Interview: SONG HONG - RED RIVER

SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Installationsview

Hoang, can you explain the meaning of the Red River for the city of Hanoi and Hanoi’s history?

Le Huy Hoang: First of all I feel sad, because the Red River delta used to be like the milk that fed the city of Hanoi and the land around it. The people of Hanoi always say they love the Red River, in songs and poetry. But in fact they betrayed the river by polluting it. Historically the Red River is very important to Hanoi and the land around the city. The river is also like the lungs and the ancient traffic veins of the city.

What is the importance of the Red River today?

Le Huy Hoang: The river now, like before, is still important and like the lungs of Hanoi, giving water to the city. Today I think its main importance is visual, by offering people a view that can give a sense of calm.

How did you work with the Red River in your artwork?

Le Huy Hoang: I am living near the riverbank, and every day I pass by the bridge, and I see the Red River getting dirtier day by day. I remember when the river was more fresh, and feel that people has betrayed the river by polluting it. People take photos of the Red River and use it as a beautiful background, while the same people continue to pollute the river. This makes me tired and angry. I didn’t want to change anything in my work, just show the river water, so that people can see for themselves that the Vietnamese don’t care about their nature.

Do you think ecology is an important topic for art projects in Vietnam today?

Le Huy Hoang: Ecology is very important now. The artists can’t stay inside the exhibition spaces if they want to create ecological awareness, but have to do art in the streets, and almost beat people, to shake them and make them aware of ecology. Artists have to write about it and distribute their ideas as flyers and posters. We can’t put the people that pollute in prison, so as artists we have to confront people by throwing the trash in front of them, and work by performances and so on in the streets, so they can’t ignore the problem.

Daniel, please tell about how the Red River exhibition was curated.

Daniel Svarre: Back in the early spring 09 when you invited me to curate some Danish artist for an exhibition and workshop in Hanoi, we defined some headlines for the stay where communication, process and collaboration were the basic conditions. I invited 5 artists for the project who all had artistic experience working contextually and/or socially. Further on there were deliberate considerations about the selection of the artists concerning a diversity in their artistic strategies and their modes of expression – this means that video, sculpture, performance, and sound amongst other things are represented as well as questions about gender, identity, nationality etc. I hoped that this diversity would give the group various possibilities in their work with the city and local people as mutual inspiration.

The group of artists participating insisted very strongly on collaboration. Why was that?

Daniel Svarre: Concerning the stay, workshop and exhibition the idea was to do it socially - as a collaboration. I think this worked quite well because of a various reasons. First of all it’s a gain when the participants, both the local and Danish artists, socially and professionally fit together. Secondly Vietnam is so different from Denmark in so many ways and it would take much more than 3-4 weeks just to understand what is going on. In relation to this I think that many of the Danish participants were aware of how rooted our individual artistic practices are in our own culture and that it would take more time to produce a meaningful work in this context concerning both conceptual as visual values. In the collaboration the social synergy between the artists seemed meaningful e.g. interchange of ideas and exchange of cultural inspiration.

How did working in Vietnam differ from working in Denmark?

Daniel Svarre: I have never been in the south eastern part of Asia before so of course it was very different concerning social, political and cultural codes to work there. This was both a very physical and a mental experience. Obviously you cannot really hide your identity as a Westerner. This identity gives you a special treatment from the authorities as well as the locals due to the awareness of the wealth that tourism can bring. On the other side I also felt it was hard to let go of my own conceptions. This influenced rather small thing of everyday life like movement in urban space. There was so much chaotic traffic in the streets that you couldn’t move around in public spaces in the same way you do in for instance Europe. The scooters affect the way you move, the noise affects the communication, the pollution affects your paranoia etc. I guess it is all about time and dedication.

How did the local Vietnamese audience receive the exhibition?

Daniel Svarre: I think it was a great opening. The audience seemed interested.

Ursula, how did you collaborate among the participants in the show?

Ursula Nistrup: From the beginning the group decided that all works, ideas etc. should be formed through a dialogue between all of us. This was of course a very ambitious and rather difficult situation to set up for us and since some of the artists had to travel for part of the production period it was not always possible. But I think it was a good way for a collaboration to develop and also a very interesting approach for the individual participants. When we met we knew nothing or very little about each other’s very different backgrounds practices or interests. Also it was an important factor that we, the European petitioners in the group, all were visiting Vietnam for the first time. This collaborative idea was more or less followed, pieces was produced together to a degree that was new for most of us. I think it was a very fruitful process.

