Khvay Samnang is one of Cambodia’s most important artists amongst the new generation. Using many approaches such as photography, video, installation, sculpture and performance, he explores new perspectives and interpretations of history, culture and current affairs. He often deals with themes related to the Cambodian context, which, in his humanistic approach also reflects on universal themes. Fluidity, historical significance, and ongoing social and political issues around land have fascinated Khvay for many years. “If you want to learn, you must spend time, and really enjoy!” said Khvay, whose work is often filled with sense of humor. To offer signals, symbolism, and questions in many layers engaging seemingly absurd act of performance lies in the core of his artistic practice.
Khvay Samang was born in 1982 in Cambodia, and graduated from Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh in 2006. He has held solo exhibitions at Haus Der Kunst, Munich (2019), Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, CA (2016), Jeu de Paume, Paris and CAPC, Bordeaux, Orange County Museum of Art, CA (2015), SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh (2011, 2012, 2014), and Tomio Koyama Gallery Singapore (2014). His group exhibitions include documenta 14 (2017), the Asia Pacific Triennial 8, Brisbane, Australia (2015), 4th Singapore Biennale (2013-2014), “Sights and Sounds: Global Video Art”, The Jewish Museum, NYC (2013) among many others. His residencies include TWS Creators in Residence program, Tokyo Wonder Site (2010, 2011), and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2014-2015).
Solo Exhibition
2024 | “Das Pralung (Rousing Spirits)” Tomio Koyama Gallery Tennoz, Tokyo, Japan |
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2022 | “Love of the Land” Tomio Koyama Gallery Roppongi & Tennoz, Tokyo, Japan “Dancing the Land” ifa Gallery Stuttgart - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, Germany |
2021 | “Khvay Samnang: Calling for Rain” Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland |
2019 | “A Forest of Spirits” Nova Contemporary, Bangkok, Thailand “Preah Kunlong/ Where is my land?” Batia Sarem Gallery, Siem Reap, Cambodia “Capsule 10: Khvay Samnang” Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany |
2017 | “Where is My Land?” Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2016 | “Bloom Projects Exchange Series: Khvay Samnang, Footprints of Yantra Man” Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA |
2015 | “The Pacific Project: Khvay Samnang” Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA “Enjoy My Sand” 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan “Footprints of Yantra Man” Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany “Rubber Man: L’Homme caoutchouc” Jeu de Paume, Paris, France [traveled to CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, 2015-2016] |
2014 | “Human Nature” Tomio Koyama Gallery Singapore, Singapore “Rubber Man” SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Staging Cambodia: Video, Memory and Rock-n-Roll” HAU, Berlin, Germany |
2012 | “Newspaper Man” SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2011 | “Human Nature” Royal University of Fine Art / PhotoPhomPenh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Untitled” SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Wedding + Hair” Hotel de la Paix Arts Lounge, Siem Reap, Cambodia |
2010 | “Wedding” Sa Sa Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2009 | “Hair” Java Café and Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
Group Exhibition
2024 | “SINKING and the Paradox of Staying Afloat” 333 Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand “Everyday Practices” Singapore Art Museum, Singapore “Igoku Tamaru: lives without boundaries” Tanabe City and Shirahama Town, Wakayama, Japan “Rokko Meets Art 2024 beyond” Rokko, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan "The Spirits of Maritime Crossing” Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana, Venice, Italy |
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2023 | “Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale 2023” The Macao Museum of Art, Macao |
2022 | ”Kinan Art Week 2022: Orange Mandala" Various locations in Tanabe City, Wakayama, Japan Documenta 15, Kassel, Germany (Participated as a member of Sa Sa Art Projects) “Master of Lands and Waters” Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2021 | “Sounds as Silence: The Academic Value of Life“ Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China OCAT Biennale 2021 "Resonances of One Hundred Things“ OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China Gallery Children’s Biennale 2021, Online and National Gallery Singapore, Singapore “Living Matter” Russian National Museum Association of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia “AURA Contemporary Art Foundation Collection Exhibition: Trans-local Migrants on the Water: Contemporary Art from the Mekong region” Semba Excel Building, Osaka, Japan “Daegu Forum I Playground for Poetry“ Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea Helsinki Biennial 2021, Helsinki and Vallisaari Island, Finland “Climate Care: Reimagining Shared Planetary Futures“ Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria “Listening to Voices“ Futura, Prague, Czech Republic |
2020 | Bangkok Art Biennale 2020 "Escape Routes" Bangkok, Thailand "In The Forest, Even the Air Breathes" Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy "Say the Unsayable: 10th Yeosu International Art Festival 2020" Yeosu Expo Art Gallery, Yeosu, South Korea "Green Currents" Fondation groupe EDF, Paris, France "Animalia" Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands |
