MoT+++ Salon, La Astoria

about the host

Karlie is a curator and art advisor based in Vietnam. Working across projects such as managing the Au O Collection, Permanently closed gallery, and MoT+++/a.Farm, where she focuses on curatorial development, artist representation, and art sales.

Her practice bridges curatorial research and the commercial art world, supporting artists through strategic placements, collector relationships, and long-term market growth while contributing to the shaping of contemporary collections in the region.

about the space

La Astoria is a 21st century salon — two stories with high ceilings and a balcony, so everything feels open and expansive. This space is hybrid office-living, with occasional social gatherings: dinners, movie screenings, performances.

The first floor living room is multifunctional — a long table that shifts between work and dinner, an area for artist studio, a kitchen bar, wooden furniture, French Vietnamese tiles, chandeliers, and a lot of plants. There's also a library upstairs with the other bedroom.

It's eccentric but composed, full of energy with a little bit of drama. Work and play coexist. A crystal singing bowl for existential spirals, chandeliers, plants. There is a dalmatian sometimes.

collaboration

I'm most interested in exchange. The space functions like a salon, so conversation, critique, and shared thinking are central. I'd like an ongoing dialogue around each other's work and others' — talking through ideas, giving feedback, sharing what we're each seeing and experiencing in our different art contexts and systems. It's also about figuring out how to support each other in making work that feels aligned and necessary.

On a more practical level, I can offer connections to artists and institutions I'm in touch with, and take you to local places — markets, schools, temples, and experiences of daily life I've carried from childhood in Vietnam, like gathering items for rằm ceremony. I'm happy to support through writing, whether that's helping shape a proposal, thinking through a project, or offering feedback and perspective.

practical

house rules

Take your own trash out. Quiet hours 2am–9am.

environment

Urban. Two stories with high ceilings and a balcony.

availability

Full time.

accommodation

private

languages

English, Vietnamese

transport

Short walk to bus 88 (to District 1) and bus 153 (to Thảo Điền).

nearby

Markets, pharmacies, and everyday essentials in the immediate area.

smoking

yes — On the balcony.

guests

yes — Welcome with prior approval.