BÊN XÂM

About project: BÊN XÂM was an interdisciplinary art practice week held in Hoi An on 22–28 November 2025, focusing on climate adaptation and the mangrove ecosystems along the Thu Bon River. Organised by Thì Collective in collaboration with SEA Outreach under the Pulitzer Center, the programme drew on journalistic data on mangrove forests in Hue and Quang Nam. Bringing together 9 emerging artists from different localities, the programme combined field research, artistic creation, discussions, mapping and community-based work alongside experts in ecology, journalism and the arts. Participants engaged with local ecosystems through experiences with the communities of Triem Tay and Cam Kim, and developed artistic responses during the open studio event “Solid – Liquid – Gas”. BÊN XÂM demonstrated an ecologically grounded model of community art practice, connecting contemporary creativity, local knowledge and environmental dialogue.

The programme featured arts educator and visual artist Đỗ Kỳ Huy, ecology and conservation advisor Phan Công Sanh, journalist Lê Giang Lam, multimedia artist Dương Thanh Quang, architect Lê Xuân Hùng, and representatives from the local communities of Triem Tay and Cam Kim.

Art form: Interdisciplinary art

Duration: 22–28 November 2025

Organizer: Thì Collective, SEA Outreach

Activities: Field research, open studio, discussions

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Deadline for voting: 11:59 PM, 13 June 2026

HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST is an annual event honouring contemporary art in Vietnam, initiated by Hanoi Grapevine and selected by the Passionate Audience Council (PAC) alongside the wider audience community. The event recognized individuals, organizations, creative art projects and activities, as well as artists aged 35 and under who have influenced the community, or emerging artists with outstanding practices. Through these efforts, the goal is to encourage the development of creative arts, enhance communication, and radiate the power of arts and culture even more deeply and widely throughout the community.

Dedicated to providing the most comprehensive and objective overview, HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST introduces a different format for each edition. This year, Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest 2025-2026 is divided into two categories: the Honouring Category and the Recognition Category.

Nominees List

Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest Overview (PDF)

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Food and War in Southern Vietnam

About project: Food and War in Southern Vietnam was an experimental collaborative exhibition project by the War Remnants Museum, together with Associate Professor Jane Gavan of Sydney Vietnam Institute (University of Sydney), HCMC University of Culture and University of Architecture HCMC. It forms a pilot of the UNESCO Curating Futures initiative. The exhibition explored themes of food, memory and the everyday lives of people in southern Vietnam during wartime through a form of multisensory storytelling that combines oral histories, sound, scent, installation and community interaction. Rather than focusing on military history, the project highlighted acts of care, survival and human creativity in times of war. Visitors were invited to directly participate in activities such as grinding rice by hand, smelling fermented foods and spices, contributing family recipes and interacting with reconstructed wartime kitchen spaces. Beyond displaying artefacts, the exhibition also collaborated with artists Vương Thục Mẫn, Nguyễn Ngọc Trân and Lê Hà Khánh Phương on watercolour paintings and illustrations to for better interpretation and engagement.

The project also connected with independent art networks such as Nguyen Art Foundation and Dogma Collection, while experimenting with models of community-led curating, archival research and image copyright protection practices in Vietnam’s public museums. The exhibition attracted more than 800,000 visitors in 2025.

Art form: History, Heritage

Duration: 04 September – 31 December 2025

Organizer: War Remnants Museum, Sydney Vietnam Institute, HCMC University of Culture, University of Architecture HCMC

Activities: Exhibition

Vote here
Deadline for voting: 11:59 PM, 13 June 2026

HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST is an annual event honouring contemporary art in Vietnam, initiated by Hanoi Grapevine and selected by the Passionate Audience Council (PAC) alongside the wider audience community. The event recognized individuals, organizations, creative art projects and activities, as well as artists aged 35 and under who have influenced the community, or emerging artists with outstanding practices. Through these efforts, the goal is to encourage the development of creative arts, enhance communication, and radiate the power of arts and culture even more deeply and widely throughout the community.

Dedicated to providing the most comprehensive and objective overview, HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST introduces a different format for each edition. This year, Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest 2025-2026 is divided into two categories: the Honouring Category and the Recognition Category.

Nominees List

Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest Overview (PDF)

Follow updates on website and Facebook of Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest.

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08:30 PM, 19 June 2026
Language: English
Registration link

From the organizer:

Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest (HGF) — an annual, audience-nominated recognition of outstanding contemporary art projects in Vietnam, running since 2019 — is now hosted on the Southeast Asia Digital Library. This conversation marks the launch and explores what it means for a grassroots, bottom-up archive to enter an international digital library consortium. A cultural practitioner, an anthropologist, and a digital librarian think through questions of whose knowledge counts, how digital archives shape research narratives, and what happens when an audience-led record meets the infrastructure of international scholarly preservation.