2019 | Frieze London 2019: Live Performance, London, UK “An Opera for Animals” Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China “In one drop of water” Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia “Bruised: Art Action and Ecology in Asia” RMIT Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia "Borderlines" Talbot Rice Gallery, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK “Documenting Change: Our Climate (Past, Present, Future)” CU Art Museum, The University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO “Our Collections!” Tottori Prefectural Museum, Tottori, Japan |
2018 | Taipei Biennial 2018 "Post Nature” Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan “Beyond Wonder – Perspectives of Utopia” Art and Design Center at Nagoya University of Arts, Aichi, Japan “Constructing Mythologies” Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong Taehwa River Eco Art Festival 2018, Taehwa River Grand Park, Ulsan, Korea “SOPHEAP PICH / KHVAY SAMNANG / SHOOSHIE SULAIMAN” Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan “Animals & Us” Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK “When animals talked to human” Travesia Cuatro Gallery, Madrid, Spain 21st Biennale of Sydney "Superposition: Equilibrium and Engagement“ Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia |
2017 | “Le Paysage Apres Coup” Faux Mouvement- Contemporary Art Center, Metz, France “The Pacific” Libby Leshgod Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, Canada “Fleeting Territories” Kunstraum Niederösterreic, Vienna, Austria Documenta 14, EMST, Athens, Greece / Ottoneum, Kassel, Germany “Political Acts: Pioneers of Performance Art in Southeast Asia” Art Center Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia “The Darkened Mirror: Global Perspectives on Water” San José Museum of Art, San Jose, CA “Human Nature” Northern Photographic Center, Oulu, Finland “Dendromorphies: Créer avec l’arbre” Topographie de l'Art, Paris, France “People, Money, Ghosts (Movement as Metaphor)” Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand “Currents” San José Museum of Art, San Jose, CA |
2016 | “The Immeasurable Here” Outlet Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY “Anywhere but here” Betonsalon, Paris, France “Histories of Future” National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Future Nature” Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY “Phnom Penh, Rescues Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City, Fragments & Empire: Cambodian Art from the Angkor Period” John Young Museum of Art, University of Hawaii, Manoa, HI “Shifting Geographies” Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2015 | Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia 2nd AFRIperFOMA Biennial, Lagos, Nigeria “Globale: Global Control and Censorship“ ZKM | Center of Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany Delhi Photo Festival “I see you see me” Gallery Threshold, New Delhi, India “inToAsia: Time-based Art Festival 2015 – Architectural Landscapes: SEA in the Forefront“ Queens Museum, Queens, NY “And That Which Was Always Known” Yavuz Gallery, Singapore “Rates of Exchange, Un-Compared: Contemporary Art in Bangkok and Phnom Penh“ H Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand and SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Art Stage Singapore “Eagles Fly, Sheeps Flock” Southeast Asian Platform, Singapore “Prudential Eye Awards Finalist Exhibition” Art Science Museum, Singapore “Social Engagement Artists” Tomio Koyama Gallery Singapore, Singapore “The Khmer Rouge and the consequences. Documentation as artistic memory work” Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany |
2014 | Mapping Melbourne 2014 “Swimming in Sand: Growing Rice Under an Umbrella” No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne, Australia “Phnom Penh, Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City” Goldsmiths, University of London for SEA Fest, UK “Looking at the Big Blue Sky” Meta House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Phnom Penh, Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City” The Disappearance, Center for Contemporary Art, Singapore Xishuangbanna Foto Festival “Medicine to Heal: Cambodian Photography since 2000" Yunnan, China The 7th Move on Asia "Censorship” Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul, South Korea “Phnom Penh, Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City” SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2013 | 4th Asian Art Biennale “Everyday Life“ Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan 4th Singapore Biennale “If The World Changed” multiple venues in Singapore “Sights and Sounds: Global Video Art” The Jewish Museum, New York, NY “Phnom Penh, Rescue Archaeology: Contemporary Art and Urban Change in Cambodia” Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany “Out of Nowhere: Photography in Cambodia“ creativetimereports.org “Developments” Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
2012 | “Poetic Politic” Kadist Foundation, San Francisco, CA “Deep Sea” Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy “Mondi” Dry Photo Contemporaneo, Prato, Italy Gwangju Biennale 2012 “ROUNDTABLE: You Owe Me. I Dont’ Owe You Nothin.” Tobias Rehberger Pavilion, Gwangju, South Korea Noorderlicht Photography Festival 2012 “Terra Incognita” Netherlands “Current Views and Actions: Photography and Performance Documentation from Phnom Penh” Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL “new artefacts” SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival 2012 “Between Fantasy and Reality: Six Photographers from Cambodia” Art Square Gallery, Toronto, Canada “Ruptures and Revival: Cambodian Photography in the Last Decade” Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, Singapore |
