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You are here: Home / LACE / 2020-Current Year / HOBOLLYWOOD by Thinh Nguyen

HOBOLLYWOOD by Thinh Nguyen

By Thinh Nguyen
February 11–12, 2023
6522 Hollywood Blvd

Join LACE and our artist in un-residence, Thinh Nguyen for HOBOLLYWOOD,  a special weekend program on Hollywood Boulevard. Nguyen will present an installation in front of LACE with objects collected during their un-residency. As part of the installation, there will be a tea ceremony where visitors can join the artist for a conversation about the objects in the installation and their experience as an unhoused artist.

Since 2020, Nguyen has been living inside their car and migrating across Los Angeles county collecting artifacts found on the streets of the city. Described as talismans, found objects assembled from pendants, beads, twine, and string, ground the artist in their material conditions. Larger themes in this work touch on cultural anthropology, housing injustice, and excess consumerism.

Inspired by the success of the LACE Summer Residencies founded in 2014, LACE engaged in an experimental 6-month artistic research un-residency with artist and cultural provocateur, Thinh Nguyen. Curated by LACE’s former Chief Curator and Director of Programming, Daniela Lieja Quintanar, this un-residency program used the immediate Hollywood neighborhood and greater Los Angeles area that surrounds LACE as the research grounds to explore themes of development, displacement, houselessness, and racial justice.

In response to Hollywood’s rapidly changing environment, Nguyen was invited to use their artistic practice to explore how communities navigate constant metamorphosis and adaptation.

Read USC Professor Meiling Cheng’s essay on Hobollywood for the Theatre Journal. 

Thinh Nguyen (b. 1984, Bảo An, Vietnam.), a cultural provocateur and critic who works to investigate the intersections of cultural values.

Nguyen is expanding on their current and ongoing project/s relating to the notion of social-cultural transition/ing. Their sense of belonging is located in a collection of post-consumer materials through their experience of homelessness.

Utilizing various media and post-consumer materials, they explore and expose oppressive socio-political power structures within those values. Nguyen performed and exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at Freewaves, The Mistake Room, The Hammer Museum, REDCAT, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, and Contemporary Irish Art Center Los Angeles. Their work has been written about in Artforum, the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, LA Weekly, Hyperallergic, Artillery magazine, and numerous online forums.

Support for this project provided by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

 

Logo for the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts

Filed Under: 2020-Current Year Tagged With: artist unresidency, hobollywood, houseless, houselessness, Thinh Nguyen

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LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions)

welcometolace

We're excited to work with two new Getty Marrow Un We're excited to work with two new Getty Marrow Undergraduate Interns this summer! 

💫 Becca Choe, LACE's Curatorial Intern, is a student at Pomona College studying Art and Politics. She is interested in exploring themes of immigration, home, industrialization, and South Korean political movements with her work as both a student and artist.

💫 Jada Wong, LACE's Communications and Media Intern, is an illustrator, printmaker, and educator who creates whimsical characters and stories to make sense of the world around her. Jada merges her love for the absurd and humor with themes of identity, community, and social justice in her work. 

Join us in welcoming them to the LACE team!
We’re grateful to everyone who joined us at “T We’re grateful to everyone who joined us at “This Home, Forever,” curated by 2025 LACE Emerging Curator Nahui Garcia. The two-day event featured performances by: @0ll668 @perras.bravas @lapovertydepartment  @michelelorusso @pacoimatechno @jakioeoeo

These performances took place during a fraught weekend for Los Angeles, with sirens and helicopters heard across downtown Los Angeles. On Sunday, @perras.bravas performed “Borderland Feelings,” a piece that seeks to shed light on and gather testimonies about the experiences, emotions, and demands that emerge when crossing the border. Participants were invited to share their border-crossing experiences by writing or illustrating them on a butterfly. These butterflies were later read aloud during the performance and placed on a body, symbolizing how the border becomes a scar that marks those who cross it.

This performance, along with the rest of the program, felt especially significant on that day. LACE remains committed to presenting socially-engaged projects and was founded as an experimental artistic space for freedom of expression and art that is socially and politically engaging. 

We’re glad to have shared space with LACE friends, collaborators, and colleagues, as well as new friends. 

Photos by Angel Origgi. (@angeloriggi)
Please join us in welcoming two new members to the Please join us in welcoming two new members to the LACE team! 

 🌟 LACE’s new Communications + Event Coordinator, Ida Tongkumvong is a Los Angeles-based arts administrator and marketing professional with a passion for expanding access to the arts and fostering inclusivity within creative spaces. She holds a B.A. in Communications from UCLA. Her previous roles with Sounding Point, the LA Phil, and CAP UCLA deepened her commitment to broadening arts access through strategic partnerships, inclusive programming, and dynamic storytelling. With a keen interest in public art and community-based initiatives, Ida brings a thoughtful and collaborative approach to audience development and creative event planning within L.A.’s contemporary arts landscape. Outside of work, you’ll often find her at a flea market or estate sale, always on the hunt for a one-of-a-kind find.

 🌟 LACE’s new Production + Operations Coordinator, Johnny Young began making his mark on the Los Angeles arts scene as Gallery and Programming Manager for the Juicy Beats Artist Exchange Lounge in 2000. He has worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), where he played a key role in production and management for their First Fridays program; he was also selected for the prestigious Diversity Apprenticeship Program (DAP) at The Broad, a competitive initiative aimed at training the next generation of museum and gallery professionals from underrepresented communities. Johnny brings a sharp eye for detail, a commitment to equity in the arts, and a dedication to amplifying voices that challenge the boundaries of convention.
Did you get your tickets for “This Home, Forever Did you get your tickets for “This Home, Forever” happening this weekend? “This Home, Forever” is a stage, a forum, and a dynamic workshop nurtured by a group of artists and activists devoted to and inspired by Los Angeles. Learn more and get your tickets at the link in our bio. 

Held on the rooftop of the historic Bendix Building, performances will be presented with a 180 degree view of downtown Los Angeles. See performances by: @0ll668, @perras.bravas, @lapovertydepartment, @michelelorusso, @pacoimatechno, @jakioeoeo. 

Behind-the-scenes photos by @andreuuua  @selene__preciado and @abwyman
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