How did the theme of the Red River come about?

Ursula Nistrup: The theme came up in a group discussion, I think after the first week. At this point we were trying to share the impressions we had gathered during this first period. We were very aware at the fact that what we could possibly produce during our stay in Hanoi would be strongly based on touristic experiences and views and it was discussed that we wished to take this approach rather than a more pretentious kind of pseudo-anthropologic examination.

With this in mind we accumulated the different elements and observations that came up through our discussions and we decided that it could work well to focus on a specific location in which we could produce works. At this location we wished to establish a slightly deeper contact than the peripheral one we would be able to make, had we decided to work with the whole of Hanoi or Vietnam for that matter- which of course would have been totally pointless.

We decided this location to be on and around the Song Hong/Red River. Many ideas seemed to come together around the River. To mention just a few areas of interest was the functional change of the river, and in a historical perspective. This way it previously had been a central exchange point towards foreign places and had held a significant role regarding trade to the city of Hanoi. Another perspective was the fact that the river seemed to be a kind of embodiment for communication between loved ones, within old songs and poems, in the way that the water became a carrier between the man fighting a war or working far away and the woman waiting for him a different place by the same waters of the river. The romantic images and representation of the Red River, which today is very much polluted and neglected, represented an interesting paradox within our conversations. This also led to the sound work we included in the show.

Please tell about the sound work, how it was related to the rest of the show, and what you got out of doing this project in Vietnam.

Ursula Nistrup: The idea between the sound work in the show came about because we all were very taken and overwhelmed by the audible image and the speed we meet when arriving in Hanoi. Not just was there constantly a seemly non-controlled physical traffic, but also the audible conditions we meet was very intense. What I found was that the period between the 2 and 5 pm was contrarily to the inferno of sounds that existed the rest of the day- this period was almost silent.

An interesting reoccurring structure within this audible chaos, seemed to be coming from permanent fixed speakers that was installed all over the city and which, as far as I observed, emitted a kind of music- and spoken public broadcast twice a day. This I personally found extremely interesting and I did several recordings of these broadcasts, which I was able to have partly translated by one of the Vietnamese-speaking artists in the group. The song, which initiated the broadcast, was explained to me as a very romantic song about how wonderful Hanoi is. Unfortunately, we had no time to do a thorough translation of everything that was spoken, or to make a kind of paralleled text to be spoken from the speakers, which was our idea.

What we did do was to find a song that we hoped would somehow ticker the thoughts about what was emitted in the speakers within the city, by playing an even more ”creasy” and overly romantic song that was about the Red River. For this work we found speakers that was identical with the ones in places in the city, this was also a way to try to create an entrance into the work for people visiting the show. This as all the other works was a test and a kind of bridging between the Vietnamese artists and us (European). Many times were we “forced” to use and ask the Vietnamese artists about a kind of not only linguistic translation to something, but more interestingly a cultural or a historical or a psychological or something else. In this regard I feel we learned more about the culture than I could have hoped for, being a visitor in such a different context for just 3 weeks. This I think was for me the most giving and exiting part of this project. The fact that we have our very different eyes and know so very little about everything in Hanoi that really very often we were at the mercy of the Vietnamese people and it was amazing. A different example was when we wanted to choose a still from a video to make a large scale print, the foreigners chose one, based on the fact that it should be one where we looked as silly and non beautiful as possible, but when we showed it to the Vietnamese they chose a completely different image. This I was very fascinated by and think was the most rewarding part of the project. I am very much hoping to re-visit Hanoi, the trip created many ideas for future works that I would like to realize in the near Future.

SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Video still. SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Video still.

Karoline, please explain about the video showing the 3 women swimming on the beach, what it’s about, where the idea came from, and how it was made.

Karoline H. Larsen: The Song Hong video is built up like a caricature. Three white women wearing bikini and big romantic tourist sunhats are going for a swim on the Song Hong/Red River Beach in Hanoi, Vietnam. First scene we see the three women swimming while they are still lying on the beach, swimming without being able to swim. They stop after a while covered in sand and with red skin from the swimming-exercises the women dive into the river and swim for their own free joy, laughter and exercise.

The video-scenario takes place on Song Hong/Red River on a spot, where women are not welcome to take a swim. Only men go swimming on this spot, and mainly nude swimming. Local Hanoian artists told us that women risk being harassed, ranging from whistling, shouting, teasing to violent attacks, rape and murder. Two graves of unknown women found in the river are close to the area and taken care of by local farmers.

