KVT – Manga Kabanga

MANGA KABANGA

The images spread through this opinion piece were taken to remind me of the really good installations that make up the manga exhibition, on until June 16 at the Hanoi Art Museum. In 2010 they were part of a successful exhibition in Japan and we are very lucky that The Japan Foundation sent them our way. It’s one of this year’s blockbusters in a year that needs a kick in the arts.

Manga is big in Japan. Average manga series have a circulation of up to half a million copies and there are up to 300 different manga magazines on offer monthly. They are directed at every age group and tackle just about any subject. It’s said that manga is the continuation of a centuries-old art form and is an integral part of Japanese culture….so much so that Japan’s official entry at the Venice Biennale this year are animated manga projections by 36 year old female artist, Tabaimo.

Art critic Laura Cumming states: ‘Japan had Tabaimo’s vast projections – a hybrid of animated manga and Hiroshige on acid – cascading down curved and mirrored walls in a dizzying fantasy of Japan “receding into isolation in the face of globalisation” (says the artist)’ (Observer, June 5)…..click here for a brief view of one. 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbh2evhG3AA&feature=related[/youtube]

I read somewhere (I meant to keep a record of the source!) that Japanese author Haruki Murakami has a theory that after the devastating atomic explosions and World War 2 defeat of Japan, manga took on an innocence and a childish simplicity that portrayed Japans re-mergence into a confused and changed world and it was this wide eyed innocence that took the world by storm in animated cartoons like Astro Boy and in the Pokemon video games…and continues to extend its influence in so many areas. Aren’t the “Twilight” series of books and movies manga with their virginal though highly sexually charged characters? The fashion industry’s androgynous models like Andrej Pejic are manga gone surreal.

The Japanese Foundation’s ‘Manga Realities’ exhibition at the Hanoi Fine Arts Museum is an excellent show. It’s big and spreads over two floors. Ostensibly it is about exploring the art of Japanese comics today and has lots of PR aimed specifically at an adolescent audience, and it can be read at a superficial level. Conversely an intelligent viewer can find a lot of stimulation in its societal messages.

Last weekend I met a student from the Fine Arts University whose prejudicial attitude towards manga meant that he dismissed the exhibition with a wave of his waif-ish wrist and was proud that he hadn’t been to see it. If I was a teacher at the university I’d make it compulsory viewing for all students so that they could experience some very excellent installations. It’s one of those beautifully curated and conceptualized exhibitions that all promising artists should make sure that their snobbishness doesn’t keep them away.

It’s a fabulously inclusive exhibition with people of all ages catered for and kids welcome. The reading room is a great idea and the weekend music concerts are popular.

I thoroughly recommend it all…..in fact you’d be silly if you’ve got older kids and don’t take them. If you profess to like art and miss it you’d have to be mentally moribund. If you are an occasional art viewer then this one is one of those occasions!

Excellent catalogues and handouts are available in Vietnamese.