An insider's view

Our conversations with some curators help paint a picture of the current Vietnamese art curation scene.

Artist Nguyen Nhu Huy:

Young people are making a huge contribution.

At present, Vietnamese art, including the areas of creation, curation, artists, the public and exhibition activities, has developed very strongly. Many excellent young curators have appeared, they have the advantage of studying abroad, having good relationships with curators from countries in the region - something that curators in the past like Mr. Tran Luong or me did not have.

Artist Nguyen Nhu Huy.

In the early days, we had to create our own art events and find our own audiences. Nowadays, art spaces are opening up more and have more popular relationships with the public… These are favorable conditions for curatorial practice that were not possible in the early days. For example, recently, young people organized a workshop on curation, attracting both early and young curators - something we could not do five or seven years ago. Along with that, although art centers have not yet flourished, it is clear that there are more job opportunities, and more curators are paid by art centers.

Fortunately, we have young curators who can now operate at a global level, some of whom are invited to curate major international art events. In the field of visual arts alone, Vietnamese contemporary artists have been present at major and important art festivals such as Documenta, Venice Biennale... I highly appreciate the curators in Vietnam today. They have a legacy and are making a huge, important contribution to both contemporary and traditional art.

Ms. Le Thuan Uyen (Artistic Director of The Outpost Arts Center):

Each curator has his own color.

Ms. Le Thuan Uyen (Artistic Director of The Outpost Arts Center).

By 2024, the following generations of curators such as Nguyen Anh Tuan, Bill Nguyen, Van Do, Do Tuong Linh... have had more working time, gained more experience and have a clearer picture of their direction. Although there are still no standards, compared to 10 years ago, there is clearly more diversity in professional concepts and individual aesthetic approaches.

The artist groups themselves have many different ages, many interests, many different forms of creative processing... each curator will have a tendency to work with different artist groups, from which they develop their own personal color. Some people are inclined towards research and writing, some are inclined towards exhibitions, some are inclined towards archiving...

For example, Nguyen Anh Tuan is always concerned with archival and residency projects; or Linh Le in Ho Chi Minh City is interested in writing and research; Van Do is interested in the possibilities of exhibitions in spaces; and I am interested in characters who deviate from popular discourse and consider exhibitions as a way to expand the audience of art. Or Tran Luong is interested in providing platforms, stimulating artists to expand their creative boundaries...

Each curator has a practice, so it can be seen that the curatorial style in this period can be said to be more open. Like 10 years ago, when I entered the profession, there were very few reference points, only about a few people. But up to now, if any young person is in my position 10 years ago, it is clearly more advantageous. When there is no training system, having many predecessors to look at, to learn, to watch, to summarize, having more reference points will be very useful for them.

However, up to this point, the difficulties for curators are still quite numerous. In reality, the curator's work is complex and has many trivial things, which I temporarily call "salted fish sauce and pickled vegetables". Therefore, it often leads to two misunderstandings, the first is that the curator is simply an organizer and the other is that the curator's work is very airy with artistic ideas. In reality, curators have a mountain of very "boring" work, which is often related to administration, social surveys or purely technical work.

Personally, I think that to overcome the boredom of that job, curators need to be aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it. If they do it in a “doing it” manner, just filling a space, they will be criticized by the audience, complained by the artists or the exhibition will be empty, which can easily lead to discouragement.

Exhibition “Becoming Alice: Through the Metal Tunnel” at The Outpost Art Center.

For example, although The Outpost space is familiar, every time I hold an exhibition, it is a difficult time for me, I face challenges in handling the space, almost having to relearn how to handle the materials of the works. There are also authors I worked with 5 years ago who I thought were familiar, but now I discover new aspects... Therefore, curating work also brings excitement, because I always see the world as open and not rigid...

Ms. Van Do - Artistic Director of A Space:

Curators create opportunities for young people to create

I have only been in the curatorial industry for 5 years, which is considered young in the industry. Currently, we have some advantages, the most obvious of which is the increasing support of the art community for curatorial work. At the same time, the curatorial work of contemporary art exhibitions has not been “packaged” into formulas, so there are still many “gaps” for creativity.

