KVT on an interesting meander through Hanoi

First to L’Espace to see the prints by Hoang Thi Bich Lien.

Lien has hung some interesting pieces and I think that the most effective are those that juxtapose man-made objects against a natural background. I also found the black and white pressed lotus leaves, stems and seed pods comely but that’s probably because I am infatuated with Hoa Sen and fill my house with their the buds and blousy blooms all summer and really enjoy the freshly shucked seeds with a cold glass of beer.

It’s an uneven show but I can understand why the general public feels at home with them.

Followed the dyke to see how the ceramic project is progressing and am really enjoying the more traditional designs that Vietnamese artists have installed. The new section featuring ethnic weaving patterns is really spectacular. I agree with a lot of my fellow amateur critics that it would have been best to leave out the blatant advertising that is incorporated in a couple of sections.

The foreign artist sections are interesting and mostly a bit lacking in Vietnamese empathetic sensibility but the one with the raised vessels works well in a brash and bright way.

I wish that kids had been eliminated from the whole process as ceramics by them are always a bit twee and date quickly but as it’s a well known fact that it’s not wise to criticize the artistic efforts of children so I’ll just hope that not too many school groups can afford the money to get their bits up and running.

A minority of the sections are dreadfully amateurish or totally inappropriate but thank goodness that the first sections from the Sofitel Plaza towards the city are so well incorporated.

Mind you, most people zoom past so that it’s all just a sparkly tiled blur, and from that perspective the whole thing will be a success as a visual relief from the monotony of grey concrete.

Emergency Room at the Art University is going to be interesting to follow until November 20. At 12 each day the exhibitions change and I guess are removed to the museum spaces created at each end of the large gallery.

It will be interesting to follow the experiment every couple of days and see if the conceits that “artists are thermometers for society… that they have the expertise to present our society in an inspiring way… that a hotline to the public is being created… that yesterday’s current events will be commented on…” can be realized.

Day one was a bit of a phizzog (a wet fire cracker that phizzles rather than bangs about). It was a bit like an end of term showing by a class of conceptual art students. But the idea is an important one and it will be interesting to see if the chosen artists can rise above their egos and give their public, an exciting and stimulating couple of weeks and perhaps raise a few pertinent issues and questions.

I am really intrigued by the whole thing and wish it well and I’ll be back several times in the hope that I might be challenged and even out-raged.

And the Brazilians are tooo good. Bravo, Bravo and several more Bravos! Just when we thought that the Danes had the cultural life in the city just about cornered for a week or two, along came the Concerto De Musica De Camara Para Soprose E Piano at the Opera House.

Initially I rushed for a free ticket because my favorite composer, Poulenc, was on the menu and was I ever glad I did! The Brazilian ensemble, Unirio, on clarinet, flute, piano and bassoon (the Portuguese word fagote for it is has as much onometopoeia as the English) were brilliant and gave us some of the very best classical music I’ve ever heard in Hanoi and it was all music from the recent past.

It’s the 50th anniversary since the death of Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos and fittingly three of his works were played from 1924, 1938 and finishing with the 1953 Fantasia. All seamlessly excellent.

The program was challenging, especially for those not used to any thing since the Romantics and could have proved strenuously long for them, but the audience, mainly locals with a lot of youngsters, was enormously receptive (only one mobile phone conversation all night near me and only two prolonged talking heads).

The music of Braga (1984 and 2009 compositions) I thought would alienate some but not a bit and the middle movement of the Ronda Urbana was soporific.

The 2009 work for a wind quartet by Nguyen Phuc Linh was, as the young music student beside me exclaimed breathlessly, beautifully Vietnamese and then the sextet by Poulenc exceeded all expectations with the Brazilian players joined by a Vietnamese horn and trumpet.

Sublime………. and a thousand  bravos.