Comrades and Co-Creators

Coming to Vietnam has been a life-long dream and a sensory explosion. Sights, sounds, tastes and emotions have been stirred and filled. The experience of learning about and understanding better, the history and culture of this fascinating country through our involvement in the bao tang (museums) of Ha Noi, Da Nang, Hue and Hoi An, has been an exploration in both nostalgia (as a dyed-in-the-wool socialist) and curiosity to see how communism and the free market have collided and collaborated in Vietnamese life and their museum culture.

The party line is certainly to the forefront of historical presentations and yet I have noticed a personal flavour in many of these displays, such as in the Military Museum in Ha Noi and the War History section of the Da Nang Museum, which is moving and involving as real people's images and stories are shown and told. Of course there are stories that are missing - those of the defeated, the subjected, the collaborators and the terrorised, but there is promise too in the displays and temporary exhibitions of the Women's Museum of Ha Noi where marginalized voices are given a chance to be heard.

It is in reaching out to the voices of communities and individuals and giving them the space to be heard that Vietnamese people and people everywhere can not only be included in the life of a museum but empowered to take their share of 'the people's space', a space which should be a reflection and mirror of the world around it in all its myriad forms, as well as a repository of shared knowledge and wisdom and the meanings that can be derived from the material objects of a culture.

Yet often in these past 2 weeks I have heard that the museum should be asking the people 'what they need' and I am not sure that it as simple as that. We live  (and I include people living under a bureaucratized Communist system as much as a capitalist one) in a top-down society in a hierarchy of economic power where we are TOLD what we need from cradle to grave. We are told what to think at school, how to live our lives and what to consume and, as such, what we "need". We do not have the experience of knowing or being asked what we truly, deeply need to be happy, fully-actualized human beings. If we did, that could start a revolution!

Museums therefore, being the people within them, need to work with people in their communities in a supportive and empowering way if they want to move from a culture of 'experts' to a culture of 'partnerships'. In order for communities to truly 'own' their share of the museum space, they have to feel they have the right to it.

What I have been most inspired by during my time on the field school, has been the story of the Vietnamese women, not just as told through the story of war heroines and mothers sacrificing all for the 'Fatherland' or in their traditional family roles, behind which many other stories lie.....but also as seen everyday in their quiet strength and confidence in leadership and supportive roles in the museum community and in their businesses on the streets and on their farms and in government positions. And I was very impressed by the efforts of the women at the Women's Museum in giving women voices especially through their temporary exhibitions engaging the marginalized communities and the positive outcomes of those exhibitions.

The museums here are mostly underfunded and under-resourced and we cannot judge what they are doing on privileged Western terms. They are forging their own roles and paths and it has been wonderful to share that with them and provide and receive "comradely" support over the last 2 weeks. I have felt very welcomed and supported by my new Vietnamese friends. I would also like to dedicate this blog to my best friend Sarah Kemp who passed away last week and was a staunch feminist and supporter of women's herstories being told.

Annabella Bray 

ICH in Hoi An

Discussions today revolved around tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and what better place to do this than in the beautiful town of Hoi An?

Alike many UNESCO world heritage sites, Hoi An is heavily geared towards tourists. I lost count of the amount of Australian accents heard on the streets! It makes a fairly obvious example of a negative aspect of being labeled by UNESCO. Sure, there are economic benefits to this but I wonder is community consultation would reveal a positive or negative reaction to this.

My question for today asks, is UNESCO simply forcing Western attiudes upon ethnic, minority or non-western communities?

Of course it is important for the diverse culture of our world to be recognized, but what consequence does this have when communities are affected by a listing, that does not necessarily come with appropriate preservation methods or funding?

Many UNESCO sites are nominated by the governing country or state, but this decision is often not made as a result of community consultation and an understanding of which tangible/intangible heritages are worth preserving to them.

The final workshop for today focused on groups mapping the Intangible Cultural Heritage of fishermen within Hoi An. Through speaking to members of this community, we learnt that many fisherman - or people with a generational history in that line of work - now attract profits from the tourism industry. Therefore the heritage/history along with the associated stories and practices have been lost in an effort to preserve Hoi An as a world heritage site.

Similarly, when Halong Bay is in the North of Vietnam was declared a UNESCO heritage site, hundreds of people that lived on the floating villages within the bay were forced to be relocated. In addition, many of the originally dark wooden boats in the areas were required to be repainted white. These actions in turn destroyed much of the living heritage that pre-existed in the area.

This leads me to wonder if perhaps UNESCO should simply be a resource for museums to utilize in an effort to decrease these negative aspects of international UNESCO listing. This would stress the need for museums to act within their communities to further understand and preserve the intangible and tangible cultural heritage that is of interest to each particular community.

