KVT – Exhibition “Hanoi – The City in Art”

Nostalgia Vs Modern Necessity

I have a friend, a manager and curator of a major University’s extensive art collection. He’s mad about cats so he decided to pull out all the cats from the University’s 100 year old collection and came across a veritable treasure trove of images going back to the golden age of Dutch painting and on to some immediate video art gems. So, with an obsession in full gear, he decided to set mount a major catty exhibition and by judicious culling and borrowing from other museum sources and from private collections, had galleries from all over the continent scrambling to be on the list of venues of a Contemporary Cat tour that was a huge, public hit but then people, somehow, are mad about purring felines.

In Hanoi, with the assistance of Goethe Institute and input from Lisa Drummond, Natalia Kraeveskaia has taken her scholarly research and interest in Hanoian art from a particular era to one logical extension and mounted a very clever and cohesive exhibition in two parts that should inevitably find its way onto an international touring circuit.

Kraevskia is a most respected art expert, art commentator, art gallery owner, art educator and mentor of Vietnamese contemporary artists. By focusing on Hanoi in the year of its millennium celebrations she cleverly brings into public focus prominent artists who have successfully portrayed the city since the 1970’s until the present.

Cleverly, too, the exhibition is divided into Hanoi idealized and Hanoi rushing towards its technological, modern destination.

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Part one is on show at Goethe and is a fascinating show that begins with works by Bui Xuan Phai and concludes with the very beautiful, gem like fossils of the old town by Vuong Van Thao. The art has been installed in period manner and with its very excellent accompanying signage, is easy to negotiate, read, and understand.

So many of the images on show of a cityscape disappearing are part of my precious yen tinh moments in Hanoi when I sometimes still wander the streets, pre dawn on my bicycle, or early morning on the first day of Tet.

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The presence of the work of foreign artists in this very timely exhibition is initially perplexing, particularly as all seem to have a German association, but this is becomes understandable when one appreciates the ethnicity of the funding body and the even more exciting prospect of a German tour that would amalgamate Germanic influence in and appropriation of Vietnamese contemporary art.

In the first part of the exhibition, Vietnamese female artists are noticeably less visible but come into focus in part 2. The lovely short video ‘Buddha in the City’ by long term expat Brian Ring provides a transition journey between the two parts and if and when the exhibition tours and both parts are on display at the same time, it will be vital component for any canny curator.

It’s an important exhibition and one that should be widely seen.

The very excellent catalogue is an art collector’s gem and an art historian’s dream and you should put your name down for one at reception in the gallery foyer. Included are essays from experts familiar with the decades under review.

Idealized and peaceful Part 1 concludes Dec 3 and Part 2, which will be more noisy and rushing will be up at the Goethe from Dec 7 to 13.