work in progress: contemporary art in saigon

8/6/2019 Work in Progress: Contemporary Art in Saigon

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22 aslife HCMC



aslife HCMC 23



24 aslife HCMC

In a building at the end o a small street in

Binh Thanh District, a crowd threatens to

spill out onto the road on a Friday evening.Inside the white-washed exterior wall, the

mood is jovial and cans o beer are being

plucked rom a cooler and passed around.

It is at rst dicult to reach the doorway andpierce the threshold o the ground foor.

The scene is typical o a weekend at a

new restaurant or a perormance by an in-

ternational band at a local watering hole. Butthe crowd is gathered out o appreciation or

another o lie’s pleasures: art.

The venue is the nonprot art space Sán Art, and the exhibit opening tonight is Syntax + Diction, a group show that eatures the

work o seven local Vietnamese and Viet

Kieu artists. One o those artists is Sán Art

co-ounder Dinh Q. Le. In June, New York’sMuseum o Modern Art will premiere Le’s

video installation, The Farmers and the

Helicopters (2006), the rst major installation

by a Vietnamese artist ever purchased bythe MoMa.

Given the turnout and Le’s celebrity in

the art world, it is perhaps dicult or those

rom countries with thriving contemporary artscenes to understand why spaces like Sán

Art are constantly in peril o closing down.

While contemporary art—not just art being

produced today, but art that demonstrates

an awareness o art history and advancesthe practice o art—has thrived in small

pockets o HCM City, a number o actors

to do with education, culture, politics and

history have kept the inrastructure romgrowing, leaving it to a small group o indi-

viduals and initiatives to keep contemporary

art practice afoat.

Ready for Contemporary Art?

To some, importing contemporary art prac-

tices into Vietnam might at rst seem like aorm o cultural imperialism, but according toZoe Butt, who joined Sán Art as curator and

director o programmes and development

last year, it was enquiries rom artists work-

ing in Vietnam that brought her to HCM City.“The eedback I was getting rom artists

was there were no spaces in Saigon particu-

larly or artists to experiment and to exhibit

and have a dialogue about what contem-porary art is,” says Butt, “And there was no

experienced curator who understood how to

talk about art and could help artists actually

nd themselves capable o talking to interna-tional art workers.”

In any corner o the art world the role o

the curator is integral, but or Vietnamese

artists who are earnest about developing

their practice, it is doubly important giventhe state o arts education. The curriculum

in Vietnam still ocuses almost exclusively

on traditional orms—drawing, sculpture,

painting—and bypasses critical theory, theoundation o contemporary art practice.

This is not lost on those who set the arts

management curriculum. In early 2008 while

she was still based in Beijing, Butt wasinvited to speak to the Center or Develop-

ment o Research o Culture. At the time,

the Center was looking at China as a model,which had developed a lucrative tourist tradearound its thriving art scene. What was per-

haps not apparent was exactly how dicult

it would be to replicate that success.

“One o the things about the supportor contemporary arts in Vietnam is there’s

conusion as to what contemporary art is,”

explains Butt.

Much o Butt’s presentation ocused onthe ways in which art works are assigned

value in developed art markets. Since collec-

tors and auction houses largely ollow what’s

being exhibited and purchased by publicspaces, she explained that it was necessary

to know how museum curators assess a

Tammy Nguyen

Born: San Francisco

Untitled Altar Box , 2010black thread, silk

“One of thethings aboutthe support forcontemporary

arts in Viet-nam is there’sconfusion as towhat contem-porary art is”- Zoe Butt



aslife HCMC 25

work o art, and what they’re oten assess-

ing is how the artist interprets the society in

which he or she is working.

