BABEL Living Together Cities in Transformation & Climate in Transition

Living together in the city of tomorrow
​In the age of digital technology and artificial intelligence, it has become more urgent than ever to ask the essential questions.
​How can we inhabit ever-denser spaces ? How can we share them ?
​How can we preserve a balance between individuality and community, between economic growth and the environment ?
​What is the place of the living world within this system ?
​How do we face environmental challenges and reinvent ourselves ?
​It is from these questions that the Babel exhibition emerges, offering a reflection on the forms of coexistence and cohabitation within our contemporary metropolises. In a world shaken by climate change and demographic explosion, large cities may paradoxically become laboratories for new ways of living together.
​If the title of this exhibition refers to the myth of the Tower of Babel—symbol of linguistic diversity and the difficulty of mutual understanding—it is to invite us to revisit it. In an era of hypercommunication, where millions of pieces of information circulate at dizzying speed, yet attention to others, to nature, and to the living world seems to fade, artists are called to play a crucial role: to imagine new poetic and sensorial forms of dialogue capable of restoring connection.

A collective exhibition, a plural gaze
​Six artists come together around this shared reflection. Each offers a singular vision of urban coexistence—oscillating between dream and reality, anxiety and hope. While some works evoke a burning world or materialize frenetic consumerism, others celebrate everyday reverie, trace abstract figures within lush jungles, or summon mythological beings and beliefs.
​By bringing these diverse perspectives together, Babel seeks to create a space for encounter and collective reflection. The works engage in dialogue with one another, offering a sensitive panorama of the social and cultural transformations unfolding in large urban environments—and particularly in Ho Chi Minh City, whose energy and diversity become a privileged field of observation. Rather than a theoretical discourse, Babel proposes a sensory and visual experience—a way of thinking about the city through image, and of imagining new forms of cohabitation.
​It reminds us that the common good is built together, in those gestures and fleeting moments when the city becomes a shared space.

Credits

Venue: Gingko Concept Store, Petit Art Space
Artists: Sandrine Llouquet, Séverine Phương Trần, Nimajneb Ólafson, Eddy Coubeaux, Nguyễn Giáng, Mai Trần, Jiji
Curator: Seydou Grépinet
Art event production and management: The Art Deal
Producer: Bình Đi Lạc
Editor & Translator: Light-Printer
Installation: MidcenturySaigon, Hoàng Việt
Photographer: Phong Lan, Sang Nguyen
Legal advisor: Huỳnh Hồng Ngân
Sponsor: Lady Triệu Gin
F&B Vendor: Au Parc
Special thanks to the team of Ginkgo, especially Jun and Trang; Lam; Duy, and other partners VG Lab, Sky Art, Frame It, Art World and all the guests who came to join us.

​About Ginkgo Concept Store
​Kindled by a simplistic idea, built on creativity, Ginkgo has been spending its 18 years in Vietnam until now for one solid purpose: to inspire people with culture-driven designs made in Vietnam. Each item under the name Ginkgo is truly a piece of culture – representing the vibrancy weaved in not only traditional values but also the pacing of everyday life.
​Ginkgo Concept Store was created from the need to provide a space dedicated to offer a curated selection of apparel, accessories, and lifestyle products, blending contemporary aesthetics with Vietnamese craftsmanship. All products you find in Ginkgo Concept Store are developed and made in Vietnam by local and foreign artisans and designers.
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​About Petit Art Space
​Petit Art Space is a freshly born art gallery, launched by Ginkgo’s founder’s love for art and culture, with the aim to bring our little stone to the Saigon art scene. Petit Art Space will be a friendly and lively place that will hold art exhibitions, cultural events, talks, and music concerts. People will also be able to enjoy a coffee space that will propose a delicious selection of local coffees, teas and fruit juices and other crazy exotic surprises.
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​About Lady Triệu Gin
​Lady Triệu Gin is produced in small batches, using a rich tapestry of the finest botanicals meticulously sourced throughout Vietnam.
​Inspired by one of Vietnam’s greatest icons – Lady Triệu (Vietnamese: Bà Triệu), a 3rd-century Vietnamese warrior known for her pride, independent spirit, and modern values – Lady Triệu proudly takes its rightful place on the world stage of gin amongst its international peers.
​To date, Lady Triệu has achieved 47 medals from the world’s top spirits competitions, including 37 medals in 2023, making it the most awarded gin in Asia. In 2022, Lady Triệu was officially recognized as the Best-Selling Craft Gin in Vietnam, as announced by the International Wine and Spirits Record.