My practice-research project focuses on developing Metaphysical Cartography, a methodology that enables individuals to map, communicate, and navigate ideologies in today's world, where physical aspects, such as geographical borders and nationalities, often play a lesser role in defining personal identities.
Metaphysical Cartography utilizes allegories and metaphors, embedding them within fictional spaces to create an artistic interface. This interface offers a more accessible approach to exploring the metaphysical world of ideologies and addressing complex cultural situations rife with conflicts and paradoxes, where the casual and technical languages tend to fall short.
The practical component of my research revolts around 'Country X', which is presented as the "Nation-State of the Ideologically Independent People." Country X are where my personal art project 'My Land' and other like-minded political entities situated. Country X allows me to explore various paradoxes, such as how rejecting one’s nationality can paradoxically lead to a stronger sense of belonging to it. Country X is in a perpetual state of war with its 'antagonistic forces', the obstructive ideologies that must be overcome for the Nation to achieve true independence.
Public Artist Statement
My art is about turning my life into a game. It all starts with "My Land," a long-term project where I imagine having complete control to build my own kingdom that exists beyond space and time. I depict My Land through painting, drawing, imaginative artifacts, short stories, academic essays, and computer games, all based on unique rules unrelated to any cultures in human history.
I start by drawing maps of My Land, then move on to creating cities, buildings, and objects. After that, I invent knowledge and history for my kingdom by designing scientific tools and a fictional language called 'Loop Script.' I also imagined a nation called 'Country X,' where My Land is situated. Country X is a place I would be willing to sacrifice myself for. It is home to all my friends and allies. Together, we battle against our common enemies, which are the toxic influences I've encountered in my life, striving to become World Masters.
Through my art, I explore and develop my identity and life mission in the world of today. I believe the best way to discover who you are is to play the game you create (essentially, to cheat). In this process, I've found myself, my community, and my beliefs. I hope more people can do the same, making the world a better place.
Artistic Artist Statement
In my practice, I explore different ways of building up understanding of a territory from afar through indirect materials. Since 2017, I have been working on a long-term art project titled ‘My Land’, in which I create a world that does not correspond to any known culture in human history. This project consists of drawings, sculptures, writings, and video games that represent the maps, artifacts, stories, and cultural products of an imagined territory, which has its own systems of logic, language, and cosmology that only refer to themselves. The territory is fictional, but by creating my work, I want to see how far I can go in persuading people that the territory does in fact exist.
My Land consists of four bodies of work (Mothermap, Logs, Loop Scripts and My Land Ltd). Each of them is meant to be an individually cohesive approach to the territory, having potential for infinite expansion and revision.
In recent years, I have initiated an interdisciplinary project where I design a country called “Country X”. This nation is where My Land is situated, and where I reveal other artists and thinkers who share the same aesthetics. In this way, I hope that My Land belongs to the realm of the universal. It is not Hà Ninh’s Land, as I hope the “My” will refer to anyone who calls its name.
Poetic Artist Statement
Once upon a time, there was a wise therapist who had been helping people since forever. People believed he never died because he stayed with his clients until the very end of their lives.
One day, a young artist came to see him. The artist lay down on the couch, and the therapist asked, "What’s on your mind?"
The artist said, "I made a beautiful painting of a cow on a farm and sold it for lunch. I was happy, but then I felt guilty because the cow deserved something too. I brought some grass to the farm, but the cow had already died. Now I feel I owe the cow something I can never repay."
The therapist smiled and said, "Don’t worry, young artist. Drink some water, and you will feel better."
The artist drank water and felt good again.
Many years later, the same artist came back. "Doctor, I feel bad again," he said. "I took a photo of an old man with a face full of wrinkles. I sold the photo for lots of gold. I was happy, but then I felt the old man deserved something too. I brought him some gold, but he had passed away. Now I feel I owe him something I can never repay."
The therapist replied, "I’m sorry to hear that, but don’t worry. Drink some water, and you will feel better."
The artist drank water and felt good again.
Years passed, and the artist grew old. He visited the therapist once more. "Doctor, I made a film about my country and sold it for many diamonds. I was happy, but my country deserved something too. I brought diamonds back, but the war had destroyed everything. Now I feel I owe my country something I can never repay."
The therapist said, "I’m so sorry, but don’t blame yourself. Drink some water, and you will feel better."
The artist drank water and felt good again. Finally, at the end of his life, the artist saw the therapist one last time. "Doctor, I made so much art and became rich. Now, I feel I only owe you because you made me who I am, but I can never repay you."
The therapist smiled and said, "I don’t think you owe me anything. I will follow you to the afterlife because I owe nothing in this world either."
And so, the artist rested in peace, knowing that he had done his best in life.