New Gallery Opens in Hanoi

« Who do you think We are? »,

a Vietnamese group show presented by The Bui Gallery

Opening: Tue 07 Apr, 6-9pm
Exhibition: 08 Apr – 31 May 2009 06 June 2009, 11am til 6pm
The Gallery Bui

Click on the images above for larger versions.

Bui Gallery has been creating some buzz on the art scene in Vietnam in recent months. Now they are about to open their first exhibition in their new space in Hanoi and everyone is curious to see what will evolve with a new player on the scene.

The objective Bui Gallery is

… to generate an independent and high quality centre of artistic production which, through a serious process of scouting, research and interaction with the artists, should result in the presentation of works that are valuable and relevant to the development of contemporary art.

The Exhibition

The press release poses some interesting questions:

The exhibition “Who do you think we are…?” presents itself as a series of critical enquiries into cultural identity in Vietnam. It shapes the contours of a discrete nation enriched by its multiple cultural appropriations. What place does Vietnam aspire to within South East Asia? What positioning does Vietnam adopt faced with its culturally potent neighbours, such as China, India and Japan? What heritage has Vietnam kept from its colonial past? How does the Vietnamese identity affirm itself when faced with the progressive penetration of Western culture? What impacts have new information and communication technologies – the Internet, but also the propagation of a trans-national culture – on Vietnamese culture? How is Western culture perceived and then re-appropriated by the Vietnamese themselves, and, conversely, how does the Vietnamese culture expose and offer itself to the appropriation of westerners? The Bui Gallery intends to respond to these interrogations concerning contemporary Vietnamese creation.

Contemporary Vietnamese society bears witness to the identity negotiations being undertaken by the country in order to reconcile past traditions – heritage transmitted from generation to generation – and to the modernity that is offered to it. Contemporary Vietnamese art, in particular, allows us to sample a coming identity of a country motioning towards full change: Vietnamese identity presents itself like a compromise that merges diverse influences and situates itself amid the confluences of civilizations. From Hong Kong to Baltimore, Buenos Aires to Singapore, the artists originating from the “Doi Moi”  generation are exported and exposed more and more to the global art scene. Their works, which articulate among them the various identity struggles that we face in our times, generate alternative propositions: works that have within them the intertwining of foreign familiar looks, Vietnamese creations definitely gives us an original and prophetic take on tomorrow’s hybrid culture.