left on read: an exhibition, a library, a pop-up bookstore

At once an exhibition, library, and pop-up bookshop, left on read is guided by reading and the written word, and their role in knowledge transmission, social mobilization, and imagination. Bringing together contemporary artworks and archival materials, the exhibition considers printed matter in its many forms and the circumstances in which it circulates, as a means of communication and (self-)education, as well as governance and nation-building.

The exhibition’s Vietnamese title is drawn from the poem of the same name (“The Shadow of Words”) by Lê Đạt (1929-2008).

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Biographies:

Lesley-Anne Cao explores materiality, language, and transformative processes through installation, sculpture, video, and text. Her recent projects investigate notions of the atmospheric and the cinematic. Cao’s solo exhibitions include her first at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (Manila, 2018) and first international solo at A+ Works of Art (Kuala Lumpur, 2026). She has been granted artist residencies at Gasworks (London, 2023) and HART Haus (Hong Kong, 2024), among others. She has presented work at THIRD BORN (Mexico City, 2026), Almeida & Dale (São Paulo, 2025), Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Manila (2025), MADA Gallery, Monash University (Melbourne/Naarm, 2025), Blindspot Gallery (Hong Kong, 2024), University of the Philippines Vargas Museum (Manila, 2021 and 2019), ROH Projects (Jakarta, 2021), Mind Set Art Center (Taipei, 2020), c3 Contemporary Art Space (Melbourne/Naarm, 2019), the 15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (Berwick-upon-Tweed, 2019), the 19th Seoul International New Media Festival (Seoul, 2019), Goethe-Institut (Hong Kong, 2019), and the Metropolitan Museum of Manila (Manila, 2014).

Hà Ninh Phạm is an artist based in Hanoi, Vietnam, whose work explores how we construct our understanding of territories from afar. He earned an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2018 and a BFA from the Vietnam University of Fine Arts in 2014. His work has been featured in Hyperallergic, New American Paintings, and Art & Market. He is an Associate Lecturer in the School of Communication and Design at RMIT University Vietnam.

Thao Nguyen Phan was born in 1987 in Ho Chi Minh City, where she lives and works. Originally trained in lacquer and silk painting, she develops an original visual language in which pictorial material is combined with different media and supports. Recent solo exhibitions include “Reincarnations of Shadows” (Pirelli HangarBiccoca, Milan, 2023 and Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, 2024); Tate St Ives (UK, 2022); “Monsoon Melody” (WIELS, Brussels, 2020); “Becoming Alluvium” (Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, 2019 and Chisenhale gallery, London, 2020). She has taken part in numerous group exhibitions, including: Klima Biennale (Vienna, 2024); 59th Venice Biennale, Manifesta 14 (Kosovo) and Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2022); 15th Lyon Biennale and 14th Sharjah Biennale (2019). Thao Nguyen Phan is also a member of the Art Labor collective (with artist Truong Cong Tung and art laborer Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran).

Shubigi Rao (born Mumbai, India, 1974) is an artist, writer, and filmmaker working with histories and lies, literature and violence, ecologies and natural history, libraries and knowledge hierarchies. Her current “Pulp” project has won the 2018 APB Signature Prize Juror's Choice Award and the Singapore Literature Prize for nonfiction twice (2020 and 2024). Recent solos include Bildmuseet, Sweden, and exhibitions at Tensta Konsthall, Sweden, Ngutu Kaka Gallery, New Zealand, Rockbund Art Museum, China, and Rossi & Rossi Gallery, Hong Kong. She was also featured in the Sharjah Biennale, Asia-Pacific Triennial, March Meets, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Taipei Biennial, Singapore Biennale, Auckland Writers Festival, Umea Littfest, and Singapore Writers Festival. Rao represented Singapore at the National Pavilion in the 2022 Venice Biennale with the third installment of the Pulp project. She was the Artistic Director for the 2022 Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

Linh Lê is an independent curator, writer, and researcher from Saigon, Vietnam. Her work investigates the changing landscapes and ecologies of Saigon and beyond under the pressures of modernisation and urbanisation, while exploring how post-socialist conditions in contemporary Vietnam have shaped both social reproduction and artistic production in recent decades. Since July 2024, she has been developing Đo Đạc, a site-responsive curatorial project examining the impact of forced resettlement in the Thủ Thiêm peninsula in Ho Chi Minh City. She is currently a member of the Curatorial Board at Á Space (Hanoi) and a research fellow for ArtsEquator’s Southeast Asian Arts Censorship Database. Previously, she has held curatorial positions at A. Farm International Residency (HCMC) and Galerie Quynh (HCMC). Currently, Linh is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Curatorial Studies at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (NY), funded by the Fulbright Foreign Student Program.

Minh Nguyen is a writer and curator based in Ho Chi Minh City. She is the director and curator of Dogma Collection in HCMC, a collection and exhibition space focused on propaganda art from Vietnam’s revolutionary period and contemporary art. She has organized exhibitions and film programs at Metrograph, Wing Luke Museum, Gene Siskel Film Center, and Chicago Cultural Center. Her art and film criticism has appeared in publications such as Art in America, Mousse, Momus, and e-flux journal, where she is a contributing editor. She has received a Warhol Arts Writers Grant Award, Fogo Island Arts Writing Award, and New York University's A/P/A Institute Visiting Scholar fellowship. She is the author of Memorial Park (Wendy’s Subway/Art Metropole, 2025).

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Opening reception: 18:00 till late, 16 October 2026

Venue: Dogma, 27A Nguyễn Cừ, An Khánh 

Open hours: 11:00 – 18:00, Thursdays - Sundays, 17.10.2026 – 27.02.2027

 Curated by: Linh Lê & Minh Nguyễn 

With works by

Lesley-Anne Cao

Hà Ninh Phạm

Phan Thảo Nguyên

Shubigi Rao

From Dogma Collection

Dương Ánh

Minh Phương

Sĩ Thiết & Phương Liên

Võ An Khánh

& other archival moments

Exhibition design: Microwave Soups 

Graphic design: Lưu Chữ

Partners: Anima & Amanaki

Producer: Nguyễn Ngọc Liên

Assistant Producer: Minh Võ

Research Fellow: Trần Công Đại

Art Technician: Anton Cullo

Accountant: Ngọc Phạm

Collection Founder: Dominic Scriven