Biography / CV
Khvay Samnang was born in 1982 in Svay Rieng, Cambodia. He graduated from the Painting Department at the Royal University of Fine Art in Phnom Penh, where he lives and works today. Khvay’s multidisciplinary practice offers new views on historic and current events as well as on traditional cultural rituals using humorous symbolic gestures. In his work, which includes all media, he focuses on the humanitarian and ecological impacts of colonialism and globalization. The development of each body of work is based on thorough research and investigation of local specificities, structures and conditions. Traveling is a crucial tool for his practice. Engaging directly and personally with local communities – within and beyond the cultural scene – is an integral part of his work, which makes it highly relevant, critical and connectable to various contemporary discourses. His work shows a remarkable ability to engage with cultural and geographic contexts as well as with spatial and institutional settings.
Khvay Samnang is among the most promising up-and-coming international artists. His outstanding artistic significance is proven by his prestigious exhibition and grant portfolio. His solo exhibitions include Love the Land, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Toyko, Japan; Dancing the Land, ifa, Stuttgart, Germany (2022); Calling for Rain, Tramway, Glasgow, Slotland (2021); A Forest of Spirit, Nova Contemporary Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand; Khvay Samnang “Preah Kunlong” & “Where is my land?”, Batia Sarem Gallery, Siem Reap, Cambodia; Capsule 10: Khvay Samnang, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2019); Where is my land?, Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh (2017); Bloom Projects Exchange Series, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, USA (2016); The Pacific Project: Khvay Samnang, Orange County Museum of Art, CA, USA; Footprints of Yantra Man, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany, Enjoy My Sand, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Rubber Man, Jeu de Paume, Paris, CAPC Bordeaux, France (2015); Human Nature, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Singapore (2014); and Newspaper Man, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh (2012). His group exhibitions include Helsinki Biennial 2021, Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland; Children’s Biennale 2021, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore; Listening to Voices, Futura, Prague, The Czech Republic (2021); Escape Routes, Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok, Thailand; In The Forest, Even The Air Breathes, GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy; Green Currents, Foundaton Groupe EDF, Paris, France; Animalia, Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2020); Frieze (Live Performance), London, United Kingdom; An Opera for Animals, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China, In One Drop of Water, Art Gallery of New South Wave, Sydney, Australia; Borderlines, Talbot Rice Gallery, The University of Edinburgh, UK; Documenting Change: Our Climate (Past, Present, Future, CU Art Museum, The University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, USA (2019); Post Nature (Taipei Biennial 2018), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; Constructing Mythologies, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong; Animals & Us, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK; Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2018); Fleeting Territories, Kunstraum Niederosterreich, Vienna, Austria; DOCUMENTA 14, Athens, Greece / Kassel, Germany; People, Money, Ghosts, Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok (2017); Future Nature, Jack Hanley Gallery, NYC, USA; Phnom Penh, Rescures Archaeology, The Body and the Lens in the City, Fragments Empire: Cambodian Art from the Angkor Period, John Young Museum of Art, University of Hawaii, Manoa and Shifting Geographies, Bophanna Audiovisual Resource Center, Phnom Penh (2016), Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia; Globale: Global Control and Censorship, ZKM | Center of Art an Media, Karlsruhe, Germany (2015); A Time For Dreams, IV Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2014), If The World Changed, 4th Singapore Biennale (2014), Sights and Sounds: Global Video Art, The Jewish Museum, New York, USA (2013), Phnom Penh: Rescue Archaeology, ifa, Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany, and Poetic Politic, Kadist Foundation, San Francisco, USA (2012).