Many museums within Vietnam are already utilized as a performance space by communities. As we saw in the Ethnology museum, this is commonly used as a public programming method to communicate and demonstrate the use of important objects, practices and traditions are

If preserving specific Intangible Cultural Heritages are truly important to communities, shouldn’t this be reflected as a priority for museums? The already established resource of museums may be a better way to achieve the intentions made my UNESCO, in an effort to make positive progress for the community rather than placing ideals upon them without consultation.

I feel as though these topics of community consultation and museums prioritizing this engagement summarize a great deal of the issues raised throughout the last two weeks of the field school. It is interesting to consider other ways in which museums may utilize communities to create positive changes within themselves along with museum engagement.

Author: Molly Shields 

Contemporary Arts in Hanoi

The first week in Hanoi was all a blur of bikes, food and museums. It is quite difficult so develop an understanding of such a rich culture both as a tourist and in such a short amount of time. Therefore I realize that I do not have a comprehensive understanding of the Vietnamese museum or art community.

Over the past 6 days of lectures and museum experience, we have been considering the importance of community engagement within museums and the subsequent effects that this may have within those communities.

I have been reflecting on a number of experiences that lead me to question, if there was a greater community engagement with museums in relation to contemporary art, would this lead to a stronger arts community within Hanoi?

As a young emerging artist myself, I personally attribute a great deal of my self-education to contemporary arts spaces in Brisbane such as the IMA, QAG/GOMA, artist run initiatives and student shows. These all are successful as a result of the great support and enthusiasm of the creative community within Brisbane. Unfortunately, as I understand, this is not the case in Vietnam. In speaking to a number of young Vietnamese people active in their current arts community, they do not believe they are supported or accepted by their country. There is a significant lack of funding for many artists and a lack of understanding of their practices.

Our wonderful translator Yen who is involved with the management of Arts Collective that we visited on Friday night, explained to me that many of these people are looked down upon or considered strange or rebellious by their peers. I was also told that many young artists rarely sell or show works, and that when they do it is usually to an international audience. However, in visiting places such as Arts Collective, commercial galleries and art spaces such as Manzi, there is evidence of an enthusiastic group of artists in Hanoi.

I just wonder, how can a young, contemporary artistic community grow in significance and skill without this being reflected within their museums and society??

In visiting the Fine Arts Museum on Tuesday, I was blown away by the diversity and historical significance of the works included. Representation of the great history of Vietnam, ethnic communities and international influence were all represented in the collections, however I found a great void when searching for contemporary Vietnamese art. There was a number of works from the past decade included on the third floor of the Museum, however these works were similar to those that you would find in a commercial gallery. The majority of these works did not challenge or question society, push boundaries or explore mediums. In not including a comprehensive selection of contemporary art, this may be the first cause for a large community to become dis-engaged with a National Fine Arts Museum.

The mission of the Museum is to ‘preserve and protect the countries art heritage’. I do believe that a reconsideration of this to include a stronger commitment to the documentation of art from the 21^st century would strongly benefit both the museum and its community. This could be achieved in the short term by public programming initiatives or acquisition of new works. However, as we have discussed at length in the workshops over the week, public programming is NOT the same thing as community engagement. On a grander scale, a greater commitment such as a new building dedicated to contemporary art may also fill this void, much like GOMA successfully managed to do with the Brisbane community upon its opening in 2006. For Vietnamese museums to embrace modern art that is existent within current Vietnamese culture and to allow further exploration of international arts may introduce many new narratives to the museum and attract a wide array of new audiences. In particular, stronger engagement with the University of Fine Arts in Hanoi, I am sure, would be invaluable to the education of the students.

Vietnamese communities are all so diverse with many exciting stories to be shared. Museums such as the Fine Art Museum in Hanoi are the perfect resource to engage with individuals and celebrate the growing trends within artistic communities. 

Author: Molly Shields

How do you preserve the intangible

I had some comments that wanted to make yesterday during the exercise but we were a little pressed for time. I thought the exercise brought up an interesting point about how you go about preserving intangible culture, when a key property of it is that it changes over time. When one of the groups mentioned that some fishermen were no longer fishing due to the danger to their lives and that they had turned to the tourist industry instead, I immediately through of situations in Central America and the Pacific Islands were certain cultural practices had lead to social collapse. I through that it was very important that the community adapt to the present and the future. This did get me thinking about situations in past, like during military conflicts, were physical heritage has been destroyed to save lives. Therefore, I considered that if continuing these practices was leading to death in the community then the community most definitely has the right to give up this practice.

From this I considered how to go about preserving intangible heritage when it is so dynamic, and justifiably so. I therefore considered the work of the historian Herodotus who sort to preserve the intangible heritage of all known cultures of the time in his book ‘Historia’. This leads into the question of why intangible culture should be preserved. Herodotus believed that it is only through understanding the customs of people and how they came to be formed that you can understand their attitudes and decisions. From this he believed that peace and cooperation could be achieved through mutual understanding and respect.