2011 | “Tokyo 2010” Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Japan “Between/ Myanmar-Cambodia” Metahouse, Phnom Penh, Cambodia "Arles Photography Festival Night of the Year" Arles, France |
2010 | “Luxury Time and Space” Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan Orange International Photography Festival, Changsha, China “Big Eyes” Sa Sa Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2009 | “Forever Until Now: Contemporary Art from Cambodia” 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong |
2008 | "Arles Photography Festival Night of the Year" Arles, France “Reminder: Photo Phnom Penh" Bophanna Audiovisual Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “I love PP” Java Café and Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Art of Survival” Meta House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Silence” Meta House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2007 | “Menthoamada” Gasolina, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Spirit House” Khmer Arts Academy, Takhmao, Cambodia “14 + 1” French Cultural Center Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Market” Meta House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Surfacing” Sala Artspace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Anon” Sala Artspace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2006 | “Contemporary Cambodian Art Review” Sala Artspace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “I am leaving” French Cultural Center Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2005 | “Sowing Seeds of Peace” Mekong River Basin, Institute of Education, Phnom Penh, Cambodia “Similar things between the Khmer and the Thai” Thai Embassy, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2004 | “Life: Student Exhibition for the 86th Anniversary” Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
Screenings
2021 | "Embracing Nature" Online Screening, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden, Germany |
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2019 | "Cine Club: Artists’ films of Khvay Samnang" Bophana Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2018 | “Living on the Edge” The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |
2017 | “The People’s Summit” McCormick Place, Chicago, IL “Forces and Volumes” Bophana Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2015 | “Vidéothèque Project” Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain “Inaugural Vision Forum” Asian Cultural Center, Gwangju, South Korea “BIMI Essay Film Festival” London, UK “FOKUS Video Art Festival” Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark “Inventing the Possible” Jeu de Paume, Paris, France |
Nominations
2020 | The Shpilman International Photography Prize 2020, Jerusalem |
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2016 | Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine |
2015 | Han Nefkens Foundation, BACC Award for Contemporary Art, Thailand Prix Pictet Prize AIGA AGO Photography Prize Long List, Canada Prudential Eye Awards, Best Emerging Artist in Asia Using Photography, Singapore Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalist, Hong Kong |
2014 | Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Hong Kong Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine |
2013 | Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine Prix Pictet, France |
Workshop, Residencies
2019 | Delfina Foundation, London, UK |
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2017 | Disarming the Gods: Think tank led by the dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, KfW Stiftung, Frankfurt, Germany |
2014-15 | Artists-in-residence program by KfW Stiftung, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany |
2013 | Residency Unlimited and Casita Maria / IN RESIDENCE, Season of Cambodia, New York, NY |
2011 | Creators Program, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan Between, Metahouse, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Co-Founder, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2010 | Creators Program, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan Co-Founder, Sa Sa Art Projects, The Building, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2009 | Co-Founder, Sa Sa Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2008 | Bassac Studio, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
2007 | Photography: History and Training with Stephane Janin, Popil Photo Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Co-Founder of the artist collective Stiev Selapak, Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
Public Collections
Aura Contemporary Art Foundation, Japan
DC Collection
Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa)
Kadist Foundation, France
KfW Bankengruppe, Germany
MAIIAM Museum, Thailand
Mainland Art Fund, Australia
National Gallery of Australia
Rei Foundation Limited
Singapore Art Museum
The National Museum of Art, Osaka
The Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
Publications
A Forest of Spirits, Bangkok: Nova Contemporary, 2019.
Khvay Samnang – Preah Kunlong / Where is My Land?, Siem Reap: Batia Sarem Gallery, 2019.
Khvay Samnang: The Life Beneath My Feet, ed. by Nicola Müllerschön and Christoph Tannert, with an essay by Brianne Cohen and an interview by Hendrik Folkerts, Dortmund: Verlag Kettler, 2015.
Khvay Samnang: Rubber Man: L’Homme caoutchouc, Jeu de Paume, Paris, CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, 2015.
Human Nature, Tokyo: Tomio Koyama Gallery, 2014.