Khvay Samnang is a founding member of Stiev Selapak, an art collective dedicated to reappraising and remembering Cambodian history and exploring continuities in visual practices disrupted by civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime. In 2010/11, Stiev Selapak set up two nonprofit art spaces in Phnom Penh: Sa Sa Art Projects, for experimental residencies, knowledge-sharing, and community-based programs; and SA SA BASSAC, a gallery, resource center, and reading room. He teaches Contemporary Art Class to emerging Cambodian artists under the program of Sa Sa Art Projects. In 2016 was nominated for the Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine, in 2015 he was nominated for Prix Pictet Prize; AIGA AGO Photography Prize Long List, Canada; the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Hong Kong; and Prudential Eye Awards Best Emerging Artist in Asia Using Photography, Singapore. In 2014-15 he was a grant holder of KfW Stiftung for the 12-month programme ‘Artists in Residence’ in collaboration with Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; in 2017 he was invited by KfW Stiftung as an alumnus to participate in a think tank with the world-renowned dancer and choreographer Akram Khan. Later 2019 he was artist in residency at Delfina Foundation, London, UK.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Love the Land, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Toyko, Japan
2022 Dancing the Land, ifa, Stuttgart, Germany
2021 Calling for Rain, Tramway, Glasgow, Slotland
2019 A Forest of Spirits, Nova Contemporary Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
Khvay Samnang “Preah Kunlong” and “Where is my land?”, Batia Sarem Gallery, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Capsule 10: Khvay Samanng, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
2017 Where is My Land? Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2016 Bloom Projects Exchange Series, Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, USA
2015 The Pacific Project: Khvay Samnang, Orange Counry Museum of Art, CA, USA
Enjoy My Sand, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Footprints of Yantra Man, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
Rubber Man: L’Homme caoutchouc, Jeu de Paume, Paris, CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
2014 Human Nature, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Singapore
Rubber Man, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Staging Cambodia: Video, Memory and Rock-n-Roll, HAU, Berlin, Germany
2012 Newspaper Man, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2011 Human Nature, Royal University of Fine Art, Phnom Penh / PhotoPhomPenh, Cambodia
Untitled, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Wedding + Hair, Hotel de la Paix Arts Lounge, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2010 Wedding, Sa Sa Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2009 Hair, Java Café and Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 Festival Indonesia Bertutur 2022
documenta 15, Hubner, Kassel, Germany
2021 Mchas Teuk Mchas Dei (Master of Lands and Waters), Sa Sa Art Projects, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Sounds as Silence: The Academic Value of Life, Art Musuem of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China
OCAT Biennale 2021, Resonances of One Hundred Things, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China
Living Matter, Russian National Museum Association of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Helsinki Biennial 2021, Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Children’s Biennale 2021, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore
Playground for Poetry, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea
Climate Care: Reimagining Shared Planetary Futures, MAK, Vienna, Austria
Listening to Voices, Futura, Prague, The Czech Republic
2020 Escape Routes, Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok, Thailand
In The Forest, Even the Air Breathes, GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy
Say the Unsaybles, 10th “2020 Yeosu International Art Festival”, YeoSu EXPO Art Gallery, Korea
Green Currents, Foundaton Groupe EDF, Paris, France
Animalia, Garage Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2019 Frieze (Live Performance), London, United Kingdom
An Opera for Animals, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
In one drop of water, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Bruised: Art Action and Ecology in Asia, RMIT Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Borderlines, Talbot Rice Gallery, The University of Edinburgh, UK
Documenting Change: Our Climate (Past, Present, Future, CU Art Museum, The University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado, USA
2018 Post Nature (Taipei Biennial 2018), Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Beyond Wonder – Perspectives of Utopia, Art and Design Center at Nagoya University of Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Constructing Mythologies, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Hong Kong
Taehwa Eco Art Festival 2018, Ulsan, South Korea
