About Hiền Hoàng
Hiền Hoàng (b. 1991) is a Vietnamese German interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of art, ecology, and material research. Her practice investigates how matter records violence, care, and memory. She works with corroded metals, mycelium, soil, archival photographs, and sensor-based systems to explore how trauma is stored in both living and non-living bodies. By combining scientific instruments with intimate observation, Hoàng develops methods that reveal material transformations as forms of witnessing.
Her ongoing project How to Touch the Elephant (2026) approaches post-Agent Orange landscapes in Vietnam through soil measurement, on-site drawing, and data sonification, taking the form of action and lecture performances, installation and participatory workshops.
Other recent works include Garden of Entanglement (2024), which translated vibrational data from urban trees into sound, augmented reality, and sculptural forms; Scent from Heaven (2023), which explored the wounding and transformation of agarwood trees through CT and EEG imaging; and Across the Ocean (2023), an installation reworking migrant family archives through distortion and performance.
Her projects have been exhibited internationally at Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Les Rencontres d’Arles, CentroCentro Cibeles in Madrid, Epica Fundacion Barcelona, and other major media arts festivals. In 2024 she received the Paul Huf Award, which led to her first institutional solo exhibition at Foam.
Hoàng is graduating with an MRes from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2026, and works between London, Hanoi, and Germany.
AWARDS / GRANTS / NOMINATION
2026: ifa Research Funding
2025: Research Funding. Ministry for Culture and Media Hamburg, Germany
2024: FOAM PAUL HUF AWARD 2024. WINNER
2024: c/o Berlin Talent Award 2024. Shortlisted
2023 – 2024: S+T+ARTS AIR Residency Grant, funded by the European Commission
2023: Louis Roederer Discovery Award, Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles. Finalist
2023: Förderung für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum ( Funding for art in public space), Ministry for Culture and Media Hamburg (Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg)
2023: Prix de la Photo Madame Figaro – Arles 2023, Finalist
2022: Art Scholarship, Kunstfonds Stiftung (Kunstfonds Foundation), GER
2022: Winner / Solo artist at Framing Identity, by Copenhagen photography festival
2021: Nomination for Hamburger contemporary art grant, Ministry for Culture and Media Hamburg, Germany
2021: SHORTLIST IN KASSEL DUMMY AWARD 2022, with the photo book “Asia Bistro”
2021: FUTURES Photography Talent 2021, nominated by the Triennial of Photography Hamburg
2021: Intercultural Project Grant by the Ministry for Culture and Media Hamburg (Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg), Hamburg: Project “Made in Rice”
2018: Lugano Emerging Photo prize: Under the pants. Finalist.
2014: Deutsche Jugendfotopreis: the shadow seeker. Premiere prize.
2010: MOET Scholarship for education, General Ministry of Education Vietnam
2009: PAD x Goethe Institut Vietnam Schorlarship
EXHIBITIONS (selected)
Upcoming: Backyard Biennal – Whitechapel Gallery (London, UK)
Current: Photo London 2026
Past: Guangdong Museum of Art (China), Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam (Solo show), Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles, Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center Budapest, Photo Museum Braunschweig Germany, Centro Cibeles Madrid, Benaki Museum Athens, Copenhagen Photography, Kunsthaus Hamburg, The Arts House – Old Parliament Singapore, etc.
For more details, please go to this page: Exhibitions/Events
ARTICLES WRITTEN ABOUT HIỀN HOÀNG:
Churchman, Fi. Future Greats 2024: Hiền Hoàng. ArtReview Issue Feb. 2024. Page 63 – 66. London, United Kingdom. 2024. Link:https://artreview.com/future-greats-2024-hien-hoang/
Mishra, Tanvi. Curation text about artist’s installation “Across the Ocean”. Louise Roederer Talent Award – Les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles 2023. Link: https://www.rencontres-arles.com/en/expositions/view/1485/hien-hoang
Zhexi Zhang, Gary. Asia Bistro. Text about artist’s body of work. FOAM Magazine Issue 63. 137 – 152. Amsterdam, Netherlands. 2023
Dinter, Nadine. What’s new, Hiền Hoàng? Artist Interview. L’oel de la Photographie. 2023. Link: https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/whats-new-hien-hoang-interview-by-nadine-dinter/
Howard, Ellie. How Photography can be used to shift stereotypes. Interview with Hiền Hoàng. Creative Review. United Kingdom. 2023. Link: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/photography-stereotypes-hien-hoang/
Mucsi, Emese. Modes of Spirituality. Interview with Hiền Hoàng. TRIGGER Magazine. Issue 05. FOMU Antwerpen, Belgium, 2023. 68 – 72.
Li, Leandra. Interview with Hiền Hoàng. China Modern Weekly. Shanghai, China. September 2023. Text on printed issue in Chinese.
Opitz, Christiane. Asia Bistro. Curation text for the exhibition NOMINEES, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany. 2022.
OTHERS:
Kunst in der Börse Catalogue 2020, Deutsche Jugendfotopreis 2014, Polka Magazine, Liberation, VICE, STERN/NEON, Deutsche Jugendfotopreis, SZENE HAMBURG, Allgemeine Zeitung, Wiesbadener Kurier, Wiesbadener Tagblatt
Hiền Hoàng 