In short the video an exploration of “the human's liberation and freedom in Vietnam” explored through a local Hanoian context. I say “human's” where I could say “women's” and I do it on purpose to point to the fact that women in many countries around the world are still considered a marginalized group, as something not equal to the hetereo-sexual male who carries the norm of “the human”.

The video is an attempt to create a space for - turning upside down the local Hanoian viewers mind - by turning upside down a local familiar scenario of a place where usually only men go nude swimming - here suddenly we see three women first awkwardly swimming on the beach and then in the river. It is also an attempt to create spontaneous conversations among the viewers on the subject of “women's expression of sexuality, liberation and freedom in Vietnam” - using humour and surprising elements by showing these caricatures of naive-looking white women going swimming in the river seemingly without any notice that this might be a place only for men, and a dangerous area for women. We are exposing this 'River Male-Beach' as an example of many tabooed public domains in Hanoi and Vietnamese culture, where women by word of mouth are not allowed to come, and do not wish to come out of fear, and if they dare to come are perceived by others like prostitutes.

The video explores the viewer's mindset - about Vietnamese women's rights, will and lust to move as they please and where they please in public space in Hanoi, Vietnam. The video seeks to create a Mind-Clash between the perceived reality - that Hanoian women and men experience everyday - and the caricature of the white women's naive perception of reality.

When we were invited to exhibit at Hanoi Future Art one of the requirements for the exhibition was to collaborate with Vietnamese artists. I am grateful to the Vietnamese artists Le Huy Hoang and Pham Ngoc Duong (Zoi) for showing us Hanoi and telling us of their view on the city. Zoi was the one to take us to the Red River Male-Beach and tell us that women could and would not go to the place and swim. We can thank Zoi for the good research and base for an idea. One day at the dinner table we discussed the possibilities for Vietnamese women to move freely in both public and private spaces, and that night we also looked at our own recordings from the first research days of exploring Song Hong. At a certain point we had to laugh about our own “dinner-western-artist-discussion-table-situation” and admit to ourselves that we looked foolish and naive in our white big romantic hats sitting on the riverboat as if nothing could harm our romantic view on this exotic Asian country. Instead of throwing the hats away and claiming to be able to step in the footsteps of Hanoian women - and their troubles and desires - we took upon ourselves our “Role of naive, ignorant, white, women” and made it into our force of caricature naively swimming on the beach as if nothing would be more “normal” to us.

How was the reaction from the other people at the Red River when you shot the video?

Karoline H. Larsen: Shooting the video on the Red River Male-Beach was a performance in itself and the other people had very different reactions to our performance. There were only men at the site! Some of the men seemed to have great respect or maybe even a bit of fear of these white women and pulled up along the river further away and never made eye contact. Majority of the men got very puzzled in the beginning, froze in their own actions and silently stared with a big wondering on their faces, and after a while they started to perform on the beach doing “hand-stands” as if they were greeting us the white women swimming. A smaller group of young men got very curious and had to come totally close to the camera and show their underpants to the camera. Later the same group of young men waved to the white women swimming as they were drifting down the river.

SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Installationsview. SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Installationsview.

How did the audience respond to the video at the exhibition?

Karoline H. Larsen: The audience had very immediate response to the video. Laughter and surprise was first reaction by most people, and then silently looking and wondering - and then starting to talk to the persons next to them in the exhibition space about what they thought they saw... One of the Goethe Institute representatives, a Hanoian woman came up to me and said she really liked our video. She thought it was right on the spot on a much-tabooed subject of women's liberation in many levels of society, and she said she would have wished for us to go swimming totally naked!

How did you experience working in Vietnam, in contrast to other places you have worked in?

Karoline H. Larsen: There is always a risk for the contemporary artist exhibiting in different places around the world that each culture become either stereotyped or invisible to the artist taking part in the global contemporary art context. As I see it, it stems from the way exhibitions are time-based spaces - flying in - flying out – working for an extremely short period of time in an intense speed. In the group of Danish Artist travelling to Hanoi we talked a lot about this issue, and whether we could take our “European working method” and transfer to Hanoi. Personally when I travel and work I try hard to be aware of this issue, and it was my intention that our big white romantic sunhats exposed our “European” viewpoint to the local exhibition viewer, trying not to fall in to this lack of sense of experienced space and culture. Personally, I am grateful that you, with Hanoi Future Art, are aware of this time-pressure thing and actually encourage the artists to stay as long as possible! Vietnam was a very warm and welcoming place in many ways, especially meeting Vietnamese artists. Also your engagement in the gallery is quite unique compared to other places, where you risk that people might not even notice you have arrived, and you have to “cook” everything from the beginning yourself.

