Vietnamese artist shortlisted for the Benesse Prize in Japan

(VNF) - Saigon-based artist Bui Cong Khanh has also been shortlisted for the 11^th Benesse Prize in Japan.

Organised by Benesse, in conjunction with Singapore Biennale 2016 (SB2016) and its main organiser SAM, the 11^th edition of the Benesse Prize will award an outstanding SB2016 artist whose art practice embodies an experimental and critical spirit, and for his/her potential to develop a reflection around the theme of “Benesse” (Well-Being).

This will be the first time that the Benesse Prize, awarded at the Venice Biennale for the last ten editions, is presented in Asia.

Artist Bui Cong Khanh in his solo exhibition “Dislocate” at The Factory Contemporary Art Centre (FCAC), June 2016, Ho Chi Minh City. (Source: hanoigrapevine.com)

Five artists shortlisted for the 11^th Benesse Prize (in alphabetical order) include Martha Atienza from Philippines/ Netherlands; Bui Cong Khanh from Vietnam; Ade Darmawan from Indonesia; Qiu Zhijie from China; Pannaphan Yodmanee from Thailand.

For this edition of the prize, the shortlist was drawn from the more than 60 artists exhibiting at the Singapore Biennale by an international jury that includes the biennale's creative director, Dr. Susie Lingham, and Benesse Art Site Naoshima's international artistic director, Ms. Akiko Miki.

The winning artist will receive a commission to create a work to be exhibited at Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Japan, and a cash prize of JPY 3 million (USD 40,000), from Benesse.

The winner will also receive a commission to make a work that will be exhibited at Benesse Art Site Naoshima, an acclaimed art project on the small islands of Naoshima, Teshima and Inujima in Japan.

Previous winners include renowned Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija.

The winner will be announced during Singapore Art Week in January 2017 at Singapore Art Museum.

Born in 1972, Bui Cong Khanh is an artist deeply fascinated with social assumptions of cultural heritage. As one of the first Vietnamese artists that gained an international reputation in the 1990s, Bui Cong Khanh’s multifarious practice has since embraced painting, sculpture, installation, video and drawing, significantly exhibited across the Southeast Asian region and beyond.

A piece of "Dislocate", a solo exhibition by artist Bui Cong Khanh. (Source: san-art.org)

His recent projects include: ‘Dislocate’ (solo), San Art and The Factory, Ho Chi Minh City, 2016; ‘Fortress Temple’ (solo), 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong, 2015; ‘The Roving Eye: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia’, Arter, Istanbul, 2014; ‘Concept, Context, Contestation: Art and the Collective in Southeast Asia’, BACC, Bangkok (touring), 2013-2015; sixth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2009. He currently lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City and Hoi An, Vietnam./.

( Compiled by VNF )