Asia Bistro
Salmon with slit eyes, rice paper on the tongue, and noodle twisted around a halfly sliced face - in this photographic work, I created chaotic food scenes which lie on the thin line between aesthetic and tastefulness and disgust and nonedible. By doing so, Hien Hoang wants to provoke the cliché and the common concept of the Asian cultures in the West. Why is a stirred duck filet considered as “exotic” here? Why can a person eat fried noodle happily and later yell at Asian People with “get back to China”? Why are people with Vietnamese heritage portrayed as a good example for immigrant in Germany but then family members are being treated like children in the office? Does being Asian-like mean to be polite and friendly?
"Asia Bistro" can be seen as a photographic document about Hoang’s process of questioning and understanding the conflictual perceptions and stereotypes about Asian people in Germany.
As extension parts of Asia Bistro, she also created various performances and installations, in which the artist expresses her thoughts about this topic with other artistic mediums.