Ms. Van Do - Artistic Director of A Space.

Curators can define their own work, the decision to “expand”, “expand” or “contract” is entirely up to them, because there are no “nailed down” models to guide them. I think in the future, curation will be an attractive job, especially for young people, because it always requires many skills and knowledge, always creates opportunities for them to be creative, to surpass themselves.

However, the difficulties we are facing are also common difficulties of the art industry, that is, there are not many financial support funds; the legal aspect is sometimes "stuck"; the concept of "contemporary art" or "curator" is still a fairly new category, even for the management agency. And what makes curation currently unattractive to today's youth is that it is difficult to bring good income to those working in the profession.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Artistic Director of Heritage Space:

Curatorial practices are beginning to be taken seriously.

Curating is a “powerful” profession and a profession that requires a great deal of comprehensive knowledge and skills, and also requires a considerable amount of time to position oneself and be recognized by the community as a qualified curator. Therefore, we see a lot of curatorial practices in the country today, but those who pursue curation professionally are still very few.

However, the number of curators has grown significantly. At a recent curatorial workshop held at The Outpost Art Center, curator Vu Duc Toan shared that in 2005, when he asked to write a thesis on Vietnamese curation, the professors “did not allow it” because at that time the only subject of research was Tran Luong.

But by 2024, at this conference, although not fully attended, there were more than 20 people. So clearly there has been development, although this is a new professional field and more importantly, there has been a change in awareness and diversity in curatorial practice.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Artistic Director of Heritage Space.

One bright spot is that in the last 5 years, many young people have begun to take an interest in and seriously think about curating. A new generation of curators has emerged, some of whom have worked in the largest art institutions in the region and the world; others have undergone training in internationally recognized programs.

The common characteristics of this generation are that they are young, have a good foreign language foundation, have formed their own artistic views and are the most active. Following them is a younger generation, somewhere around 25 years old. These people were born in developed countries, they were trained abroad, then returned to Vietnam to work. In them, there is a unique blend and exchange between Eastern and Western cultures.

As for society, curatorial practices are beginning to be respected and the names of individuals pursuing this work are beginning to appear seriously and regularly in the mass media, leaving their mark in public awareness. Curating is a profession that is gradually entering the structure of social operations and its development space is still extremely rich in Vietnam.

Mr. Nguyen The Son - Lecturer at the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts (Hanoi National University):

Art practice goes hand in hand with education and training

Mr. Nguyen The Son - Lecturer at the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences and Arts (Vietnam National University, Hanoi).

I myself am not a professionally trained curator, however I did have a Master's degree at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China. There, the environment as well as the training and practice of contemporary art are relatively systematic. Regarding curators, the Chinese do not use the concept of "curator" but rather call them "sach trien nhan" (a person who plans strategies for exhibitions).

During my four years at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China, I witnessed professors and lecturers in the school guiding and curating their own graduate students. When I returned home, during my teaching career, I realized that many students had to quit their jobs after graduating, one of the reasons being the lack of professional curators. In my opinion, if students had the support of lecturers, were able to exhibit and practice at art events early on, they might have a personal career later on.

A corner of the exhibition "The Barrier Breaker, the Rebel and the Freak" at The Outpost Arts Center.

That is why, in the last 4-5 years, I have started to combine school assignments with specific social projects. These projects have in common that they do not pick up artists who are already successful and have already produced works to hold an exhibition.

My way of working is to accompany them from zero, from nothing. Through the process of guidance, training or workshop projects lasting from 1 to 5-6 months, the result of the project will be an exhibition. Or I accompany disadvantaged groups in NGOs as a mentor for them for about 2 months and then curate those workshops. My curatorial work is often associated with such guidance and training work, it is a bit different from the work of other curators.

Khanh Ngoc (Implementation)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/cai-nhin-cua-nguoi-trong-cuoc-post299940.html