To me it seems that some of these intangible cultural traits cannot be preserved by the community as living history due to ever changing environmental pressures which make them unsustainable. Furthermore, this heritage needs to be preserved to promote understanding and mutual respect. Therefore, the museum can become the mode by which this information is preserved. The museum may shift from collecting material objects to collecting the intangible through video recordings, photographs, audio interviews and written notes.

Weaving Narratives

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to visit eight museums in Hanoi for The University of Queensland’s Museum Studies Vietnam Field School. Coming from a fine arts background, I set out on a journey to discover the Art of Vietnam, to understand the traditional aesthetic and what cultural influences lead the designs to what they are now today. Initially my experience of Hanoi was a sensory overload where I was delighted by the city buzz of bright lights, motorbike madness, sweet and pungent smells, tantalising tastes, soft silks and brilliant bold colours. However over that past week I have discovered a deeper more complex place for the people of Vietnam and found in its museums an elusive aesthetic, shadowed by the vibrant triumphs of a strong and humble people overcoming the hardships of war and poverty. My curiosity to find out more has been lured and snagged like a fish on a fishing line.

One of the topics discussed in the field school has been to look at models of community engagement and the importance of understanding the museum audience. The key is to know the museum audience instead of assuming what the audience wants. Likewise in community projects, one has to be careful not to ‘idealise’ the community’s voice, building relationships and trust to understand their needs. I realise that I had come to Vietnam with idealised perspective of what Vietnamese art is based on my preconceived assumptions. Instead I have found that it was not in the paintings and drawings at the National Museum of Fine Art, but through the designs in clothing and textiles at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.

Textiles at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

I have been enticed by the traditional weaving and embroidery of the Black Thai women for their geometric patterns of tightly woven colourful threads on black fabric. The Black Thai are among the largest ethnic minorities group in Vietnam in the North-Western regions who have a strong cultural influence on their neighbouring communities in Laos, Thailand, Burma and China. The name originates from the traditional clothing worn by the women; black skirts, silver blouse, and headscarfs called ‘pieu’ made from a length of hand woven black cloth which is embellished with bright embroidery on either end. The women make their own traditionally handcrafted colourful painted furniture and everyday household items, learning to raise silk worms from an early age for their weaving and embroidery. Textiles and clothing are one of the key ways in which Vietnam’s many ethnic minorities express their identity and cultural traditions.

Black Thai textile

The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology’s aim is for ‘preservation of cultural heritages of the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam’, while also creating a space for the ‘cultural bearers’ to display their values and stories through cultural objects, working with these communities through community projects (e.g. festivals, culturally significant calendar events, public programs, handicraft projects). Whilst this is beneficial to both the museum and the communities, there needs to be care to not to exploit culture as commodity and so I’ve found myself continually asking ‘What do these communities want?’ and ‘What is their voice?’ These answers are widely videried and each project is unique to the community it is working with. As highlighted in the field school discussions, museums face many difficulties while working with communities. One of the issues of working with ethnic minorities is poverty (and the elimination of poverty) and so it is not uncommon for these remote communities to be reluctant to work with museums. Although it is not the role of the museum to solve problems, museums can help facilitate resolution of issues and encourage discussion, and so it is the responsibility of the museum to find balance in appropriate level of engagement when working in community collaborations. Perhaps museums need to look at revising their roles asking ‘Who are the cultural bearers and knowledge consultants?’

Like the colourful threads embroidered into the Black Thai’s pieu, I have found myself weaving together the multiple narratives in Vietnam’s museums and communities- an informed understanding of Vietnam’s visual culture.

Painting of Black Thai woman wearing traditional headscarf called ‘pieu’

Halley Martin

Designs on Vietnam

On our University of Queensland Field trip in Vietnam, my two favourite museums exhibits are women's garments. The first one is in the Vietnam National Museum of Ethnology and the second in the Vietnamese Women's Museum, both in Hanoi.

The Ethnographic Museum is in a new building, a cutting edge piece of architectural design in itself.  Shaped like a giant kite, the section devoted to the Vietnamese minorities is a treasure trove of silk, lace, brocade, linen, velvet and gold and silver thread.  Pearls, painstakingly stitched onto the background, glow and sequins sparkle.  

The collection covers the 58 minorities in Vietnam, with a great deal of space given over to traditional dress or costume and adornments.  We call it fashion. Case after case of beautifully displayed garments demonstrate how clothing defines us.  It is an elaborate set of guidelines  based on hierarchy and occasion.  As an article in the Vietnam Airlines inflight magazine quotes, "each clothing item worn by an emperor, prince or Mandarin is a carefully chosen work of art", and that's just the royalty of one dynasty, the Nguyen Dynasty who ruled from 1802-1945.  Sadly the article does not mention the repository of riches in the museum.  Someone in the museum needs to be communicating clear messages to all media, let alone the government airline.  

