(~01/04/2023)
The Collective School explores artist-driven and collective models of learning. Developed in collaboration with Gudskul, this project asks: What makes collectivity necessary for survival today? How do collectives remain adaptive and relevant to their respective contexts?
Hosted at AAA Library, The Collective School exhibition began with our invitation to Gudskul, who in turn invited eight collectives @latabebh from across Asia. In the display, you will see their responses to archival materials from AAA Collections, developed together through group conversations over the past year.
As a result of an invitation from Gudskul & AAA, ba-bau AIR responded to the archives of Viva EXCon (Visayas Islands, The Philippines) from AAA Collections with 02 artworks.
Recipe for the Unbroken (2022) I Kieu-Anh Nguyen
Drawing, tissue paper, salt, ash, containers
The Collective School, Asia Art Archive, Hongkong
The work is a recommendation for an archive method using salt as the witness and archival medium open to complex narratives including speculations.
An alternative approach for standard archiving materials is using unconventional, mundane elements from surroundings which its existence acts as an instant, improvised memory holder: plant, leftover, sweat, dirt,... as it expands and is not limited to perceptions, hierarchy, and point of views of the narratives.
Building a VIVA ExCon (2022) I Minh-Hoang Nguyen
Wooden blocks
Building a VIVA EXCON is an invitation for the audience to explore the act of constructing the Filipino biennale through the game of Jenga. Starting with three important documents outlining the identity of VIVA EXCON over the years, key words and phrases were taken out and laser-printed on the wooden pieces. As the game goes on, structures appear, then collapse, and meanings are constructed, then deconstructed, mirroring the process of what it means to build and maintain a biennale such as VIVA EXCON.
(10/2022 - 11/2022)
1. Xin Hãy Nhìn Em (... Babay, One More Time) 2023 I 35 mins
short fiction
dir.Nguyen Duy Anh
prod. Cao Viet Nga
2. Untiled 2022 I 7 mins
video installation
dir.Nguyen Duy Anh
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(06/2022 - 08/2022)
ba-bau AIR was invited to co-create and co-host ưhưh22 - the Queer House located in Werner-Hilpert-Strasse 22 with Nha San Collective, offering lodging in a space hosted by queer folks. Guests from all over the world can apply (through reference) to stay short term in the house, in exchange of anything: food, cleaning service, artworks, donation, workshops, scoby for kombucha making, labor of love, etc. The house opened from the beginning of documenta fifteen June 16th until September 2nd, 2022.
By co-designing the house according to its ever shifting function and adapting to the situation and surrounding environment as a living-house in the middle of an art festival, ưhưh22 posed questions on the authority of hosting as an art practice, collectivism, invisible labor including physical and mental.
(2021 - 2022)
ba-bau Collective is a participant of Gudskul Studi Kolektif Batch 4 with 7 other collectives from other Asian countries. The program is an initiative from Gudskul Ecosystem in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Since September 2021, program participants from 7 countries from GMT +4 to GMT +7 had been intensively meeting online to resolve & co-learn on how to sustain a collective, as well as taking initiative in re/self-designing the program.
Batch 4 later on has formed themselves in to a collective (La Tabebh) of collectives: ba-bau AIR (Hanoi), BiSCA (Bishkek), Load na Dito (Quezon City), Omnispace (Bandung), Pangrok Sulap (Sabah), Salikhain Kolektib (Quezon City), Scutoid Coop (Kaohsiung), and Yayasan Tonjo Foundation (Yogyakarta).
(06/2022 - 07/2022)
ba-bau Collective is a participant of Gudskul Studi Kolektif Batch 4 with 7 other collectives from other Asian countries. Since September 2021, program participants had been intensively meeting online resolving & co-learning on how to sustain a collective. In June 2022 they finally met physically in documenta fifteen for the first time as a “collective of collectives”, and conducted an evolving exhibition inside Fridskul (Museum Fridricianum, Kassel) from June 23 to June 30.
A series of (in)activation
Inside the shape-shifting block made out of used wooden candle boxes called Gudspace (Fridskul, Museum Fridericianum), ba-bau AIR takes over with a complete stage of resting. Instead of being an exhibition or an event, this was the only space for active inactivity during the second week of documenta fifteen. Two video channels streamed states of space-resting, include “Untitled” by Nguyễn Duy Anh, showing a pest-control process happening in the same day in ba-bau AIR in Hanoi and a live CCTV from Gudskul, Jagakarsa, Indonesia with staffs taking coffee breaks, nongkrong (hangout) their whole day-off. Anyone entered Gudspace that day was offered self-service tea and treats, pillows for power naps and relaxations, and a slow ice-drip coffee as a vague measure of time.
Outside Gudspace, friends from Gudskul and other collectives from Batch 4 were sent an intimate invitation of a treasure hunt, that they could follow the instruction of a poem and a drawing to find a gift, or proactively choose to do whatever but working during the day. At 5pm, everyone should come back for a special meal that ba-bau (Kieu-Anh, Thao Linh and a supporter) prepared. The intimate, private dinner turned into a party of more than 60, with surprise potluck goodbye pies.
The Coffee Circle Project by Ba-bau AIR (VN) & Scutoid Coop (TW) is a pop-up coffee stand mobilizing in various locations & experimenting with the possibilities of ‘urban lumbung’ (common rice barn in Bahasa Indonesia)
The Project travels around the neighborhood of Fridericianum in a quest to recreate familiar, safe atmospheres and further expand the existing boundaries of a more diverse community with participants through dialogues, collaboration & exchanging gastronomic experiences
Location:
July: ba-bau’s Presentation Day at Gudspace, Fridericianum (Kassel)
July: “Churning Condensed Milk”, in collaboration with Baan Noorg Collective Art and Culture (TH), documenta halle (Kassel)
August: The Barn Coffee Roaster (Berlin)