Compared to working in India as visual artist, I would say that Vietnam and India do have some hardcore issues in common concerning the necessary work to be done for women's liberation and freedom. The violence against women in Hanoi public space was not as obvious and visible as in New Delhi, where dress code is such a visible marker of whether you follow the cultural rules of being a “demure woman” or not. Where in Hanoi it is full of western dressed young Hanoian people driving scooters all over in a crazy speed, so here conflicts of culture show it's face differently, but it does not mean that the conflicts are not there.

SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Henrik L. Jørgensen and Daniel Svarre at the Long Bien bridge. Video still.		SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Henrik L. Jørgensen and Daniel Svarre at the Long Bien bridge. Video still.
SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Henrik L. Jørgensen and Daniel Svarre at the Long Bien bridge. Video still.		SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Henrik L. Jørgensen and Daniel Svarre at the Long Bien bridge. Video still.

Henrik, please explain about the video of Daniel and you doing portrait paintings on the Long Bien bridge.

Henrik L. Jørgensen: As so many times before in a video performance piece we wanted to document the reaction of the by passers while we where on the bridge painting, that at first glanze could be perceived as we where painting the skyline of the city in sunset, however over time it became clear that we where actually making portraits of each other. The thought was that, as in the other exhibited works in the show, that we would work spontaneously and execute immediate ideas in the pieces. The idea came about during a visit to the local art academy, where we where present during an art class in the study of the naked body. There the students gathered round the model in the middle of the room, but at first glance when entering the room it appeared as if they where painting each other.

How do you see the state of art in Vietnam today?

Henrik L. Jørgensen: During our stay in Vietnam we where presented to the opportunity to meet with some artist in private, talk to them and get to know their work at not the least in collaboration produce the exhibition Song Hong. However it was a very short period of time that we where in Hanoi and thereby you are aware that there is always parts that you don’t really expect to understand/get. I had never visited a city of that size in Asia before and therefore I had no expectations or pictures of how a contemporary art scene there could be perceived. I believe that the Hanoi art scene is an art scene that in a positive way is influenced by its history. Some artists and works that I saw could absolutely work in a western context. For my account it was the experience to view a western inspired scene through a different filter, ways of telling stories, symbols, the history and the culture in the city of Hanoi that I could never have experienced in a western city of that scale. What struck me was that I experienced some things in the encounters with the Vietnamese artists that only Hanoi/Vietnam could have presented me to, and it made me reflect upon my own influences and when a more subtle cultural influence opens up for the concept of contemporary art, for what is correct and what is not.

You work with narrative videos. Please tell about your reasons for that, also in relation to this project.

Henrik L. Jørgensen: It has always come natural to me to create narratives from what I saw and experienced, maybe because growing up I watched a lot of TV. In retrospect it has interested me how much I have been influenced by this and drawn form the experiences of the characters that I saw in series and film. In the construction of stories and narratives lies the possibility to in some way control the viewer. I started working with photography but got frustrated with the fact that it in some way constantly referred to previous photographs and thereby themes. In the photographic media you are part of a tradition, a tradition where I do not recognize my own way of working. I believe that video and film presents different possibilities to work more open, possibilities that I today think that I have been able to translate to works of, yes photography, installations and text. Some of the works that has created the biggest impression on me and artists that inspire me a lot is part of the experimental film tradition; examples as Chris Marker, Eric M Nilsson, Raul Ruiz, Chantal Ackerman and Derek Jarmon could be mentioned. In relation to the exhibition Song Hong we worked differently that we ordinary do. We decided that the exhibition more or less should consist of works made in collaboration with each other. It challenged us, for me not the least in how I usually work with video. My possibility to use voice over and text disappeared when the pieces where to be created spontaneously and my challenge became to work visually and listen to how the others related to the cutting of the video and the narratives presented.

How do you see humour in relation to art?

