Vietnamese Objects with Quang Vinh Nguyen and Cynthia Mai Ammann

About the talk:
A presentation of the book Objets Vietnamiens/Vietnamese Objects (Triest Verlag and ECAL, 2025) with co-author Quang Vinh Nguyen and photographer Cynthia Mai Ammann, followed by Q&A.

Cà phê phin (filter coffee), atisô (artichoke), xi nê ma (cinema), căng tin (canteen), xi-măng (cement), ghế tô nê (Thonet chair): in the Vietnamese language, many words bear the imprint of a French origin. What if the same were true of everyday objects? Objets vietnamiens is a research project analyzing the production of objects in Vietnam in the light of French colonization and decolonization.

Through reports, interviews, and research in various archival collections, this book highlights the mechanisms by which objects, foods, materials, and know-how were integrated into Vietnam, until today they present singularly Vietnamese characteristics.

This publication was produced with the support of ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne and HES-SO/University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland.

About the speakers:

Quang Vinh Nguyen is a design researcher working on Vietnamese diasporic material culture. Born to Vietnamese parents and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland, he examines how objects, practices, and infrastructures carry histories of displacement, adaptation, resistance, and resurgence. His recent research, Vietnamese Objects: The Material Culture of Resilience in the Face of (De)Colonization (2025), was co-published by Triest Verlag and ECAL. He is currently in the M.E.D. research program at the Yale School of Architecture, where he studies Vietnamese encounters and recombinations across the French colonial continuum.

Cynthia Mai Ammann is a photographer and artist of Swiss and Vietnamese descent, currently based in Switzerland. Her work oscillates between documentary and poetic image-making, exploring notions of identity, belonging and memory. She creates sensitive visual narratives with a particular attention to emotions such as nostalgia, warmth and hopе. Her ongoing research around Vietnam and diasporic memory includes Floating View, a photographic work exploring the shifting identity of Sải Gòn, alongside past collaborations focused on food, applied arts and craftsmanship, as part of the collective Cang Tin. She contributed as photographer and director of photography to the publication Vietnamese Objects: The Material Culture of Resilience in the Face of (De)colonization (ECAL & Triest Verlag), 2026. Alongside her personal practice, she co-founded the artist-run space "Galerie Strates" in Lausanne, focused on supporting emerging photographers.

Sliding Scale $5-15. Proceeds will go towards keeping the studio open and future public programming.

Light refreshments will be provided. Objets Vietnamiens/Vietnamese Objects will be available for purchase at $45 USD. Cash and Paypal is preferred but credit card is also accepted. FAR–NEAR and Superblooom* publications will also be available.

Left image © ECAL / Kai Nguyen

Right image © ECAL / Mắt Bét