MR Performance Journal

@tradagram , Mother Doesn't Know Mnemosyne⁠ ⁠ Trà Nguyễn is a theater-maker and screenwriter based in Vietnam. Her works span theater and interdisciplinary story telling, often probing silence, memory, and the psychological depths of kinship. Trà has earned her MFA in Dramatic Writing at Carnegie Mellon University on a Fulbright scholarship. ⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio. ⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@antony.luu , Drawings⁠ ⁠ Luu An (b.1991) (also known as Phan Trọng Nghĩa), is an independent artist, illustrator, and organizer. Finding a sense of belonging in the Queer community, whose voices, lifestyles and practices have been marginalized, Luu An chooses a cautious, considerate approach, manifested in acts such as recreating a new name, redrawing the bounds of language, tracing behind shifting presences, collecting and archiving historical documents, marginal stories and memories left out of the mainstream discourses.⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio. ⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@phuonglinhmainga , Nhà Sàn Collective⁠ ⁠ "Nhà Sàn Collective began operating as an independent artist collective in Hanoi in 2013, when a group of friends set up an abandoned medicine factory, called Zone 9, as a base for numerous exhibitions, open studios, and two festivals over several months. Nha San Collective was forced to relocate at various points to Lý Quốc Sư and Hanoi Creative City, becoming a kind of nomadic structure..."⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Phương Linh Nguyễn is an artist from Hanoi Vietnam. She is one of the board members of Nha San Collective.⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@phantasmictree , Can The Body Remember? Republished from #Issue60 of the Movement Research Performance Journal⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Phuong Phan is an art historian and social anthropologist whose work examines the social lives of objects and images, with a particular focus on how material culture mediates ideology, affect, and everyday practice. She is currently completing a PhD in Social Anthropology, where her research investigates the socialist social life of propaganda posters, tracing how images circulate between state projects, intimate spaces, and lived experience, and how people engage with, reinterpret, and repurpose them over time. In parallel with her doctoral research, she works as a curator on the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, where she contributes research-driven perspectives to exhibition development, acquisitions, and curatorial frameworks, particularly in relation to global modernisms, political imaginaries, and transnational cultural histories.⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@surrealexpressionism , Enduring with Ngo Thanh Phuong⁠ ⁠ "I. Palao (Hoi An)⁠ a hollow cry⁠ echoes through the dome-shape theatre⁠ people run frantically⁠ they’re running away⁠ running into hiding⁠ running to keep going..."⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio. ⁠ ⁠ Lyon Dat Nguyen is a movement artist and dance educator based in Vietnam. He’s passionate about all things dance: practice, theory, history, film, and writing, and is always looking for new ways to share that passion with his Vietnamese community.⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@vandoboke , at arms length: an index to the appendix⁠ ⁠ "The Appendix⁠ 1. a tube-shaped sac attached to and opening into the lower end of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals.⁠ 2. a section or table of additional matter at the end of a book or document. 3. Phụ Lục: Nguyễn Huy An, Vũ Đức Toàn, Ngô Thành Bắc, Hoàng Minh Đức, Nguyễn Dương Hải Đăng, Nguyễn Văn Song. 6 alumni from Vietnam Fine Art University..."⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio. ⁠ ⁠ Vân Đỗ is a curator and writer based between Vietnam and Thailand, whose practice sits at the intersection of site, performance, and archive.⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@pandatunx , The Ending of a Performance⁠ ⁠ "I wore wide-legged lotus print pants and a white silk camisole and looked a bit seductive, since I wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. I invited participants one by one and performed sensual massage gestures on them. My gentle strokes and arousing caresses focused on sensitive areas around the lips, face, neck..."⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio. ⁠ ⁠ Đinh Nhung describes themselves as a professional amateur. Their work centers on collecting stories, objects, artworks, and slang from women and queer communities, often shared through online LGBT archives, the Unstraight Museum, lexicons of queer and sexuality, and films. Since 2015, Nhung has developed projects such as Vagina Talks and A Queer Museum through participatory workshops and exhibitions.⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@buiduythanhmai @tranluongnew , Interview⁠ ⁠ "Bùi Duy Thanh Mai: Performance wasn’t your starting point, yet it plays an important role in your practice. How did that journey begin?⁠ ⁠ Trần Lương: In the very beginning, getting into contemporary art—with its ephemeral nature and constant transformation—was a way to break free from object art. Paintings and sculptures, being physical in nature, often get caught in layers of censorship. The red tape was endlessly frustrating..."⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Bùi Duy Thanh Mai is an independent and in-disciplinary researcher. Her practices involve experimenting with verbal and non-verbal materials, exploring modes of dialogue with communities to investigate how people exist and relate to one another. She graduated with degrees in Philosophy, Education and Asian studies at Union College.⁠ ⁠ Born in Hà Nội in 1960, Trần Lương is a performance and visual artist, independent curator, and major figure in creating space for critical contemporary art in Vietnam. In 2020, he co-founded the Center for Art Patronage and Development (APD), focusing on intersecting activities between artistic development and social development.⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@kokoropham , Vừng ơi! Mở ra, Sesame, open!⁠ ⁠ "Sesame, open!—a phrase from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves—has always meant more than just opening a door. It’s about discovering something hidden, something precious. It was used as the name of an event organized by DomDom–The Hub for Experimental Music & Art in 2013, the same year I joined their Chamber Music course..."⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio. ⁠ ⁠ Tam Thi Pham is a Vietnamese multimedia composer, improviser, and performer based in Hamburg, Germany. By merging technology and tradition, poetics and politics, and the sonic and visual realms, Pham creates an integrated mode of expression where music and performance are indivisible parts. Since 2023, She has taught a dan bau at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Since 2025, she has been chairwoman of Hörbar e.V. collaborating with a dedicated team to present experimental music concerts in Hamburg. Her works have been presented at festivals across Asia and Europe, highlighting the international resonance and originality of her artistic voice.⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@dotuonglinh @ryllega , From Studio Actions to Social Performance: Nguyễn Minh Phước and the Birth of Ryllega⁠ ⁠ "Đỗ Tường Linh: Could you share a bit about the time when you first⁠ began making performance works? Back then you were studying at⁠ the Vietnam University of Fine Art (Yết Kiêu) and starting out as a⁠ painter. Why the shift?⁠ ⁠ Nguyễn Minh Phước: Well, it followed the natural course of social⁠ development. After Đổi Mới [Renovation], there was suddenly more⁠ access to information..."⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Nguyễn Minh Phước is a Hanoi-based multimedia artist whose socially engaged practice spans video, performance, and installation, and who co-founded the influential independent art space Ryllega Gallery (2004–2008).⁠ ⁠ Đỗ Tường Linh is an independent curator, researcher, and writer with academic training from VNUFA, SOAS (Alphawood Scholar), and Bard CCS (2025). Her work since 2005 spans the 12th Berlin Biennale and diverse exhibitions and collaborative art projects across Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Europe and beyond.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@dotuonglinh @ly.hoang.ly , Memory is Air / Memory is Air Memory is Air (and) A reflection on Ly Hoàng Ly’s poetry⁠ ⁠ "I lock myself in a black bag⁠ The whole world cannot see me⁠ Seeking the feeling when my breath breaks and no one knows⁠ The black bag is full, breath taut and rigid⁠ When it bursts, what scent will escape?"⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Ly Hoàng Ly (real name Hoàng Ly) is the first woman visual artist in Vietnam to practice performance art and poetry performance. Her multidisciplinary practice includes poetry, painting, video, performance art, artist’s books, sculpture, installation, and public art.⁠ ⁠ Đỗ Tường Linh is an independent curator, researcher, and writer with academic training from VNUFA, SOAS (Alphawood Scholar), and Bard CCS (2025). Her work since 2005 spans the 12th Berlin Biennale and diverse exhibitions and collaborative art projects across Vietnam, Southeast Asia, Europe and beyond.⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch

@anhqvo , A Direct Punch in the Face and Ears:⁠ The Porno-Sadistic Force of Đại Lâm⁠ Linh⁠ ⁠ "There were two female singers. One rocked a shaved head. Her punk⁠ appearance was in contrast to the other’s seductive femininity. Both⁠ were draped in black dresses. Wrapped in theatrical fog and backed⁠ by a full band, together they unleashed a dark, dissonant⁠ soundscape. Harsh electronic sonic motifs..."⁠ ⁠ Read more on our website mrpj.org or by following the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ Based in Brooklyn and Hanoi, Anh Vo is a Vietnamese choreographer and writer working in the expanded field of performance. ⁠ ⁠ #Issue62 of the Movement Research Performance Journal, “We Exist in the Ambivalence of Those Motherfuckers,” includes 17 commissioned pieces exploring contemporary performance in Vietnam written by artists shaping that field.⁠ ⁠ Contributing Editors: Anh Vo, Lumi Tan, and maura nguyen donohue @anhqvo , @lumit , @mauranguyendonohue ⁠ ⁠ MRPJ Editorial Team: Joshua Lubin-Levy, John Arthur Peetz, Nicole Bradbury@jlubinlevy , @jarthy , @nicole_bradbury ⁠ ⁠ Design by: spreeeng (John Philip Sage and Carlos Romo Melgar) @spreeeng , @johnphilipsage , @carlosromomelgar (@spreeeng )⁠ ⁠ Published by: Movement Research, @movementresearch ⁠ ⁠