Henrik L. Jørgensen: In the exhibition Song Hong we used humour in the works that we presented and I experienced this as suitable, in relation to the fact that it was based on a certain amount of self distance as to what we presented in the work. We entered a track where we came with statements about Vietnam/Hanoi, presented though our eyes, that could be viewed upon as a form of critic, however the humour helped pointing out that we put ourselves in situations that showed our limited knowledge about Vietnam. I believe that humour in relation to art is best used in small portions, in combination with some other elements. A favourite in the field must be Bas Jan Ader. For my own being I use humour as a basic ingredient in art in my work - it takes the shape of absurdities and a form of sliding thoughts, concepts or actions.

TSC, you both work as a professional photographer and an art photographer. How did you experience the Red River project?

TSC Tempest: The Red River Project was quite fascinating as an experience for many reasons. One was the opportunity to work with some interesting artists both foreign and Vietnamese, exploring a free flowing and interactive dynamic that eventually shaped our final collaboration on this project. Another was from the opportunity to explore the Red River and Ba Trang Village both from the riverside and from it's consumer face side.

How do you experience Vietnam, as a westerner living there, in relation to creative work?

TSC Tempest: From the perspective of finding inspiration for creative endeavor, Vietnam is an amazing, orgasmic feast for the eyes: it dazzles and offends and entices and ignores your presence all at the same time and this contrast and contradiction is highly intoxicating, and drives me to express such expressions in a creative way. However, as a foreigner, it can sometimes be difficult to source specific media to use as a canvas for such creative expression, mostly due to communication difficulties. These difficulties also make it hard to interact with a subject in order to garner momentary, cooperative collaboration.

What conditions do Vietnamese artists work under, and how does these conditions differ from what western artists work under?

TSC Tempest: That's a difficult question. We could consider the physical conditions, access to resources, materials, working space etc which I think runs the same gamut and range of offerings as in the West. We could also consider the social conditions under which Vietnamese Artists work and in this case, it would appear that there is a much more formalized, formularized, controlled, National Vision(?) of what is and can be considered as ART as well as what constitutes suitable modes of expression.

How do you see the future of Vietnamese art?

TSC Tempest: Art by its very nature documents change, both within the artist and within a society. As such, all I can say about the future of Vietnamese Art is that, unless it fails to encompass the free capacity to change in it's modes, motifs, forms, styles and schools of thought; it looks bright and productive.

SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Installationsview. SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Installationsview. SONG HONG - RED RIVER, 2009. Installationsview.

Bettina, please explain about the common theme of the project, which was the Red River, and how you used this theme in the exhibition.

Camilla Vestergaard: The Red River turned out to be the context for our show, mainly because it is a place that symbolizes movement - in time and space, history, cultures and identities. It has played an important role for the local economy and life in Hanoi, but also in the shaping of the country as a trade route for the Europeans, which culminated in its conquest by the French. Because of the river’s importance throughout history, it used to be a highly respected and worshipped place, but because trade, transport and Vietnamese lifestyles have changed rapidly the past decades the river is loosing its function and cultural value. However, it’s still shrouded in myths that paint a very romantic image of Hanoi.

All the works in the show somehow talk about these myths contra the real state of the river today. The video I’m in is shot at the Men’s Swim Club, a place along the river where only men can go and swim. It’s an unwritten rule in Hanoi that women don’t swim in the river (mainly because they feel threatened if they go there, because it’s an area dominated by men) which we felt was unfair. So the 3 of us Danish women in the group, dressed in bikini and large sun hats, intervened in the space – first we did a swimming performance on the beach, next we went into the water and swam together with the men. On the video you see how we act out caricatures of a female Western tourist and how our presence changes the men’s movement in the space. Not only did we want to comment on some specific regulations of the space, we also wanted to comment on some of the inherent limitations of our own Westernized gaze. As Westerners we tend to impose our gaze on everything we meet and often take for granted that we know what’s best for others, in this case sexual and bodily freedom and gender equalities.

The group of artists spent considerable time on research in relation to the project. Please tell about that, and what you found out during your research.

Bettina Camilla Vestergaard: The idea to work around the Red River arose from a dialogue between the Vietnamese artists and us. Living in Hanoi, they were very concerned with the pollution of the river water and the locals increasing lack of respect for the river. As foreigners we had to explore the river area ourselves, to be able to create our own opinions about the place, so the show could become a stage of mutual exchange. We went on a joint boat trip for two days, where we visited some rural villages and got a good sense of how the culture and the landscape have changed over time. Another day we walked on an island beneath Long Bien Bridge, a big farming area that is threatened by the expanding city. It was on this trip we discovered the men’s swim club.

