Dérive – French for ‘drift’ – refers to the psychogeographic practice of traveling through various urban environments without any pre-determined itineraries. Developed by Guy Debord and other French Situationists in the 1950s, the aim of a dérive is to uncover the effects of embodied spaces on mental states (and vice versa), in doing so building up the awareness of the everyday city in all its possibilities and phenomena. This summer showcase, featuring works by Ha Manh Thang, Christine Nguyen, Trong Gia Nguyen and Tran Van Thao, can thus be said to resemble a dérive. The juxtaposition of artworks depicting the real and imagined can be likened to chance encounters in the city. Whether futuristic, historic, muted, feverish, lifelike, or stemming from the mind, the contrasting urban landscapes encourage an aimless wandering to discover what is often overlooked, neglected or lost.
