Khvay Samnang: Dancing the Land

Bringing sand back to the river bank, to where it was once taken from; pouring liquid rubber over himself; using his own body to draw attention to land grabbing and to deforestation; becoming one with the forest, the animals, and the spirits in movement and with masks—dancing the land. Khvay Samnang’s art is based on the exploration of political, economic, social, and cultural displacement, and getting to know alternative indigenous ways of life. To work against the destruction of natural environments and of the societies and cultures of communities living there, he develops his performances and his video and photo works. The questions he raises are universal. Who owns the land? What is happening to our land? Khvay Samnang’s works are not mere gestures of non-violent resistance; they are also an inspiration for a different way of thinking, acting, and living—a plea for a respectful form of coexistence that will enable us to have a future. In the solo exhibition Dancing the Land Cambodian artist Khvay Samnang presents works from the years 2010 to 2018.

Programme

Long Night of the Museums
Saturday, May 21, 2022, 6pm to 1am
We invite you to ifa Gallery to a preview of the exhibition Khvay Samnang: Dancing the Land. The gallery team will guide you through the exhibition, with hourly short tours. Artist Khvay Samnang will be present.

Reading
Thursday, August 11, 2022, 7pm
Barbara Stoll reads from Kampuchea by Patrick Deville
Patrick Deville’s novel Kampuchea takes us on an exploration of the last hundred years of Cambodian history, presented here in a reading by the Stuttgart actress and director Barbara Stoll. Deville tells of a drama between kings and queens, of the rural population, and of the military and of communists.

Artwork of the Month
Selected works from the ifa art collection will be presented in dialogue with artists and people working in the field of culture. The ifa collection comprises more than 23,000 works. Its sources are unique, consisting of works from ifa exhibitions that toured the world. These presentations take place at 4:30pm on Wednesday, June 8 and Wednesday, June 13 2002. Views of our art collection here.

Dance performance
July 7, 2022, 7pm
In classical Khmer dance the poses and positions of the hands and fingers are highly significant. In his work Popil Khvay Samnang presents Cambodian dance with its expressive gestures within a new contemporary form. The dancers wear masks made of woven vines that look like dragons’ heads. Two dragons meet in circling and weaving movement, telling their own love story in this performance.

On June 30, 2022 the dance performance Popil, presented by the KfW-Stiftung foundation, will be shown in the Frankfurt Villa 102. These performances are presented in cooperation between the KfW-Stiftung and ifa Gallery Stuttgart.

About ifa Gallery and ifa
The ifa Gallery Stuttgart presents contemporary art in a global perspective, addressing post-colonial movements and artistic reflections on the themes of migration and cultural transfer. In times of social and economic transformation conventional ascriptions have become unreliable, and so our exhibitions are based on co-creative processes with global and local collaboration. Different voices are heard as they combine to form a multi-layered shared space in which visitors are included.

As an independent intermediary organisation, ifa—Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen plays a leading role in international artistic and cultural exchange, and its work helps to shape Germany’s international cultural relations. ifa is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the state of Baden-Württemberg and the state capital Stuttgart.