Speakers:
– Nguyễn Tú Hằng – Director of Hanoi Grapevine
– Emily Zinger – Southeast Asia Digital Librarian
– Đỗ Tường Linh – Director, Nguyen Wahed Gallery and Art Curator Vincom Center for Contemporary Art

HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST is an annual event honouring contemporary art in Vietnam, initiated by Hanoi Grapevine and selected by the Passionate Audience Council (PAC) alongside the wider audience community. The event recognized individuals, organizations, creative art projects and activities, as well as artists aged 35 and under who have influenced the community, or emerging artists with outstanding practices. Through these efforts, the goal is to encourage the development of creative arts, enhance communication, and radiate the power of arts and culture even more deeply and widely throughout the community.

Follow updates on event’s page.

21 Years of Galerie Quynh

About project: The exhibition 21 Years of Galerie Quynh featured 16 artists from the gallery’s current roster as well as past collaborations. Beginning as a non-profit resource that documented and archived the Vietnamese contemporary art scene, Galerie Quynh opened its physical space in 2003 and gradually became an important platform for local and international artists to engage in dialogue, experiment and develop their practices. Together with art tours and performances, the exhibition explored the last two decades of transformation in Vietnamese art, from a gallery that has moved beyond the limits of purely commercial concerns.

Participating artists were Nghĩa Đặng, Đỗ Thanh Lãng, Cian Duggan, Hà Mạnh Thắng, Sue Hajdu, Hoàng Dương Cầm, Ngô Đình Bảo Châu, Nguyễn Huy An, Nguyễn Phương Linh, Trọng Gia Nguyễn, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Phạm Minh Hiếu, Trần Văn Thảo, Vy Trịnh, Liên Trương, Trương Công Tùng. The exhibition was curated by Thái Hà.

Art form: Contemporary art

Duration: 22 March – 21 June 2025

Organizer: Galerie Quynh

Activities: Exhibition, art tours, performances

Vote here
Deadline for voting: 06 June 2026

HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST is an annual event honouring contemporary art in Vietnam, initiated by Hanoi Grapevine and selected by the Passionate Audience Council (PAC) alongside the wider audience community. The event recognized individuals, organizations, creative art projects and activities, as well as artists aged 35 and under who have influenced the community, or emerging artists with outstanding practices. Through these efforts, the goal is to encourage the development of creative arts, enhance communication, and radiate the power of arts and culture even more deeply and widely throughout the community.

Dedicated to providing the most comprehensive and objective overview, HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST introduces a different format for each edition. This year, Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest 2025-2026 is divided into two categories: the Honouring Category and the Recognition Category.

Nominees List

Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest Overview (PDF)

Follow updates on website and Facebook of Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest.

Hanoi Grapevine Email Website Facebook Instagram Youtube Twitter

20 Năm Varan Việt Nam

About project: The year 2025 marks two decades of the establishment and development of the Varan documentary film workshop in Vietnam – a program that has nurtured the first generation of independent documentary filmmakers in Vietnam. Notably, 2025 also marks 20 years since the workshop was first held in HCMC.

The anniversary programme includes a series of events: a creative workshop in Hanoi, resulting in 8 short films by 8 emerging directors; film screenings at multiple venues in HCMC and Hanoi, including 419.CINEBAR, the University of Theatre and Cinema HCMC, Fulbright University Vietnam, CineART SKDA, the APD Center for Art Patronage and Development, Goethe-Institut Hanoi, White Light Cinéhub and CinEscape. Alongside the screenings, Varan is organising fundraising activities to support actors, as well as talks, discussions and other exchange sessions.

Art form: Film

Duration: October 2024 – January 2026

Organizer: Varan Vietnam and partners

Activities: Workshops, film screenings, talks

Vote here
Deadline for voting: 06 June 2026

HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST is an annual event honouring contemporary art in Vietnam, initiated by Hanoi Grapevine and selected by the Passionate Audience Council (PAC) alongside the wider audience community. The event recognized individuals, organizations, creative art projects and activities, as well as artists aged 35 and under who have influenced the community, or emerging artists with outstanding practices. Through these efforts, the goal is to encourage the development of creative arts, enhance communication, and radiate the power of arts and culture even more deeply and widely throughout the community.

Dedicated to providing the most comprehensive and objective overview, HANOI GRAPEVINE’s FINEST introduces a different format for each edition. This year, Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest 2025-2026 is divided into two categories: the Honouring Category and the Recognition Category.

Nominees List

Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest Overview (PDF)

Follow updates on website and Facebook of Hanoi Grapevine’s Finest.

Hanoi Grapevine Email Website Facebook Instagram Youtube Twitter