This view o art’s relevance is, at least onthe surace, at odds with the opinion o the

Ministry o Culture, the body responsible

or granting permission to exhibitions. As

recently as last year, the ministry reassertedthat its priorities are “to raise the cultural and

spiritual lie o the people, promote traditional

and cultural values and teach the tradition o

patriotism to build a better country.” The state is not the only sector that nds

this concept o art problematic. Having

been ounded by our Viet Kieu artists, Sán

Art sometimes suers rom the perceptionamong local Vietnamese that it is just or Viet

Kieu. While Butt says reaching out to Viet-

namese who may not have the opportunityto travel is a concern, she acknowledges

that many are intimidated by more con-

ceptual orms o art or which they seldom

have any reerence point. More worrisome,though, is the perception held by some local

Vietnamese artists.

In at least one case, an artist expressed to

Butt that he believes work that does not de-pict subjects amiliar to Vietnamese people

is not Vietnamese, an opinion that is out

o sync with the zeitgeist o an increasingly

transnational art world and a market thattakes into consideration an artist’s oreign

residencies and international exhibits when

pricing art.Whatever the root o opinions such asthis, they threaten to racture HCM City’s

art scene and undermine the support that

young artists who are embracing more con-

temporary practice might otherwise receiverom their peers.

Market Pressure

Since the market liberalization o doi moi in 1986, what constitutes Vietnamese art

has also been complicated by the infuence

o commerce. As Proessor Nora A. Taylor

explains in her seminal book, Painters inHanoi: An Ethnography of Vietnamese Art,

the shit rom state patronage o the arts to

a ree market model, as well as the infux o

Western tourists led to an art boom in themid-90s that would have ar-reaching eectson contemporary art production.

“In the decade between 1990 and 2000,”

Taylor writes, “art became such a lucra-

tive source o income that, understandably,everyone wants their share o the prots

… This has meant that artists have gone

rom being reclusive, potentially politically

sensitive, educated but economically poorindividuals to wealthy, socially desirable

personae.”

This transormation, explains Taylor,

contributed to a situation in which commer-cial interests began to compromise artistic

integrity. Since Westerners were oten more

Tiffany Chung

Born: Danang

Co-ounder o San Art

Sugarcane Kumquat Mixed

Juice, 2007Polyethylene oam, pompoms,

MDF, wood, wire, thermoplastic

adhesive

below: Enokiberry Creators in

the lab, 2008Digital c-print

150 x 100 cm



26 aslife HCMC

concerned with the art’s representation o a

certain “Vietnameseness” than the processo the artist, it became relatively easy or

galleries—which operated more like tour-

ist shops—to cater to their tastes, which

tended towards pastoral scenes and Orientalurban landscapes.

As more shops opened and demand

increased, the pressure to produce became

tremendous. One artist reported to Taylorthat he was turning out completed paintings

within hours. Eventually, successul work

began to be copied, sometimes with thepermission o the artist himsel. As it becamemore dicult to distinguish genuine work,

the reputation o Vietnamese art eroded.

While Hanoi was at the heart o the mid-

90s art boom, there’s evidence o its legacyin HCM City in the many art shops displaying

paintings rom foor to ceiling. These remain

tremendously popular with oreigners, but

they do not attract important internationalcurators and collectors.

The reason, says Quynh Pham o Galerie

Quynh, is simple. “Most galleries, it’s just

about promoting the work, selling it. It’snot really about pushing these artists and

being a mentor to them, as well,” she says.

“They’re taking the mediocre work and

they’re promoting that as really strong workcoming rom this Vietnamese artist. And

they’re also encouraging that artist to con-

tinue making that mediocre work because

they’re able to sell it.”Galerie Quynh began as an online art

resource in 2000 and moved into a physical

space in 2003. It originally promoted several

important abstract painters, but in recentyears has ocused on showing a more di-

verse range o work by artists working locally

and hosting international artists.While it unctions as a commercial op-

eration, Galerie Quynh has contributed to

contemporary art inrastructure by holding its

artists to the standards o the internationalart market, and in doing so, teaching them

how to build a signicant body o work.

“[Many artists] don’t realize that the price

or the artwork—how we establish theprice—it’s very much rooted. It’s grounded in

the act that these artists have had cer-

tain shows, they are in certain collections.

They’re o a certain age so you can see thehistory, that they are steady. They have been

practicing regularly.”

