Arte Fare

Chillala House of Art presents Arte Fare , a rotating exhibition curated by Trong Gia Nguyen. Taking the ubiquitous art fair model as its premise for revision, the central gallery at Chillala is configured into four booths arranged in the formation of a swastika, the ancient Buddhist symbol of good fortune and cyclical renewal. Every five days, four different exhibitors take over the space.

They install new work in their respective booths, present it, and then hand off to the next quartet – one day for changeover, then it begins again. Arte Fare is an exhibition concept built around the simple question of how art fairs could work better. What many people see as a commercial art mall – unworthy of the higher callings of art, if there is such a thing – is here considered a format ripe for reinvention.

Can tweaking the model challenge exhibitors to come up with novel ways that art can engage with the public and collectors? At Arte Fare, the traditional model and its spatial booth grammar is handed to artists without a sales floor logic attached. The work a gallerist would normally take on is transferred almost entirely to the artist.

Each iteration also includes an invited gallery or alternative space, whose participation is intended to share and expand community reach, offering the other three independent artists and Chillala a wider network to engage with. Confirmed spaces include AirHue, 22 Gallery, Gallery Medium, Vin Gallery, and Wiking Salon, and Willis Art Advisory Trong Gia Nguyen, who has organized over 30 exhibitions internationally including the inaugural TechNophobe (2016) at Vietnam’s first contemporary art center, The Factory, operates throughout as “fair director,” moving between booths, taking stock, encouraging the artists, and keeping the machinery running.

Over the course of the exhibition, the curator will also implement different programming and exhibition strategies, and enlist the collaboration of other arts professionals.

One day at the fair might see no artists in their booths, while an art advisor acts as docent to all visitors. Another day might see every booth turned into an impromptu silent auction. Nguyen will also select works from each iteration, which are re-installed onto Chillala's surrounding main walls for the remaining duration of Arte Fare.

The selection within the selection builds a cumulative record of the show's passage, which doubles as a form of collection note-taking, bookmarking, and idea-seeding for potential future installments. Artists include: Chinbo Collective, Chinh Ba, Cu Ru, Devon Nguyen, Diane Giraud, Do Huong, Florian Song Nguyen, Hoang Anh, Hoang Hue Phuong, Le Brothers, Le Quy Tong, Le The Lam, Le Thuy, Linh Phan, Nguyen Duc Dat, Nguyen Duc Tu, Nguyen Kim To Lan, Nguyen Phuong Thao, Nguyen Quoc Dung, Nguyen Duy Anh, Nguyen Van Du, Nguyen Van-Nhi, Nguyen Viet Anh, Noah Spivak, Quynh Lam, Richard Streitmatter Tran, Rodney Dickson, Sao La Collective, Son Dang, Ton Ton Bo, Tran Le Quynh Anh, Tran Trong Vu.

Group1: 03 – 06 Sep 2026 Vin Gallery (Group show) Devon Nguyen Nguyen Van Du Noah Spivak (Australia) Group 2: 08 – 11 Sep 2026 AirHue Cu Ru Nguyen Duc Tu Sao La Group 3: 13 – 16 Sep 2026 Gallery Medium Chinbo Collective Diane Giraud Le Quy Tong Group 4: 18 – 21 Sep 2026 22 Gallery Chinh Ba Rodney Dickson Tran Le Quynh Anh Group 5: 23 – 26 Sep 2026 Wiking Salon Florian Song Nguyen Le Brothers Quynh Lam Special Arte Fare Collaboration with Dat Bike In addition to Chillala's regular sponsors Tatler, L'Officiel, and Luxuo, Arte Fare features playful a VIP Program that includes a collaboration with Dat Bike.

The “made in Vietnam” e-motorbike company is donating two models, the Quantum S and Era, that will be hand-painted by prominent artist Ha Manh Thang and exhibition curator Trong Gia Nguyen. The bikes will be silent-auctioned during Arte Fare, with a portion of the proceeds going to AirHue. Curator Bio Arte Fare was conceived by Trong Gia Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American artist, curator, designer, and writer living and working between Brussels, Belgium and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

With a curatorial practice that prioritizes experimentation and sustainability for artists, Trong has organized over 30 exhibitions at museums, galleries, and alternative spaces internationally, including Boca Raton Museum of Art, Freies Museum Berlin, Residency Unlimited (New York), and Zabriskie Gallery. Currently serving as Chief Judge (Vietnam) for the 2026 UOB Painting of the Year Prize and has sat on the advisory boards of Fashion in Film Festival, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and Florence Artist in Residence (FAiR).

He has also guest-lectured and participated on panels at Art Stage Singapore, Review Los Angeles, CUE Foundation (New York), School of Visual Arts (New York), Columbia University (New York), Catalyst Foundation (Washington, DC), Reykjavik Art Academy (Iceland), Riga Center for Contemporary Art (Latvia), and Goethe Institute (Hanoi), among others.

As an artist, he has received prominent awards and exhibited widely, with works in significant public and private collections. About the organizer CHILLALA – House of Art is a contemporary art space and creative practice platform based in Ho Chi Minh City, working across exhibition-making, production, and connecting art with the public, with a clear focus on quality and content. The space is designed with an open structure, high ceilings, controlled lighting, and a flexible layout, allowing it to adapt to a wide range of artistic presentation formats.

CHILLALA collaborates with artists, curators, and organizations locally and internationally to develop projects grounded in research, dialogue, and depth of inquiry. Its activities aim to contribute to contemporary art and cultural life through programs that emphasize content quality, sustainability, and meaningful exchange. In 2025, CHILLALA was recognized with the title Best Art Space of the Year, encouraging its contribution to the contemporary art landscape.