Hanoi Children’s Palace: Nostalgia for the Future
09 – 17 Nov 2024
Hanoi Children’s Palace
36-38 Lý Thái Tổ, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội
From the organizer:
The Hanoi Festival of Creative Design 2024 will take place from November 9 to 17, 2024, with the Creative Intersection passing through the capital’s typical historical and cultural heritage works. In particular, the Hanoi Children’s Palace (36-38 Ly Thai To) is positioned as the “heart” of the Festival route, where many main activities are concentrated, and more than that, it is a place to nurture and spread the spirit of creativity from childhood, through the “intersection” connecting the creativity of many generations of Hanoians.
Practicing creative art that interacts with its context, the 2024 Festival opens up opportunities for artists and curators to engage directly and propose diverse approaches to the space, illuminating Hanoi’s history and memories while fostering new dialogues and interpretations.
Hanoi Children’s Palace: Nostalgia for the Future is a grand exhibition that takes the history, community memories, architecture and future of Hanoi Children’s Palace as a starting point, research and imagination. During the 9 days of the 2024’s Festival, the Children’s Palace will host a series of exhibitions, film screenings, performances, playgrounds, architectural installations; combined with satellite events including workshops, experiential journeys, talks, and community activities. The series of activities has the diverse participation of artists, architects, filmmakers, cultural-artistic researchers… of different ages and fields, but together learn and resonate with the history of Hanoi Children’s Palace. The curatorial team has selected works that respond and interact in harmony with the context, as well as compositions that are dialogical with each space and memory of the Palace; thereby hoping to activate invisible and visible legacies, continuing intergenerational dialogues and narratives, to evoke perceptions of the past and visions for the future.
Hanoi Children’s Palace: Nostalgia for the Future is divided into 3 thematic strands: (1) Children’s Palace as a memory exercise; (2) Intergenerational heritage; (3) Creating the world and Play. The thematic strands are not separate but interwoven and respond to each other, inviting interpretations beyond the initial thoughts.
Unlike the exhibition spaces in the previous editions of the Hanoi Festival of Creative Design, which were renovated from unused functional areas, Hanoi Children’s Palace: Nostalgia for the Future is carried out in the movement of a ‘living’ body, where the space itself becomes a material and artistic partner instead of a place to display any works. The exhibition spaces and program organization are spread throughout the areas, making efforts to connect the art practice community, individuals who have worked and being active at the Palace and the community of Festival participants; as well as the caution in covering the architectural lines of the building with a new look not only shows respect for what is present and preserved in the heart of Hanoi Children’s Palace, but also the desire of the curatorial team, artists, filmmakers, musicians, architects… to continue to create cultural memories with the generations who have been attached to Hanoi Children’s Palace, laying the foundation for thoughts on how we can live with ‘heritage’.
Hanoi Children’s Palace – a place to nurture the creative dreams of many generations of Hanoi children
In 1974, in the context of the country’s many difficulties, Hanoi Children’s Palace was built on a scale of 6 floors with an area of over 10,000 m2, including 100 classrooms – designed by architect Le Van Lan, applying traditional architecture in a harmonious whole between existing French architectural works. The work deserves to be a “modern architectural heritage” not only because of its historical and architectural value but also because it is a work that shows a lot of expectations and beliefs in the future of generations of children right from the time the country was restored to peace.
For nearly 70 years, Hanoi Children’s Palace has become a childhood home, a source of culture for many generations of children, associated with youth movements in cultural and artistic education activities. In 2020, Hanoi Children’s Palace transformed its model from fully subsidized to financially autonomous, gradually integrating into the market with the strong development of private creative education institutions. In September 2024, the Children’s Palace inaugurated a new facility in Nam Tu Liem District with the goal of meeting the needs of learning, entertainment, recreation and physical training for children in the capital and the whole country. Standing in the midst of the inevitable flow of development, Hanoi Children’s Palace on Ly Thai To Street is a memory, a cultural and artistic educational heritage. Hanoi Festival of Creative Design 2024 chose the Children’s Palace as the starting point of the festival route as the starting point of the creative journey in each person. And from there, the “creative buds” are nurtured, connected, spread, creating opportunities to meet, dialogue and share creative initiatives – towards future development.
