Month of Arts Practice 2017: Utopia Land
Art Practice and Exchange: 24 Sep – 28 Oct 2017
Exhibition: 29 Oct – 30 Nov 2017
Heritage Space
From Heritage Space:
Heritage Space is proud to announce the Opening of our annual project Month of Arts Practice version 2017 called THE UTOPIA LAND.
Month of Arts Practice (a.k.a MAP) is an annual project of Heritage Space and was initiated by artist Tran Trong Vu, aiming to create space for composing, testing, practicing new art ideas, upon cooperation and interaction of international and Vietnamese artists.
Month of Arts Practice 2017 will have the theme “VÙNG KHÔNG TƯỞNG – THE UTOPIA LAND”. The entire composing and practicing process of artists will involve the main theme, with diverse views and approaches, as well without restrictions on the types of art: painting, sculpture, installation, performance, media, writing, etc. The process of artistic practice takes place continuously in 05 weeks from the last week of September at Heritage Space. Along with the creative activities, there will be a sequence of events such as Exhibition, Workshop, Studio opening, Round-table Discussion, Camping, Art trip and Public program. The resulting works of the artists will be displayed in a Group Exhibition in October – November 2017 at Heritage Space.
Month of Arts Practice 2017 at Heritage Space will take place in two sections:
• Art Practice & Exchange: from September 24th – October 28th, 2017.
• Exhibition: from October 29th – November 30th, 2017
• Venue: Heritage Space Library & Gallery, Fl.01st, Dolphin Plaza, 6 Nguyen Hoang st./ 28 Tran Binh st., My Dinh 2 ward, Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi, Vietnam.
VÙNG KHÔNG TƯỞNG | THE . UTOPIA . LAND
“The refusal of the real is the number one dogma of our time.”
René Girard
OVERVIEW
Month of Art Practice (MAP) is a project dedicated to the development of contemporary art, initiated by artist Tran Trong Vu, and organized annually by Heritage Space since 2015. The project takes place with an aim of creating a foundation for art practice activities, exchange, education and exhibition between international professional artists and young Vietnamese artists. With each annual season, the project carries an overarching theme for inspiring artists. The topic of the 2017 season will be “THE UTOPIA LAND”.
OBJECTIVE/ GOAL
In Vietnam, since art education in state-owned art schools (private art schools do not exist) is not executed to the highest standard, in particular education about art, art theory and art history is not comprehensive. Fine art schools in Vietnam are only mainly teaching art for vocational purpose. As a result, many students and art teachers decided to give up on art. Art museums in Vietnam are not good enough: artists cannot learn much from exhibitions and museum collections in the country. Large-scale exhibitions organized by the government only introduced an old and amateur art. Vietnamese public does not have many chances to access contemporary art. In 2015, the MAP project was born in such context.
For MAP 2017, we have two main objectives:
– Create a new version of art school, unprecedented in Vietnam, where there is no teacher, no student and all participant artists are colleagues. They exchange and learn from each other. They work alongside each other in the same space, around the same theme and in the same working and living condition.
Through this project, Vietnamese artists will learn more about international contemporary art and experience the responsibilities and attitudes of contemporary artists. Artists from overseas will also gain new experiences working in a foreign environment where cultural conflicts are unavoidable.
– By giving the local audience an opportunity to access the progress of contemporary art in Vietnam and overseas, making them look at art as to how art can benefits communities, we hope to promote the creation of spaces and collision in perception and social behaviors to generate motivation for the development of art, and sustainable development goals of society in a broader sense.
MAIN TOPIC – “THE . UTOPIA . LAND”
For as long as we remember, humans have always been dreaming about things that are not as they always have been, things that have never existed, things that sometimes are impossible. For so long humans always feel the absurdity of reality, which is not absurd enough. The world, facing dreams and desires of humans, usually appears to be mysterious with conflicts as if that is the very reason for all absurdities in life. That is why the feeling of an incomplete world, an unexplored humanity, a life that cannot satisfy each and every of its member, came into life. The desire for completion drives our imagination to the infinite, but at the same time, it also reminds us the limits of our imagination amid tons of other limits created by humans and their physical body.
Acknowledging or denying the limits, is like acknowledging or denying the reality, acknowledging or denying the impossible. In this context, isn’t the reality the impossible? Is reality a reason for the desire to conquer the impossible? So that it is not possible to be merged completely into utopia. Like happiness has to be merged into tragedy.
The world and humans have witnessed the collapses of utopias, for instance human political tragedies, but it is also because of utopia that the impossible became possible in incredible scientific and life progresses, in astonishing changes in the world and the universe. “Utopia is a star at the life’s horizon” like Jacques Salome said, but how many people would be able to reach their own horizon, how many people would be able to go beyond their horizon? How many people will pursue their dreams to utopia no matter what happens? And a life without a horizon or a star, is it worth living in?
In 05 weeks, the artists of the MAP will work basing on the reality that surrounds them and the reality of their own limits to dream about another reality and other limits. The combination of all their results will establish an unprecedented space composed by existing data. Their “utopia” could be similar to a lonely, yet cozy island, where excitement and sorrow, craziness and tenderness, order and disorder, can co-exist. Their utopia is actually the desire of the impossible.
ARTISTS
Bernard Pourriere (France)
Cầm Khánh Linh (Vietnam)
Cấn Văn Ân (Vietnam)
Daniel Rode (Germany)
Dim Tim Art (Serbia)
Heaven Baek (Korea)
Ingo Vetter (Germany)
Nguyễn Thị Hà My (Vietnam)
Nguyễn Thị Hoài Giang (Vietnam)
Nguyễn Phú Viên (Vietnam)
Philippe Richard (France)
Phùng Tiến Sơn (Vietnam)
Ruchika Wason Singh (India)
Trần Hạnh (Vietnam)
Follow updates on the page Month of Arts Practice
Heritage Space is a combination of an art gallery, a library, a concert hall, co-working office, residency space, artist studios and some open-stages, which has the capacity to host art exhibitions, music events, educational programs, multi-creative forms, artist-in-residency programs and others. Run by a group of curators, artists, researchers, musicians and architects, Heritage Space’s mission is to become a HUB for individuals and groups working on multi-disciplines from both inside and outside of the country to support and develop the creative industries in Vietnam.
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