Vietnam Fine Arts Museum: Applying technology and digital transformation to become a driving force for sustainable development

Dr. Nguyen Anh Minh - Director of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum said that with innovative thinking and strong political determination, the Museum's leadership has applied digital transformation in creative activities to change the Museum's appearance, improve professional quality, service quality, and build a beautiful and public-friendly brand for the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

At the 4th National Emulation Congress of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2025, presenting a speech on the topic of Technology Application and Digital Transformation at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Dr. Nguyen Anh Minh - Director of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum said that after nearly 60 years of establishment and development, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum is currently preserving more than 20,000 fine art artifacts, representing the country's fine arts from prehistoric times to the present day, including 9 National Treasures.

Preserving and promoting the value of cultural and artistic heritage has always been one of the core tasks of the Museum.

In recent years, the way these tasks are carried out has changed dramatically thanks to innovative thinking, creativity and the application of technology and digital transformation, leading to a change in the approach to promoting artistic heritage, making art more accessible, lively and attractive to the public.

Dr. Nguyen Anh Minh - Director of Vietnam Fine Arts Museum

According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Minh, until the first decade of the 21st century, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum was still a little-known name. The press, media, and even information on the internet rarely mentioned the name "Vietnam Fine Arts Museum".

Visitors to the Museum are mainly foreigners (80%), solo travelers, and students organized by schools in large groups. Travel companies and tour operators do not include the Museum in their tour destinations, tour guides are afraid to bring visitors because the display system is difficult to introduce...

Deeply aware of the many shortcomings of the Museum, with innovative thinking and strong political determination, the Museum's leadership has applied digital transformation in creative activities to change the Museum's appearance, improve professional quality, service quality, and build a beautiful and public-friendly brand of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

Dr. Nguyen Anh Minh said that in addition to applying technology on digital platforms, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum has also actively changed and applied modern, advanced technologies combined with traditional display methods, contributing to diversifying the experience of visitors to exhibitions. Applications such as cinemagraph, 3D Mapping at thematic exhibitions Spring of the Country (2023), My Country (2023), Spring of Hanoi (2024) have contributed to attracting a large number of visitors, especially young people.

Notably, last June, on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of its founding, the Museum inaugurated the Applied Fine Arts and Folk Fine Arts Exhibition Space after a period of adjustment and renovation.

Not only does technology enhance the visitor experience, it also makes museum management easier. Inventory, management, and tracking of museum artifacts require scientific, fast, and highly accurate work.

With the number of artifacts reaching tens of thousands, of all types, materials, and themes, the support of technology is extremely necessary. Therefore, the Museum has focused on developing software to manage artifacts and is currently showing effectiveness.

At the same time, the Museum also built a digital library management system to manage and preserve valuable records and documents of long standing. Through this software, handwritten documents of researchers, images of works, and documentary photos have been carefully scanned and photographed, contributing to firmly consolidating the archives of works as well as the activities of the Museum during the process of construction and development.

Similarly, for education, the Museum has created video clips to guide online art practice and organized the program "Learning about Vietnamese fine arts" on an online platform, achieving practical results.

In particular, digital communication work is also focused on and promoted, with official communication channels such as website and fanpage being operated more and more professionally, the content of news, photos and clips posted is increasingly diverse and closer to the public, contributing to spreading the image of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum and attracting a large number of visitors.

Art program at the 4th Patriotic Emulation Congress of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2025

Dr. Nguyen Anh Minh, Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW dated December 22, 2024 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation clearly stated: "Development of science, technology, innovation and digital transformation is a decisive factor in the development of countries; is a prerequisite and the best opportunity for our country to develop richly and powerfully in the new era - the era of the nation's rise."

In fact, since 2017, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum has been gradually implementing digital transformation. The Museum's creative activities and technology applications in recent times have contributed to bringing the Museum closer to the public, spreading the love of art and providing valuable practical experiences for the operation of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in particular, and the type of fine arts museum in Vietnam in general.

From a place that was not yet known to many people, the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum has become a favorite "destination" for young people, families, and art lovers. The number of visitors to the Museum has increased by more than 300% compared to 5 years ago, of which domestic visitors are increasing (about 70% of total visitors); website and fanpage visits have increased steadily; the number of internet searches is impressive: with just one click, the keyword "Vietnam Fine Arts Museum" immediately gives more than 10 million results.

These are positive results coming from the determination to innovate, create, apply science and technology and digital transformation in the activities of the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts.

Dr. Nguyen Anh Minh believes that digital transformation is not a temporary trend, but an inevitable trend of the times. Therefore, each museum and each cultural institution needs to clearly define its direction, persistently pursue it, and regularly summarize and learn from experience to improve and enhance operational efficiency. Only then will the application of technology and digital transformation truly become a driving force for sustainable development, contributing to affirming the role of culture in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.

Department of Organization and Personnel, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/bao-tang-my-thuat-viet-nam-ung-dung-cong-nghe-va-chuyen-doi-so-tro-thanh-dong-luc-phat-trien-ben-vung-20250929160558118.htm