Phong Bui, born in Hue, Vietnam, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of the Arts, subsequently completing his post-graduate independent study under Nicholas Carone at the New York Studio School. He is also a recipient of the Jetté Award for Leadership in the Arts in 2019 from Colby College and the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation Prize in Fine Arts Journalism among others, and has taught at the Yale School of Art, University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Art, and the Rhode Island School of Design. From 2007 to 2010, Bui held the position of curatorial advisor at the MoMA PS1. Through his work and social activism, he seeks to recognize “art as a social activity” and part of his “social environment”.
In February 2019, the Lunder Institute announced Bui as a Lunder Institute Fellow for Fall 2019. An artist, writer, curator, and publisher and artistic director of The Brooklyn Rail, Bui is the co-curator with Colby’s Diana Tuite of Occupy Colby: Artists Need to Create On the Same Scale that Society Has the Capacity to Destroy, Year 2. On view at the Colby Museum of Art July 20, 2019 through January 5, 2020, Occupy Colby is part of an ongoing initiative launched by The Brooklyn Rail in 2017 at Mana Contemporary, Jersey City. The Colby iteration focuses on environmental issues and climate change—perhaps the most urgent concern of our time. Bui and Francesca Pietropaolo have mounted a companion show at the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Penitenti as part of the Venice Biennale.
During his Lunder Institute fellowship, Bui will convene Occupy Colby artists for a public conversation and engage with Colby students and faculty across the humanities and sciences. In addition, with the Lunder Institute and the Museum, Bui will co-publish a special issue of The River Rail composed of essays, poetry, field notes, and interviews that expand on the themes of Occupy Colby.
Image: Self Portrait, courtesy of Phong Bui
