About 1000 Dragon Egg exhibition
Dragon Eggs
How better to link the birth of a capital to the birth of a nation and a people, and to the history of this people than simply to write the word “dragon” in the various historical scripts of Vietnam in over 100 handwriting styles onto 1000 eggs?
How better to link the birth of a capital to the birth of a nation and a people, and to the history of this people than simply to write the word “dragon” in the various historical scripts of Vietnam in over 100 handwriting styles onto 1000 eggs?
In their exhibition “Trung – Rong”, (02 – 05 Sep 2010, Thien Duong Bao Son) artists Nguyen Quang Thang and Tran Trọng Duong have masterfully, elegantly, and so simply brought us from the birth of the Viet (children of the dragon and the fairy) through the marriage of Lac Long Quan (Dragon King of the Lạc) who was the son of the Magician King Duong Vuong of Linh Nam (The Country South of the Mountains) and of Long Nu (Dragon Maiden) who was the daughter of Long Vuong (Dragon King), to the Fairy Au Cơ, daughter of the Chieftain of the Land North of the Mountains whom Lac Long Quan defeated and repulsed – the marriage as a result of which Au Cơ gave birth to a sac containing 100 eggs which the couple divided equally as Lạc Long Quan went back to the sea to rule as the sea dragon king again and Au Co went back to the highlands and the lowlands to raise the Fathers of what is today the nation of Vietnam which worships her as their Mother Goddess. These artists have brought us through Lý Thai To’s decision to move the capital from the poorly accessible if easily defensibly capital of Hoa Lu in the craggy hills of a tributary of the Red River back to the center of the fertile delta, back to the heart, back to the place from which this nation with its rich culture frist sprang. And, they have brought us to the present day when we celebrate not only the 1000th anniversary the capital of Vietnam, but, as the egg is round and has no beginning and no end, so also all its history going backward past Lý Thai To all the way back to Au Co and Lac Long Quan. All this in the simple gesture of an inked brush over an egg.
The exhibition took place in the very difficult to access and little-known location of the crafts village inside the recently constructed Thien Duong Bao Son (Protected Mountain Paradise) theme park about 10 minutes by car west of the My Dinh stadium complex. Very much more unfortunately, because of certain difficulties at L’Espace, the exhibition currently has no venue.
| This event was researched and written up in both Vietnamese and English by Yên Thị Bùi, who is one of the children of the Blue Dragon, a non-governmental organization helping Vietnamese children in crisis lead productive successful lives. See http://www.bdcf.org/ to help. I need your help: If you know of any upcoming event for this column, please let me know. Hanoi Grapevine focuses mainly on contemporary art and culture in Vietnam, but we also post information about events that are part of Vietnam’s rich cultural heritage. Mr. Roman Szlam, a student of Vietnamese language, history and culture, has a passion for attending and learning about the world of Vietnamese traditional cultural events. He has offered to provide us with information that crosses his path about such events in Hanoi as he explores this aspect of life in Vietnam. Roman also maintains a website with a schedule of local activities which are beyond the range of Hanoi Grapevine at www.hanoilocal.info. |