Sopheap Pich – Khvay Samnang – Shooshie Sulaiman, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Animals & Us, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK
When animals talked to human, Travesia Cuatro Gallery, Madrid, Spain
21st Biennale of Sydney: Superposition – Equilibium and Engagement, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
2017 Le Paysage Apres Coup, Faux Mouvement- Contemporary Art Center, Metz, France
The Pacific, Libby Leshgod Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Fleeting Territories, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna
documenta 14, EMST, Athens, Greece, and Ottoneum, Kassel, Germany
Political Acts: Pioneers of Performance Art in Southeast Asia, Art Center Melbourne, Australia
The Darkened Mirror: Global Perspectives on Water, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA
Human Nature, Northern Photographic Center, Oulu, Finland
Dendromorphies : Créer avec l’arbre, Topographie de l’art, Paris
People, Money, Ghosts (Movement as Metaphor), Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand
Currents, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA
2016 The Immeasurable Here, Outlet Fine Art, NYC, USA
Anywhere but here, Betonsalon, Paris, France
Bloom Projects: Khvay Samnang, Footprints of Yantra Man, Musuem of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, California, USA
Histories of Future, National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Future Nature, Jack Hanley Gallery, NYC, USA
Phnom Penh, Rescues Archaeology, The Body and the Lens in the City, Fragments & Empire: Cambodian Art from the Angkor Period, John Young Museum of Art, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Shifting Geographies, Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2015 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
The Pacific Project: Khvay Samnang, Orange Country Museum of Art, California, USA
Globale: Global Control and Censorship, ZKM | Center of Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany
I see you see me, Delhi Photo Festival, Gallery Threshold, New Delhi
inToAsia: Time-based Art Festival 2015 – Architectural Landscapes: SEA in the Forefront, Queens Museum, NYC, America
And That Which Was Always Known, Yavuz Gallery, Singapore
Rates of Exchange, Un-Compared: Contemporary Art in Bangkok and Phnom Penh, H Gallery, Bangkok and SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh
Eagles Fly, Sheeps Flock, Southeast Asian Platform, Art Stage Singapore, Singapore
Prudential Eye Awards Finalist Exhibition, Art Science Museum, Singapore
Social Engagement Artists, Tomio Koyama, Singapore
The Khmer Rouge and the consequences. Documentation as artistic memory work, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
2014 Swimming in Sand; Growing Rice Under an Umbrella, No Vacancy, Melbourne with parallel programming at National Gallery of Victoria’s Ian Potter Centre and Federation Square Melbourne, Australia
Phnom Penh Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City, Goldsmiths University of London for SEA Fest, UK
Looking at the Big Blue Sky, Meta House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Phnom Penh Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City, The Disappearance, Center for Contemporary Art, Singapore
Medicine to Heal: Cambodian Photography since 2000, Xishuangbanna Foto Festival, Yunnan, China
Censorship, the 7th Move on Asia, Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul, South Korea
Rescue Archaeology: The Body and the Lens in the City, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh
2013 Everyday Life: 4th Asian Art Biennale, Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
If The World Changed, 4th Singapore Biennale, Singapore
Sights and Sounds: Global Video Art, The Jewish Museum, NYC, USA
Phnom Penh: Rescue Archaeology, ifa, Berlin and Stuttgart, Berlin
Out of Nowhere: Photography in Cambodia, creativetimereports.org
Developments, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2012 Poetic Politic, Kadist Foundation, San Francisco, USA
Deep Sea, Primo Marella Gallery, Milano, Italy
Mondi, DryPhoto Contemporaneo, Prato, Italy
Tobias Rehberger Pavilion “You Owe Me. I Don’t Owe You Nothin.’ROUNDTABLE, Gwangju Biennale
Terra Incognita, Noorderlight Photography Festival, The Netherlands
Current Views and Actions: Photography and Performance Documentation from Phnom Penh, Northern Illinois Museum, USA
new artefacts, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Between Fantasy and Reality: Contact Photography Festival at The East Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Ruptures and Revival: Cambodian Photography in the Last Decade, ICAS, Singapore
2011 Tokyo 2010, Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Japan
Between / Myanmar-Cambodia, Metahouse, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Arles Photography Festival Night of the Year, Arles, France
2010 Luxury Time and Space, Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama, Japan
Orange International Photography Festival, Changsa, China
