Chinbo Collective is pleased to present Beneath the Membrane, the first duo exhibition by Nguyễn Khôi and Nguyễn Việt Trinh, taking place at Artspace, Ho Chi Minh University of Fine Arts, from October 29 to November 7, 2025.

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Beneath the Membrane is a two-year project that originated from the artists’ shared experience of living and working together as both partners in life and collaborators in art. Their joint practice has become an exercise in observation and reflection—on the division of roles, time, and decision-making, as well as on layers of emotional labor where love and empathy are constantly interwoven with individual dispositions and broader social expectations of gender. The exhibition brings together video, sculpture, photography, and diverse materials such as beads, pumice stone, the body, sound, and domestic objects.

 

The duo remarks:

“Emotions, thoughts, and memories become our shared materials, transformed into objects, movements, sounds, and images. Through acts of care, the weight of expectations, and the boundaries of gender norms, we reflect on the meaning of being a man, a woman, a husband, a wife, a family. This collaboration has encouraged us to accept, respect, and support one another. What began in intimacy has now been brought into a space that is no longer private.”

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Rather than offering definitive conclusions, the exhibition exists as an open space where the invisible mechanisms shaping shared life and collaboration gradually come to the surface.

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Both artists graduated with Bachelor’s degrees from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts, and Khôi is currently pursuing an MFA at Falmouth University. Their recent exhibitions and awards include Youth #10 at CICA Museum (South Korea), the 2023 Vietnam Fine Arts Exhibition, and the Dogma Prize (2023), among others.

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The exhibition is produced by Chinbo Collective, with the support of Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts and Falmouth University, under the guidance of Dr. Kate Fahey and Dr. Mary Ann Francis.

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Opening: October 28, 2025, 7:00 PM
On view: October 29 – November 7, 2025, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM (closed on Sundays)
Venue: 1st Floor, Block C, 5 Phan Đăng Lưu, Gia Định Ward, Ho Chi Minh City