Sán Art is, in some ways, a response tothe prevailing scene o art shops, as well.Its primary occupation is exhibiting contem-

porary art—a valuable educational tool in

itsel—but the organization also provides a

reading room and exhibition programming. The goal is not only to mentor Vietnamese

artists on how the international system o

exhibition and acquisition works, but also

to increase the knowledge o internationalcontemporary art practice.

“One thing Sán Art is trying to do is edu-

cate the artist on the importance o consid-

ering how you give value to your work, notonly in the market, but also culturally,” says

Butt. “You can’t just go and say ‘I’ve created

Sandrine Lloquet

Born: Montpelier, France

Founder o the arts collectiveWonderul District

Untitled, 2008

Plexiglass, steel and acrylic85 x 75 x 30 cm

below: Untitled, 2005

Marker pen and enamel onPlexiglas

31 x 21 cm

“Most galleries,it’s just aboutpromoting the

work, selling it.It’s not reallyabout pushingthese artists andbeing a mentor tothem" - QuynhPham



aslife HCMC 27

one series o work and I give that series to

a particular dealer.’ And then you can’t justgo and copy it and give it to somebody else.

There’s a responsibility on the part o the

artist to keep the integrity o what you’ve

done whole.”Both Pham and Butt acknowledge that

they alone cannot support contemporary art

development. In the absence o more cura-

tors and arts management proessionals,HCM City’s artists have begun to entertain

novel solutions and models used by artists

who have aced barriers in other countries.

Agile Spaces

I you speak to anyone rom HCM City’s art

scene about recent history, the subject o the ailed inaugural biennale Saigon Open

City (SOC) will likely come up.

First organized in mid-2004 and set to

open at the end o 2006, SOC was slatedto draw in curators and artists rom around

the world over the course o three themed

installments. But it was elled to varying

degrees, depending on who you ask, bymismanagement and bureaucratic wrangling

that delayed the rst installment well beyond

its ocial opening date and doomed thesecond two to non-existence. There have been many assessments o

what went wrong, but according to Richard

Streitmatter-Tran, a Viet Kieu artist who

moved to Vietnam in 2003 and has sinceconducted arts research throughout the Me-

kong sub-region, it’s worth considering what

that ailure yielded. Beore SOC, he says,

exposing contemporary art in so ambitiousa manner had been viewed by many as too

problematic or the cultural climate.

“It was sort o like being in a nuclear

shelter—‘It’s still radioactive up there. We’renot going to check. Just wait a couple o

years’—and never actually sticking your

head up to see that there was never war in

the rst place. So nally Saigon Open Citywas sticking your head above the ground.

And yes, it was pretty bad, but at least you

knew it was bad.”

Knowing the terrain, says Streitmatter- Tran, may have inormed the strategies that

artists developed in the years ollowing SOC.

“We all kind o suered rom that. It was

traumatic or the community here,” he says.“In some ways that kind o trauma gives

us what we have today. We don’t have the

Contemporary Arts Centre o Saigon. Wehave little spaces that are agile.”

In the midst o SOC’s planning phase, the

artist-run initiative a little blah blah began

its series o talks, workshops and presenta-tions. Today, co-ounder Sue Hadju runs

a reading room and organizes one major

project per year (a window until the rains

come: albb Open Studio program is onthrough May 2 at Pi-Channel). Himiko Visual

Saloon, an independent exhibition space

and popular hangout among artists, also

opened in 2005. Sán Art opened its doorsin October 2007.

Another initiative that embraced agility at

the time was Wonderul District. Inspired tomove to HCM City ater hearing about the

burgeoning art scene, artists Sandrine Llou-

Richard Streitmatter-Tran

Born: Bien Hoa, Vietnam

Lao Tzu Dreams of the LHC, 2009

stainless steal, copper, brass

Erin O’Brien

Born: Alexandria, Virgina, USA.