I see the footage and interviews we did on these trips as a way of taking notes as we moved through the landscape. It helped us to observe and generate new thoughts on the way. But the amount of material and time we had for research was way to short for us to use in an actual piece of work. Nevertheless the “moving through space” research created new ideas for the show and made some of the works come from experience rather than thoughts only.

Duong, Can you tell a bit about what conditions contemporary artists in Vietnam work under?

Pham Ngoc Duong: It is quiet hard for Vietnamese artists that work with experimental art. For each show the artist has to get a permission to exhibit the artwork. I think this is stupid that somebody else has the right to check the artwork and say yes or no to it. I am not talking about money here, because the conditions for artists making money are the same everywhere. Here it is about having a space to show art. Of course we have a lot of spaces for exhibitions, but very few that actually care about real experimental art, and not only paintings for tourists. It’s difficult to collect groups, and when we succeed in collecting a group of artists and make show, we can only show once, because next we try to show the police will close the show. There is a big audience, but few of them care about experimental art, since they don’t have an education that enables them to understand art. So they just come for exhibitions like going to a party. So artists here basically make art for each other.

How did you experience the collaboration with the Danish artists?

Pham Ngoc Duong: We had a great time. If you want to experience another culture, the best way is to collaborate with artists from there. I think the Danish artists were really open in collaboration, and easy to work with without any limits. Denmark is a developed country so the artists from there know a lot about new media and materials, and I can learn from that.

What do you think is the future of Vietnamese art? In what direction is it developing?

Pham Ngoc Duong: It’s a hard question. I think it is hard to talk about the future. If the political situation with the communists doesn’t change the opinion about art nothing will change here. Then it can only change on the skin, but not really change inside. Even if the artists here have good ideas, but there is still censorship, and you have to show your work privately, nothing will change. The artists here get no information, so how can they make something new, they will just repeat what happened in European art 20 years ago, if they can’t have good education here. If art is set free it can go anywhere, and if it’s free we can’t tell what direction it will go.

Do you think it is possible to make an artistic statement as a foreigner, staying 3 weeks in Vietnam, that is relevant to the local Vietnamese audience?

Bettina Camilla Vestergaard: As a guest in a strange culture, I find it very hard to cross the cultural boundaries and to fully understand each other in 3 weeks. I simply can’t tell you what is relevant for the local Vietnamese audience. From my perspective and cultural background I can only tell you what I think is relevant for them.

I arrived in Vietnam without expectations and I still felt like a foreigner after 3 weeks, unable to conclude anything for sure. But as time passed by, I felt that I became better at asking questions about the culture I was in. So I hope that my questions generated some thoughts that were relevant for my hosts (e.g. the local Vietnamese). Take for example the swim video; in a sense we made a statement showing that women should also have the right to swim in the river, in another way we showed an awareness that our statement is limited by our own cultural gaze. So finally the overall statement became a row of questions: Is it possible that the methods we, as Western artists, bring to Hanoi, do not apply here? What does it take to cross the cultural boundaries that divide our understandings of a place and the people living there? What new thoughts and actions need to be created for future encounters and how can those be produced?

What are the differences between Vietnamese and Danish art?

Bettina Camilla Vestergaard: Well, one major difference is the lack of free speech in Vietnam, which means that there’s a lot of censorship in what can visually be represented. You’re not allowed to criticize the system or present something sexual in your art, but some young artists tend to do it anyway, but very indirectly through abstractions or symbols.

As a result of the clash between the tight rules and regulations of the system and the open market and import of a Westernized culture, there seem to be a huge need among young people in Hanoi to free themselves from the past and act more liberal. This is also the case among young artists, but instead of creating movements for, lets say institutional critique, like we did in the 60s and 70s such as feminism, public art etc., then they seem to focus more on the very individual expression, like turning the inside out. I can imagine that this is a healthy reaction against the past regime where everything had to be done in the name of “we” – which is still the rule rather than the exception, this is where censorship comes in – but some rebellious artists seem to neglect this we in search of expressing their inner souls. Its like they’re trying to define their “I” before a new “we” can be created. The question is whether this new “we” is possible at all.

Thanks.

Daniel Svarre. Le Huy Hoang & Ursula Nistrup.

Pham Ngoc Duong. Le Huy Hoang.

Karoline H. Larsen, Henrik L. Jørgensen & Bettina Camilla Vestergaard.