Nguyên Khôi Nguyễn, The Karaoke Room (installation), television (3 looped karaoke videos), mural (latex paint on drywall), coloring books, table, rug, pillow, 11 X 11 X 8 ft, 2025.
Still In Love: Karaoke Suite is the continuation of a project that began twenty years ago, where I made six karaoke videos inspired by outreach work with Vietnamese American youth in Dorchester, Massachusetts. These former students are now adults with a new set of concerns and experiences. I felt it was time to create a new installment that would catch up on their lives. I chose karaoke as the format for this project because it is a beloved and vital entertainment in the Vietnamese American community.
So far, I’ve fully completed three karaoke videos which explore dating, parenthood, and loss. Leaning into the karaoke genre, the videos are unabashedly sentimental and pop-oriented. I plan to work on three additional karaoke videos that cover more historical and challenging themes.
The videos are experienced in a karaoke room complete with a TV (videos looped), mural, coffee table, pillows, and a rug. The viewer can listen to the music by using supplied headphones and draw in coloring book versions of another project of mine: A Vietnamese American Picture Dictionary. Behind the TV is a mural of a modified image from A Vietnamese American Picture Dictionary. I chose the image of chè, a beloved Vietnamese dessert. The colorful layers of ingredients at the scale of a mural can also be appreciated as a landscape. The karaoke room installation was exhibited in my MFA thesis exhibit at Towson University (1/31/2025-3/14/2025).
Guests drawing in the coloring books.