Information about the curators, artists, and participating organizations
Curatorial team: Van Do, Le Thuan Uyen, Pham Minh Hieu
With the participation of Nguyen Huy An, Nguyen Thuy Tien, Nguyen Tran Nam, Ly Trang, Phan Thao Nguyen, Nguyen Hoang Giang, Thach Hieu, Do Van Hoang, Nguyen Viet Anh, Tr. A I, Ngo Thanh Bac, Pham Kien, Dang Thuy Anh, Tran Uy Duc, Tran Kim Ngoc, Tuan Ni, Luong Ngoc Minh, Nguyen Thuy Linh, Nguyen Thuy Chi, Phuong Vu, Pham Thi Hoai Anh, Trinh Ngan Hanh, To Kim Nhung, Le Tu Anh, Mai Chi, Van Minh Duc, Pham Duc Viet, Tran Nguyen Binh, Nguyen Tien Hoang, Nguyen The Phuong, Pham Khoi Nguyen, Lee Nguyen Saehae, Dao Kim Thach, Dinh Dang Long, Vu Nhat Tien, Do Duy Son, Ta Nhat Minh, Nguyen Khanh Huyen, Vu Tue Giang, Le Thuy Dung, Nguyen Le Mai Khanh, Nguyen Le Bao Linh, Pham Binh Minh, Ha Dinh Chi, Pham Nhat Minh, Nguoi Hai An, Nguyen Thi Tue Thu, Ian Richter, Minh Hai, Dan Nguyen, Le Xuan Tien, Pham Ha Ninh, Dinh Thao Linh, Chau Hoang, Nguyen Hoang Thien Ngan, Nguyen Quoc Thanh, Quynh Dong, Truong Que Chi, Nguyen Dinh Phuong, Nguyen Duc Phuong, Bui Ton Hoang, Nguyen Nhat Quang, Hoang Vu Hoai, Duong Thi Thanh Thuy, Linh Valerie Pham, Tran Kim Ngoc, Nguyen Vu Hai, Tran Thao Mien, Huyen M. Hoang, La Thanh Ha, Dao Tung, Nguyen Khanh Linh, Pham Minh Anh, Ngo Thanh, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Pham Thu Hang, Pham Mai Phuong, Maik Cay, Hang, Linh San, Ly Nguyen, Trinh Thu Ha, Nguyen Quoc Trung, Luu Hieu Minh, Pham Nguyen Bao Lam, Nguyen Tran Minh Anh, Nguyen Tran Phuong Anh, Nguyen Phuc Lam, Ha Chau Giang, Tran Huyen Phuong, Gian Giua, Young Ceremonial Team of Hanoi Children’s Palace, STEM Club of Hanoi Children’s Palace, Adult Team Member Club of Hanoi Children’s Palace, Vietnam Youth Music (VYMI), Think Playgrounds, FPT Software AI Center, ToLo Puppet Theater, The Initiative of Children’s Book Creative Content (ICBC) in Vietnam, ToHe Social Enterprise, Hanoi Bedroom Shows, Youth Stars Club, Hanoi DOCLAB.
With the special presence of Le Van Lan, Vu Dan Tan, Diem Phung Thi, Abbas Kiarostami, Luu Trong Ninh, Nguyen Khanh Du, Hai Ninh, Truong Qua, Ngo Manh Lan
Operation team: Linh San, Phan Minh Quang, Linh Meo, Hong Anh, Ca Con, Duong Duong
With the support of the Board of Directors and Departments of Hanoi Children’s Palace, Vietnam Film Institute, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Vietnam, National Film Archive of the Czech Republic, Nguyen Art Foundation, XMArchitect, Studio Cohe, Hanoi DOCLAB, DomDom – Center for Experimental Music & Arts, ba-bau AIR, Hoa Tam Art Center, Kinergie Studio, Xuong Ga Moc, Museum Technik, Mo Art Space.
With the financial assistance of SOVICO – UNESCO, Goethe Institut Hanoi, Dogma Collection, Minh Long Wood, Reckli Vietnam, PlasticPeople, Fawookidi, Á Space, The Outpost Art Center, Pham Minh Hieu Studio, and generous individuals.
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