Asia Art Archive presents Open Edit: Mobile Library, a pilot project that brings a selection of material from AAA’s collection to different cities in Asia, inviting people to read and interact with it in unconventional ways. The first stage of the Open Edit tour—a collaborative effort of AAA, Sàn Art, and Hong Kong artist Jaffa Lam—will be on view at Sàn Art in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Mobile Library collection contains approximately 180 items—including monographs, exhibition catalogues, reference books, and magazines, most of which relate conceptually to mobility, travel, and exchange. In addition to reading the books, the public is encouraged to 'edit' them by writing, drawing, highlighting, adhering notes and pictures, and even tearing pages out of them. Through these actions, people will be reinterpreting the material, as well as engaging in a dialogue amongst themselves. As the platform for communication, these documents will eventually become records of the Open Edit process.

Over the six-week period that 'Open Edit' is presented at Sàn Art, the gallery will act as a kind of organic library, growing over time as the material is edited and site-specific artworks are produced and presented. Please visit the project’s website to see the transformation of the space and other project details.

To activate audience engagement with the material in 'Open Edit', Sàn Art has worked with local artists and educational organisations to create the following series of related programmes, which will encourage the public to contribute to the ‘editing’ process. 

Programme Highlights

Little Earthquakes @ Sàn Art
Artworks produced in situ, inspired by the ‘Open Edit’ concept, by artists Lena Bui and Tran Minh Duc.
24 Feb-9 Apr 2011

Books Set Sail @ Sàn Art
Local artists who have ‘edited’ books from the ‘Open Edit’ collection with text, drawing, and commentary will share their processes and the sources of their inspiration. Hong Kong artist Jaffa Lam will share the conceptual development in designing the Mobile Library Containers on 7 April.
24 Feb-7 Apr 2011
Every Thursday 6:30pm 

Participating artists: Tùng Mai and Thủy Trúc Mai; Trần Minh Đức, Sam Nguyễn and Trung Siro; Sandrine Llouquet and Bertrand Peret; Vũ Thị Quỳnh Giao and Nguyễn Bảo Như Quỳnh; Nguyễn Kim Tố Lan and Nguyễn Hữu Nghiã; Tammy Nguyễn and Thomas Maresca; Lê Hoàng Bích Phuợng and Lê Thị Bích Khoa; and Trương Công Tùng and Phan Thảo Nguyên.

Closing Party! @ Sàn Art
9 Apr 2011
6pm

under/cover
dia/projects investigates the turbulent relationship between libraries/archives and creative production with students from RMIT University Vietnam, facilitated by artists Richard Streitmatter-Tran (Vietnam) and Mervin Espina (The Philippines).

Taking Painting for a Walk
Educational programmes with students from Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University, facilitated by Zoe Butt.


Mobile Library is a periodic initiative organised in partnership with cultural collaborators in different countries throughout Asia to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas. By co-organising events and enabling the circulation of printed matter, this programme activates new possibilities to engage with art as a form of knowledge.   

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