March 24, 2005

more on Contemporary Art in Vietnam

Rodney Dickson has been instrumental in creating the Vietnamese Artist-in-Residency program at the CAVE Gallery. He travels frequently to Vietnam in close collaboration with Do Mai, owner and director of Mai's Gallery, but more importantly he is an artist in his own right. Check out not only his article entitled Introduction: Contemporary Art in Vietnam, but several other articles on the same topic at NY Arts Magazine.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see some writing about Vietnamese contemporary arts. I wish Rodney had given some mention about the other spaces in HCMC working with contemporary arts, such as Blue Space, Gallery Quynh, and the new modern space at PMH in District7 - all which he is certainly familiar with. His article gives the impression that the CAVE parternship with Mai's Gallery is the only redemption saving HCMC arts from being otherwise a forgettable city.

It is true that Tran Luong has in many respects put Hanoi ahead as far as spaces for experimentation are concerned. Neither Mai's, Galerie Quynh or the space at PMH are art spaces in the sense we hope they will grow to be. All are commercial galleries, in that the work is exhibited with the intention of being sold, which leaves little space for media arts and performance. Among the commercial galleries, Blue Space under the long direction of Tran Thi Huynh Nga has been the most able and willing to promote work not necessarily commercial.

Hopefully, in his future reports, he will be more inclusive.