At the French Institute in Hanoi – From May 16th to June 30th 2019   ASAÉS, a gastronomic and olfactory artistic concept, is a travelling and evolving cultural event created by the visual artist Claire Xuan. It has been produced in many countries such as France, Vietnam, Morocco, Japan, China, Laos.   Having Vietnamese origins Claire Xuan chose Hanoi, the land of her grandfather, for the preview of ASAÉS and the 20^th anniversary of Éléments d’édition that has been publishing and releasing her work since 1999, birthdate of her first book-object: Vietnam and the five elements.   ASAÉS represents the five universally recognized tastes and flavours –Sour, Sweet, Bitter, Spicy and Salted- that are the main thread of this artistic project. The exhibition also brings to light and fragrances a selection of vegetable raw materials – flowers, fruits, aromatic herbs and plants, fragrant wood- used in cookery and perfumery as well as in ritual practices, more particularly those dedicating a great part to incense.   Both poetic and recreational, the exhibition also consists in interactive meetings with gustatory and olfactory experiences.   The French Institute in Hanoi houses ASAÉS from May 16^th to June 30^th and presents a collection of original and previously unpublished graphic compositions the artist created from her photographs. This collection is a tribute to silk scroll painting that has highly inspired her. Thanks to compositions of her own, Claire Xuan evokes the materials and textures, the construction and the presentation of these traditional Asian pictorial works. Her canvasses have been classified into two groups: horizontal panoramic compositions named PANASAÉS and vertical kakemono compositions named KAKEASAÉS.   Not only do the visitors travel through this visual experience but also through a sensorial and mainly olfactory one. After solving visual riddles by means of pareidolia –identifying known shapes in abstract compositions- the visitors can solve olfactory riddles guessing the fragrances contained in a collection of phials named ASAESSENCES and specially made from the vegetable materials presented. Therefore, ASAÉS appeals to the imagination, powers of observation and memory of audiences of all ages and cultural backgrounds.   In a small cabinet of curiosities is displayed a selection of the artist’s book-objects as well as fragrances by French luxury perfume houses containing some of the emblematic raw materials presented at the exhibition.   To open and lead the ballet of ASAÉS and its five flavours, a chef from Hanoi is here to share his experience and a new original recipe based on some of these specific ingredients. The visitors are thus given the opportunity to discover and taste many aspects of the natural and cultural heritage of various countries.   Furthermore, the artist organizes educational visits linked with the exhibition at the French Institute with the students from the lycée français Alexandre Yersin in Hanoi.   The ASAÉS book-object is in preparation to be released early in 2021. A crowdfunding will soon be started.

Claire Xuan’s last opus Stories and history of Wood on Water released in 2015 by Éléments d’Édition was presented with the eponymous exhibition in several cities in Burgundy from spring to winter of the same year. It reveals the peculiarities of Wood and Water in the French départements of Yonne and Nièvre, from the forests of the Morvan Regional Park to the heart of the Puisaye. Naturally, it is extensively dedicated to the history of timber floating through photographs taken from the timber raft the artist travelled on in 2014. This timber raft reached Paris in June 2015 at the end of a 21-day-tour after an absence of more than 150 years during the Un train pour Paris (A timber raft to Paris) operation. This original and unprecedented object-book was composed and bound in two parts and two formats “à l’italienne” (landscape format) and “à la française” (portrait format). Claire Xuan. Petites et grandes histoires du Bois sur l’Eau. Éléments d’édition. 2015. 132p. 39,90 € Exhibition at the Musée d’Art et d’histoire (Art and History Museum) in Clamecy and at the Avallon “Abattoirs” in 2015. This edition was selected to celebrate the 140^th anniversary of the Naudet Nurseries (Pépinières de Naudet) as well as the 50^th anniversary of the French National Forestry Commission (Office national des forêts).

Previously in “the 5 Elements Collection” but still topical through various cultural events… To celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the Franco-Japanese relations and the release of Japan –the 9^th book-object in “the 5 Elements Collection” – the city of Paris had organized In the Open Air exhibition in 2008 at Bagatelle during the Japanese Season. More than 85000 visitors came and visited the Gallery. Inaugurated in Tokyo as a preview showing at the French-Japanese Institute and the UN Gallery of the United-Nations University, this touring exhibition could also be seen in Fukuoka, Osaka, Sapporo and Kyoto to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the friendship pact with Paris. Once back in France In the open air, together with the edition Provence, was presented in autumn by the city of Aix-en-Provence at the Tourist Office and the Fnac where several meetings with Claire Xuan were scheduled. The edition Japan was presented in Paris at the bookshops of the Petit Palais and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the winter of 2008.

In the wake of the France-Korea year in 2016 Teas and Temples from Korea by Claire Xuan is still topical… When invited by the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques – The Guimet Museum in Paris during the exhibition Le thé à Guimet, histoire d’une boisson millénaire (Tea at Guimet, history of a thousand-year-old beverage) in 2013-2014, Claire Xuan presented her tenth portfolio (Teas and Temples from Korea). As part of the cultural activities linked to the exhibition, the museum scheduled a meeting with the artist in relation to the tea ritual in Korea as well as signing sessions of her work. In 2013, Claire Xuan also took part in the first edition of the Korean Spring Festival in Nantes, and in 2015 in Regards sur la Corée (Views on Korea) in Brittany. She has regularly been invited to present her work by bookshops and book fairs in France and abroad.