a Saigon-based art residency, in partnership with the Goethe-Institut
Ho Chi Minh City, and support from Amanaki Thao Dien

Residency Reflection by Leipzig-based artist Vicente Arresse

English | Tiếng Việt

Vicente Arresse is a Leipzig-based Chilean artist, who was a resident at A. Farm’s Season 6 as part of the partnership programme between HCMC and Leipzig, which lasted from September to November 2024. In the spirit of continuing the next cycle of this exchange programme, we invited Vicente to share some of his experience being in Vietnam and at A. Farm. 

“Arriving in Vietnam for the first time, and in Asia altogether, was an intense and eye-opening experience. Being based there, I encountered a completely different rhythm of life, an ecosystem full of energy, movement, and unfamiliar logics. It was both shocking and inspiring, a powerful stimulus for creative thinking from the very beginning.” — Vicente Arresse

This year, we’re calling for applications from Leipzig-based artists to take part in Season 8 of our international residency in Ho Chi Minh City. The selected artist will spend three months developing a new project in response to the theme “Tides of Belonging”—a prompt to reimagine the idea of “diaspora” and explore how people, cultures, and identities shift, adapt, and take root across borders.

Application deadline: 1 June 2025