Interview med Jon Stahn

Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn,Mankinds crazy ambitions, installation view.

Tell about what is shown on the exhibition.

There are eight mega-prints, six neon signs, a soundtrack, and two t-shirts. The project and works are inspired by local commercials from the street, television, and signs in Vietnam.

How was the project made?

I came here to Vietnam about three weeks ago without bringing any art from Denmark, because I wanted to make an exhibition together with local artists. The first five or six days I was walking around in the streets looking at the neighborhood and people, and tried to get in contact with some local artists, and looking at local art galleries. Then I got in contact with three artists from the art school here in Hanoi. After about two days there was me and six or seven artists. We started the project up, and the next day they called and told me that the project wasn’t art and that I didn’t know anything about art. This was a kind of start.

So you got busted for not being an artist. Why did you think that happened?

I think it was because of a lot of people from the art school and local artists are very conservative, when it comes to art. Most of the galleries here in Hanoi are like taking a time travel a hundred years back to a gallery in France. Nearly all of the artists are making kind of copies of other artists, and art pieces that they think the tourists want. But I was lucky, very lucky, that I met two extremely nice and unspoiled self-taught artists who I invited to join me making this exhibition from scratch. We had a meeting in a local café, and the day after we started the project up.

Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn, Mankinds crazy ambitions, installation view.		Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn, Mankinds crazy ambitions, installation view.

How did the collaboration go?

It was a very good workshop. I cannot speak any Vietnamese and Nhung and Dan could speak about two or three words English, so we were using dictionaries, hand signs, body language and drawings to communicate. They were very open, but also they told me when they thought I was too crazy, and of course I accepted it.

How did you work together?

We worked with photos from Vietnamese magazines and pictures of local signs and commercials, and we also used ourselves as models. It was very easy to work together because we used all those pictures from magazines and I showed them how to use Photoshop to make collages, and after two days it was Nhung and Dan that were making most of the Photoshop stuff.

What have you learned from doing this project?

I have learned a lot, a lot about Vietnam, about local art, but also about how open-minded people are. I think it has been very good for me to make this project here in Hanoi where it’s a challenge even to cross the smallest street. I thought before I met these two women it would be very hard to make a project because of cultural differences, but it was much easier than what I was expecting.

What do you think your Vietnamese collaborators, Dan and Nhung, have gotten out of the project?

I know that they had a lot of fun, but I also think that they learned that art can be a lot of things, not only oil paintings or other more traditional medias. And I think that they now know that art also is about talking together, communicating, and listening to each other.

Do you think they will continue to do art?

I hope they will, but I think that the kind of art we were making together have a very small scene here in Vietnam. So maybe it will be hard.

Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn,Mankinds crazy ambitions		Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn,Mankinds crazy ambitions

Tell about the neon signs. What are they about?

If you read the signs, you can see what it is about. There is a lot of sexism in local commercials, and the sign “sexism” is a comment on that. I can tell you about the diamond work that here in Vietnam it is not so different from Denmark. Here people want money and success, and diamonds are very important for some people. So therefore we made the diamond for our exhibition because of our theme of money, ambitions and craziness.

What about the neon work that combines the logo from Clear shampoo with the text “Dream Peace”? What is that about?

I am sorry, Jes, I am sorry – I really don’t know. It’s a logo from a shampoo with “Dream Peace” under. I tried to ask Dan and Nhung about it, and they were just laughing, but they really wanted to make this one, so I said ok, let’s do it. But I still don’t know what it is.

Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn,Mankinds crazy ambitions

This exhibition in some ways breaks your normal style. Why?

The reason for me is to kill some of my darlings, because I want to meet those two local artists, I don’t want to come here to tell them how to make art, but rather to meet, talk and discuss. So therefore it was very smart to make these mega prints and neon works, because we meet in a relatively anonymous expression when we use language from commercials as a starting point.

There are some very playful works in the show, for example one where you are all crawling through a maze, that looks like an old computer game. Tell about that.

I think when you don’t speak the language of the people you work with then you can either say nothing, or play together like children. Dan and Nhung are much younger than me, and then I have to be young too, but it’s no problem.

What is the hardest thing about working in Vietnam for you?

The hardest about working in Vietnam is that I don’t understand the language. I need help with everything. I cannot just tell people what I want, so after three of four hours you are just ready to go to bed. I have been really exhausted some days. The hardest is trying to communicate so hard, and often you misunderstand each other totally.

Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn,Mankinds crazy ambitions		Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn,Mankinds crazy ambitions

What is the best about working in Vietnam?

There is a lot of good things, but the best have been to meet some very open-minded people. I think it is fantastic that you can order mega-prints and neon signs and get it made from day to day, not like in Denmark where it would take a lot of time.

Do you want to do more work in Vietnam in the future?

Yep, I will. I will come back in February or March next year to make some art works to bring to Denmark, but most of all to meet some of my new friends and travel around in the country.

Mankind’s crazy ambitions – what is the title about?

It’s about humans crazy ambitions. I think it’s the same in Denmark or Vietnam, people want success and money, and even when they have money they just want more money, and often they forget about living life and having a nice time on earth, maybe you only live once - I don’t know.

Thank you.

Vuong Linh Dan, Nguyen Hong Nhung & Jon Stahn,Mankinds crazy ambitions