2009 Fulbright Fellow in Viertnam

GEO Home, 2009

conceptual perormance

photo by Phunam Thuc Ha



28 aslife HCMC

quet and Bertrand Peret sought to open a

contemporary arts centre in HCM City. How-

ever, when this proved uneasible they took

another route; each week or six months in2006 they hosted exhibitions and art talks in

their home, literally transorming the space

rom week to week. The consistency allowed

them to develop close relationships with at-tendees, including Vietnamese art students.

“Some o the students who were coming

at this time were very interested, even i they

really didn’t know at all about contemporaryart,” says Llouquet.

What the project provided was an

alternative to the gallery scene, which can

be intimidating to young students, some o

whom would return throughout the week to

read through their library or talk more. It alsoprovided an example o how artists collec-

tives can advance the scene when ew other

avenues exist to develop contemporary art.

“To be independent to me is what’s mostimportant,” says Peret. “What we wanted to

show in the way we’ve done the [Wonderul

District] projects was really more than the

content—it’s the way we do it.”Wonderul District has continued its

programming in various orms since then,

but Peret does admit some exhaustion and a

desire to ocus more on his painting. Moresothough, he expresses disappointment that so

ew artist initiatives exist in HCM City today.

Evolving Responses

In a studio space in the suburbs o District

7, Streitmatter-Tran has recently established

another o these agile spaces. While itprimarily unctions as his personal studio, it

also serves as the home or Dia Projects, an

initiative that will allow Streitmatter-Tran to

draw on his considerable network to inviteartists and curators to Vietnam and acilitate

meetings that could enable the right people

to plan uture projects.

When asked i he sees Dia Projects as aremedy or arts inrastructure in HCM City,

he instead answers a dierent question:

“I we think o art as responding to somesort o problem or an issue, well, those areeternal. They’re always coming around. So i

art is a kind o evolving response to dierent

types o things then there isn’t really actually

a remedy. There will never be. So I think thisspace is a part o that response.”

With the prospect o an arts education

overhaul or major changes in civil society

unlikely in the short term, it seems thatthose involved in HCM City’s contemporary

art scene will have to continue to respond

to the current climate. Fortunately, some

pieces seem to be alling into place. The Dinh Q. Le show at the MoMa, which

will last six months, will certainly raise inter-

“If we think of art as responding to some sortof problem or an issue, well, those are eternal.

There isn’t really actually a remedy. There willnever be" - Richard Streitmatter-Tran

Tuan Andrew NguyenBorn: Ho Chi Minh City

Co-ounder o San Art

Sugar-Coated Karma, 2010Plastic buddha, acrylic nail paint



aslife HCMC 29

est abroad, but according to Zoe Butt, it

could help matters on the local level, as well.“What we’re hoping is that this showcase

o Vietnamese culture at this level brings

people to mind that the contemporarycultural identity o Vietnam is something that

people are very interested in,” says Butt,

adding that it could convince investors o

the value in supporting Sán Art. Also o note, Galerie Quynh has been

invited to the Hong Kong International Art

Fair in May. The timing is opportune. Despite

a rough year in 2009 due to the globalnancial crisis, Quynh Pham says she’s seen

a lot o interest rom international curators in

Vietnam in the last three years. Just recently,

Sun Jun Kim, the commissioner or theKorean pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale

made an extended visit to HCM City.

“She wasn’t here specically to sourceartists or a particular project. She was justcoming to research what was happening,”

says Pham. “Meeting high prole curators

like that is phenomenal. They're denitely

coming. There’s increased interest.”I things don’t turn around immediately,

that is not a bad sign, says Pham, who

warns o the dangers o speculators and art

market bubbles. “I’m all about the steadygrowth. In an ideal art market it’s about peo-

ple really doing their research.” The time it

has taken to build what inrastructure exists

has perhaps given curators and collectorsenough time to rethink Vietnam since the

mid-90s and approach it with resh eyes.

Hoang Duong CamBorn: Hanoi, Vietnam

He doesn't feel angry or sad, 2007

Acrylic on canvas115 x 115 cm

Khanh Cong Bui

Born: Danang

Juice of the Past, 2009

Acrylic on canvas

50 x 40cm

work in progress: contemporary art in saigon

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