sounds with mixed media graphics. Together we have been building a visual identity inspired by the fundamental colors and motifs of Indosphere culture: celebratory and symbolic. For our first edition, we created a screen-printed Lunar New Year calendar, a sticker pack built around a mascot and expressive calligraphy, and a series of motion works and short films inspired by the chaos of marketplaces.
Four Seasons (Artwork, 2023)
Four Seasons (Artwork, 2023) - During summer 2023, I designed four wall artworks for my family’s new home in Vietnam. This series takes inspiration from a traditional Hang Trong painting, incorporating 3D graphics to illustrate the beauty of the four seasons. The four artworks are placed in the common room, following Feng Shui principles believed to bring luck and prosperity to the family. This reinterpretation complements the modern space of the house while staying true to the original narratives of Nguyen Binh Khiem’s poem. The color scheme from the original Hang Trong painting is reflected directly in the metallic graphics.
When in Huế (publication, 2022)
When in Huế (Publication, 2022) - This publication is dedicated to my mom and her relationship with our hometown. It’s made up of four non-linear stories that follow her daily life as she travels through Huế during the summer. Her years of living, studying, and working are woven into the city’s culture, told through a mix of conceptual photoshoots and archival images.
Memory Museum (Photography, 2025)
Memory Museum (Photography, 2025) - There’s a common misconception that memories are accurate records of the past, but in reality, we reconstruct them with an idealism filtered through time. In this digital photography series, I portray the surreal feelings and imagery of my childhood memories through the presence of my friends, family, and home. The project is currently in development.

Dutch Design Week 2025

Datum:
Locatie: De Fabriek

Back2Breaks - Group Exhibition, curated by 11:11 Collective

Datum:
Locatie: The Grey Space in the Middle

All Access Archive #4 Book Exhibition

Datum:
Locatie: Enter Enter

To My Celestial

Datum:
In samenwerking met: In collaboration with Omar Ayabarus and Melisa Vanvliet

To My Celestial is my offering to the afterlife. This multimedia installation reimagines Vietnamese ancestral worship through personal memory and displacement. It proposes how ritual practices can be reformed and redesigned by diasporic experiences. The work takes the form of a speculative altar that reinterprets traditional Vietnamese spirituality through immersive media.

Ito Collective – Book & Zine Event, Bay Library & 3namstudio

Datum:
Locatie: Multi Multi Cafe

Graduation Show 2024

Datum:
Locatie: Willem de Kooning Academy
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