100,000,000 gallery opens with Kiwi Phong Nguyen’s ‘Dinner, Look’

“Dinner, Look” by Kiwi Phong Nguyen at 100,000,000. // Photo Courtesy 100,000,000

Tucked away in an alley in the Waldo neighborhood is 100,000,000—a new art space dedicated to exhibitions, collaborations, and interactive experiences. For their first exhibition, the space presents “Dinner, Look”—a solo show by Detroit-based artist Kiwi Phong Nguyen. The exhibit highlights Nguyen’s exploration of celebrating intergenerational love, self-determination, and desire by deconstructing and reimagining modes of adornment. The exhibit is on view until March 1.

Nguyen transforms everyday objects into wearable garments. He uses jewelry as a way to commemorate affection for the individuals and communities that shape our memories.

“His work is alive, it has a life to it. Especially with this being the first exhibition, we wanted it to have that energy,” says Noelle Choy, one of the founders of the space.

“Dinner, Look” by Kiwi Phong Nguyen. // Photo Courtesy of 100,000,000.

But Nguyen says there’s often a waiting period where the work doesn’t quite feel finished or alive yet. “I had that foam mattress topper coat packed up and shipped over here. I got to Kansas City and unpacked it and hung it up. It took a while for it to regain its shape. Things can feel all bundled up and tighten and all the work in your studio space or in your mind. Once you put it in the space, let it breathe, and let people be around it, it really takes its form.”

The exhibition omits wall labels, a decision Nguyen made intentionally. He explains that no single item stands alone in the collection. “Each piece doesn’t feel like its own thing—It feels like a bunch of ingredients that make up the entire installation,” Nguyen says. The exhibit is a collection of Nguyen’s practices over the last three or four years.

Nguyen says this collection has allowed him to reflect on the process of creating art and how to present it. He emphasizes the importance of trusting the organic development of the work itself. “Sometimes I get stuck on this idea that you have to have a piece of art that sits by itself and can be shown as a discrete object,” he says.

“The energy and the vibration of the work doesn’t come from the correct way to present the work,” he says. “I used to think there is this ideal version of the work, but you just have to create and wait until it feels right.”

“I think being able to use existing elements of the space made decisions feel more organic. There were already some nails in the wall that I could hang something off of, so that kind of makes that decision for me, and I am able to work around it,” Nguyen says.

Gallery visitors reflect on exhibit. // Photo Courtesy of 100,000,000

The organic nature of the gallery was an intentional step away from traditional gallery norms. “I don’t think any of us were very enamored by the idea of doing a white box gallery. We left a lot of the space fairly raw to avoid this white-box sort of mentality, and I think the programming that will come from that will match that type of ethos,” says co-founder David Alpert.

When Alpert and the team were naming the space, the name 100,000,000 initially felt arbitrary. “It reminds me a little bit of naming people, the name develops meaning as time goes on. I think 100 million is a quantity of abundance, but also a quantity that seems unfathomable.”

Alpert says that the space’s value is more than monetary. The team seems to have connected the number with the potential for connection and community. “I think it is interesting to take this quantity and think of it as we are going to make 100 million friends, or connect with 100 million people,” Alpert says.

Dinner, Look exhibition reflects this very ethos, fostering a space for conversation and community. Just as the name 100,000,000 evokes boundless connection, this gallery space promises to foster an ongoing dialogue through its future programming.