The Vietnamese Women's Museum also has an extensive collection of women's traditional clothing on their third floor.  This covers a timeline of the evolving Ao Dai, the tunic and pants, from the early period to modern day designs.  This museum has an excellent reputation as the only women's museum in the World, and has high visitation statistics.

But that's where it all seems to run out of puff in the museums.  There is no exploration of modern designs by the talented young Vietnamese or 'blockbusters' with big names in the fashion world that attract visitors like bees to honey.  

Vietnam has a talented pool of young designers that could be showcased in museums and build that industry, attract tourists, and create collaborations with the European fashion houses.  

For example, Vietnam's first International Fashion Week in 2014 was a partnership with the Italian fashion industry.  It featured Vietnam's Project Runway winner Ly Gien Tien.  His collection was inspired by the children's mosaic wall in Hanoi, the world's longest according to the Guiness Book of Records.

The French fashion industry collaborated with Vietnam on the  Chambord Castle project.  Here young Vietnamese designers were sent to a medieval castle in the Loire Valley to be inspired by the idea of 'Gothic'.  They returned and created a dazzling collection using only Vietnamese fabrics.

Given that the French and Italians are the world style leaders, it's looking good for Vietnamese talent in this community.  But, they do need the exposure, publicity and credibility that a museum exhibition can deliver. The talent, linked to their past in technique and fabrication is clearly there as the national airline devotes a whole magazine to it each month.

Museums in Europe, the USA and Australia have all enjoyed the fruits of blockbuster fashion shows. The V&A's Italian Post War fashion and bridal show, the Kensington Palace's royal gowns, the Japanese at the Queensland Museum, Hollywood at the Museum of Brisbane, Galliano in Melbourne, and all attracting large numbers of visitations, including many people who don't seem to normally go to museums.  

The creative  public programs supporting these shows add more value, and I haven't even started on the retail and sponsorship opportunities.  Let's face it,  since our first ancestors wrapped herself in a fur, women love to look at a good frock.

(The airline devotes a whole magazine to the industry every month) 

Jayne Keogh

Colourful Costumes

With 2 museums in 2 days displaying colourful costumes I was reminded that Brisbane currently has 3 museum displays of fashion. One display was of radical high fashion, one of mainly theatre costumes and a collection of fashion underwear. None of which I have seen as I subscribe to the view expressed by Edmond Capon, a past long serving director of the Art Gallery of NSW, that fashion has no place in a museum. Perhaps he had read Emmanuel Kant’s comment that “fashion belongs under the heading of vanity, and also under the heading of folly”.

But the displays of costumes in Hanoi in the Museum of Ethnology and the Vietnam Women’s Museum perform a different function to ‘fashion’. Superficially the displays appear similar with discrete groupings of 2 or 3 dressed, anonymous mannequins, interspersed with displays of accessories such as hats. It is here that the similarity ends. The Museum of Ethnology quite naturally displays their collection by minority community type, within their more broadly based linguistic groups. The ‘B’ signage is restricted to a short statement and a photo of people wearing similar clothes in their home or community setting. The ‘C’ signage on the item simply states ethnic group and place. There is no indication of when the objects were created or how they were acquired by the museum. Even more importantly the viewers has no sense of whether they are seeing a remnant culture heading for extinction or a vibrant, thriving community.

As you move through the museum space the effect of this style of presentation makes each display simple a specimen example in exactly the same way that the Natural History Museum groups bugs or butterflies by like type. Communities are not separate branches like the multiple branched tree of evolution.

By contrast the permanent main floor collection of the Vietnam Women’s Museum has managed a much more engaging and inclusive atmosphere around their displays. When visiting this space we were asked to consider gender and how it was presented. It simply was not about gender, it was about humanity and life, and about all the most important stages we all experience in one way or another; marriage, family, birth and death. I am prepared to concede that in all cultures marriage is all about the frock, in whatever form the ceremony itself may take. In this museum by discreetly dividing the set pieces of marriage into matrilineal and patrilineal cultures the purpose and functioning of such unions is different; with different expectations and outcomes. There was no sense, at least to this observer, of any tradition being any better or worse than any other; because it was about us and how we celebrate and validate our customs. The museum of Ethnology, however, managed to convey the sense that they were displaying the ‘other’ and not embracing the commonality of humanity.

One final note that may weaken my earlier claim that it was not about fashion, There was a group of 3 female figures from one minority group, the dates of manufacture spread over some 35 years. All are slightly different but use the same traditional motifs in slightly different combinations. There is a common expression in South East Asia, ‘same, same, but different’; I suspect a women curator has picked up on the fairly universal desire both to conform and also have a point of distinction in their appearance. 

Mike Bull