Library | Thư viện

English | Tiếng Việt

A one-month pop-up, The Mango Tree Reading Station Library opens a dialogic space between personal collections and archives of books and art publications in Ho Chi Minh City. Through each curated edition, the Library reframes collecting and archiving not merely as a personal act, but as a practice of community-building, facilitated by the connections within the local art scene.

What publications are gathering under the mango tree?

📚 Academic – A selection of publications from the personal collection of artist-educator Richard Streitmatter-Tran, focusing on the contemporary visual art, performance, and film history of Southeast Asia.

🥭 Diverse – From Binh Thanh to Thao Dien, Reading Room presents a diverse A-to-Z collection, spanning from introductory to specialized knowledge on photography, critical theory, literature, visual arts, and design.

💥 Creative – Explore notebooks, zines, and introductory publications for the “Vietnamese Project” by CodeSurfing, a group operating at the intersection of technology, art, and humanities in Ho Chi Minh City.

👯‍♀️ Voices of the Community – The complete set of Vănguard publications from issues 1 to 6 will be present, alongside the latest release – “Trầm Tích” – the first publication in Vietnam about the transgender and non-binary community. Produced by Vănguard, these publishing projects offer diverse perspectives, from broad overviews to intimate details, on the queer art community in Vietnam and abroad.

EVENT DETAILS

💠 Opening hours: 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Wednesday to Saturday
📅 Duration: 15 October – 15 November, 2025
📍 Location: Studio 5, A. Farm Studio – 6/4 Nguyễn Đăng Giai, An Khánh Ward
👯‍♀️ Free entry. Open for everyone.
🛵 Parking at The Sentry P – 16 Nguyễn Đăng Giai, An Khánh Ward.

ABOUT THE COLLABORATORS

Richard Streitmatter-Tran (b. Trần Trọng Đạt, 1972, Biên Hòa, Vietnam) is an artist, and educator living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. While his practice historically has included performance and new media, his current focus involves the investigation of materials and largely through sculpture, painting, installation and drawing. His work is deeply informed by his parallel career as a curator and art collective founder. He was a founding member of Project One (2003), Mogas Station (2005-2007), a co-curator of The Mekong exhibition for the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial (APT6) in 2009, and Dia Projects in 2010. His work can be found in numerous publications worldwide and is in private and public collections including the Singapore Art Museum, The Documenta Archives, and Post-Vidai Collection, just to name a few.

He is currently a full-time lecturer at Fulbright University Vietnam, where he is responsible for the development of the studio art program and teaching of the art practicum courses.

Reading Room is a small, independent art library founded in March 2023 in Saigon, Vietnam. It operates as a free-of-charge, read-only space dedicated to contemporary photography and visual culture. As one of the few public resources of its kind in the country, Reading Room aims to make books – particularly those from independent publishers – more accessible to local artists and creatives.

The library’s role feels particularly relevant in Vietnam, where the art book scene is still young and shaped mostly by titles from larger commercial publishers. By building a collection that highlights diverse voices and perspectives, Reading Room hopes to not only serve as a resource but also a source of inspiration for current and future generations of artists.

Beyond its shelves, Reading Room collaborates with artists, collectives, cultural organizations, art spaces and creative studios to organize curated book showcases, workshops, film screenings, and small-scale merchandise projects, extending the library into a broader cultural platform while keeping its core rooted in community and accessibility.

CodeSurfing (Lướt Code) is an art-tech collective emerging from Ho Chi Minh City. Situated within the field of digital humanities, the collective develops public programs, curricular experiments, and collaborative research that connect local communities with wider regional and international networks. Its work promotes interdisciplinary inquiry across art, technology, and the humanities and seeks to expand the boundaries and spaces of artistic practice through the use of computational languages.

CodeSurfing’s projects have been presented at the Vietnam Women’s Museum in Hanoi, received the FutureTense Award in Hong Kong, and were shortlisted as finalists for the Lumen Prize. The collective is currently stewarded by Nhan Phan, Yui Nguyen, and Khoi Nguyen.

Vănguard is a living archive, amplifying LGBTQ+ and femme Vietnamese artists. Ran by members of the community in Vietnam with contributions from LGBTQ+ Vietnamese artists around the world.