KVT - Revved up about Rivers by Kiem Van tim
25 April 2012
Riverscapes IN FLUX is an excellent multimedia art exhibition on show until April 29, 2012 on two floors of the Art Museum in Nguyen Thai Hoc (14 installations ) with 3 more unmissable pieces in the gallery at the Goethe Institute about 100 meters down the same street. Admission is free in both venues.
It’s a marvellous visual venture conceived and organized by Goethe in Vietnam andinvolves young and very competent artists from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia and the Phillipines who were asked to reflect on the ecological, socio- economic and cultural changes that riverscapes in their countries are experiencing.
What struck me most was the universality of the concepts explored…all could have been riverscapes in Vietnam. All could be conceptually transferred to locations around the world, to first-world as well as second-world riverscapes.
What struck me most was the universality of the concepts explored…all could have been riverscapes in Vietnam. All could be conceptually transferred to locations around the world, to first-world as well as second-world riverscapes.
My overall feeling after my first visit to this well-curated show is one of sadness.
Perhaps that’s because I finally departed after spending a lot of time in the 3 galleries on the second level at the museum. And in particular engrossed in ‘Chi River’ from Thailand. And perhaps too, because I’ve spent a lot of time exploring the river systems of Vietnam over the past 11 years and seen so many changes to environments and ecosystems. Changes that make me wince and cringe and often yell out in distress when I round a bend in the road or river expecting to refind perfection but now find destruction.
Chi River is a very simple but beautiful installation of sound, shadow and fishing traps. At first I thought that it desperately needed a quiet gallery all to itself but on reflection realized it worked brilliantly enveloped in the karaoke soundtrack of its neighboring installation – as it’s about modernity extinguishing ages-old lifestyles. That neighbor is another sad one too, as it reflects on the downstream destruction of a riverscape below a dam, and the drowning of a fertile river valley upstream.
...Goethe states in its PR that it wants to contribute to raising awareness about the invaluable ecological and cultural heritage of the major river landscapes in Southeast Asia and has a series of excellent workshops, discussions, films, and kids activities (plus a blog site), to assist in the awareness raising.
The poet W.H. Auden stated …poetry makes nothing happen. This cynisism could also be applied to art (art makes nothing happen). Lets hope that Goethe’s very good efforts don’t only fall on the eyes, ears and intellect of the converted, as is too often the case when the environment becomes a focus.
Thanks again Goethe for giving artists a grand platform to experiment on…and for giving me several hours of intense pleasure.
Kiem Van Tim is a keen observer of life in general and the Hanoi cultural scene in particular and offers some of these observations to the Grapevine. KVT insists that these observations and opinion pieces are not critical reviews. Please see our Comment Guidelines / Moderation Policy and add your thoughts in the comment field below.