Richard STREITMATTER-TRAN (b. Trần Trọng Đạt, 1972, Biên Hòa, Vietnam) is an artist living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He received his degree in the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.
His solo and collaborative work has been exhibited internationally including the de Sarthe Gallery (Hong Kong), Thailand Biennale (2018), Palais de Tokyo (2015), 52nd Venice Biennale (2007), Shenzhen and Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale (2007), The 2nd Asia Triennial in Manchester, 4th Jakarta Contemporary Ceramics Biennale, Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves at ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany, Asia Art Now at Arario Beijing, 1st Pocheon Asian Art Festival, Gwangju Biennale (2004), Singapore Art Museum/Centre Pompidou video exhibition (2011), Kandada Art Space (Tokyo), 10 Chancery Lane Gallery (Hong Kong), Art Space Hue (Korea), Art Stage Singapore, Art Kaohsiung (Taiwan), The Vietnam Womens Museum, the 4th Guangzhou Triennale (2011), the Singapore Biennale (2008 & 2006), Nanjing Art Festival (China), Ke Center for Contemporary Art in Shanghai, Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Eslite Gallery (Taiwan), the Hugh Lane Gallery (Dublin), Chula Art Center and Bangkok University Gallery (Bangkok) and Dia Projects (Vietnam) .
He was an arts correspondent for the Madrid-based magazine Art.Es and and Ho Chi Minh City editor for Contemporary and has published in several books, catalogs and journals.
In 2005 he received the Martell Contemporary Asian Art Research Grant from the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong for his year-long research project, Mediating the Mekong. He was a Teaching Assistant at Harvard University (2000-2004), conducted media arts research at the MIT Media Lab (2000) and a visiting lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University in 2003-4. He was an advisor to the Para/Site Curatorial Programme in Hong Kong and the San Art Artist Residency program in Ho Chi Minh City. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Massachusetts College of Art in 2012. From 2006 to 2015 he was Senior Lecturer at RMIT University Vietnam. In 2020 joined the Faculty of Design and Art (FADA) as Lecturer at Hoa Sen University. Currently he is a full-time Lecturer in Art and Media Studies (AMS) at Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) in Ho Chi Minh City where he is responsible for the development of the studio art program and teaching of the art practicum courses.
Upon relocating to Vietnam in 2003, he formed ProjectOne, one of the country's earliest performance art collectives based in Saigon. Two years later he became a founding member of Mogas Station (2005-2007), a group of international creators (artists and architects) based in Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2010, he established DIA PROJECTS, a contemporary art experiment and studio space in Ho Chi Minh City and from 2015-2017, with Tran Thanh Ha, Dia Projects operated as new exhibition space with regular programming. Working with collaborator Le Tuong Vi under the persona, VILE/ RATS, they formed projects emerging from artistic research and speculative investigations into the fault lines of science, philosophy and art. Other projects have included collaborations with CIANT (Prague), The Asia Art Archive (Hong Kong), The Japan Foundation and The Japan Society. Since its inception, Dia Projects has hosted six researchers and artists in residence from Bangkok, Manila, Montreal, Seoul, London and Tokyo. Dia Projects continues to operate from the artist's studio as focused arts and research collaborations.
As co-curator he conceived The Mekong exhibition with Russell Storer of the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) for the 6th Asia Pacific Triennale (APT6) in 2009. He was a finalist in the 2016 Sovereign Art Prize exhibited at Christie's in Hong Kong and was artist in residency at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA) in Singapore in 2017 and Bangkok University Gallery in 2018. In 2019 he created a site specific in installation on Awashima Island for the Setouchi Triennale in Japan after his residency with the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts and will exhibited several new works with Vin Gallery at the Art Fair Philippines, VOLTA Basel, Syndey Contemporary and Art021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair. He began 2020 with his solo exhibition, We No Longer See the Stars, with de Sarthe Gallery in Hong Kong before the rest of his exhibition schedule for the year was cancelled/postponed due to the Covid19 global pandemic. He begins 2021 with four new scuptural works in the three artist group exhibition at the Factory Contemporary Arts Centre and a solo exhibition at the end of the year with Vin Gallery, both in Ho Chi Minh City.
While his practice historically has included performance and new media, his current focus involves the investigation of materials and largely through sculpture, painting, installation and drawing. His work can be found in numerous publications worldwide and is in private and public collections including the Singapore Art Museum, The Documenta Archives, RMIT University Vietnam Art Collection, 21C Museum Hotels, IILM Art Collection and Post-Vidai Collection.
Richard is represented by the de Sarthe Gallery in Hong Kong and Vin Gallery in Ho Chi Minh City.