Big Eyes, Sa Sa Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2009 Forever Until Now: Contemporary Art from Cambodia, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery,
Hong Kong
2008 Arles Photography Festival Night of the Year, Arles, France
Reminder, Photo Phnom Penh, Bophanna Audiovisual Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
I love PP, Java Café and Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Silence, Meta House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2007 Menthoamada, Gasolina, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Spirit House, Khmer Arts Academy, Takhmao, Cambodia
14 + 1, French Cultural Center Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Market, Meta House, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Surfacing, Sala Artspace, Phnom Penh Cambodia
Anon, Sala Artspace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2006 Contemporary Cambodian Art Review, Sala Artspace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
I am leaving, French Cultural Center Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2005 Sowing Seeds of Peace, Mekong River Basin, Institute of Education, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Similar things between the Khmer and the Thai, Thai Embassy, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2004 Life: Student Exhibition for the 86th Anniversary, Royal University of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
SCREENING
2023 My Body, My Land, Legend Premium Olympia Hall 3, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2022 Painting with Light, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore
Calling for Rain, Art Hub Copenhagen, Germany
Popil, KfW Foundation, Frankfurt, Germany
2021 Embracing Nature, Online Screening, SKD Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany
2019 Artists’ films of Khvay Samnang, Cine Club, Bophana Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2018 Living on the Edge, The Factory Arts Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
2017 The People’s Summit, McCormick Place, Chicago, USA
Forces and Volumes, Bophana Center, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2015 Vidéothèque Project, Arts Santa Monica in Barcelona
Inaugural Vision Forum, Gwangju at the Asian Cultural Center, South Korea
BIMI Essay Film Festival, London
Video Art Festival FOKUS, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen.
Inventing the Possible, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
NOMINATIONS
2020 The Shpilman International Photography Prize 2020, Jerusalem
2016 Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine
2015 Han Nefkens Foundation, BACC Award for Contemporary Art, Thailand
Prix Pictet Prize
AIGA AGO Photography Prize Long List, Canada
Prudential Eye Awards, Best Emerging Artist in Asia Using Photography
Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalist, Hong Kong
2014 Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Hong Kong
Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine
2013 Future Generation Art Prize, Ukraine
Prix Pictet, France
WORKSHOPS + RESIDENCIES
2022 Dance workshop with kids, Children’s Biennale 2021, National Gallery Singapore
2019 Delfina Foundation, London, UK
2017 Disarming the Gods: Think tank led by the dancer and choreographer Akram Khan, KfW Stiftung, Frankfurt, Germany
2014-15 Artists-in-residence program by KfW Stiftung, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
2013 Residency Unlimited and Casita Maria / IN RESIDENCE, Season of Cambodia, New York, USA
2011 Creators Program, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan
Between, Metahouse, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Co-Founder, SA SA BASSAC, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2010 Creators Program, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan
Co-Founder, Sa Sa Art Projects, The Building, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2009 Co-Founder, Sa Sa Art Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2008 Bassac Studio, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
2007 Photography: History and Training with Stephane Janin, Popil Photo Gallery, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Co-Founder of the artist collective Stiev Selapak
SOLO PUBLICATIONS
2019 Khvay Samnang “A Forest of Spirits” by Nova Contemporary
Khvay Samnang “Preah Kunlong” and “Where is my land?” by Batia Sarem Gallery
2015 Khvay Samnang: The Life Beneath My Feet, ed. by Nicola Müllerschön and Christoph Tannert, with an essay by Brianne Cohen and an interview by Hendrik Folkerts, Dortmund: Verlag Kettler, 2015.
Khvay Samnang: Rubber Man: L’Homme-caoutchouc, curated by Erin Gleeson, exhibition catalogue Jeu de Paume, Paris, CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, 2015.
2014 Khvay Samnang: Human Nature, Tomio Koyama Gallery, 2014.
COLLECTIONS
Singapore Art Museum
Mainland Art Fund
The Queensland Art Gallery
KfW Bankengruppe
National Gallery of Australia
Kadist Foundation
MAIIAM Museum
DC Collection
Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa)
Aura Contemporary Art Foundation
EDUCATION
2006 B.A. Painting, Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA), Phnom Penh, Cambodia