Remembering yesterday - the dilemma of titles

16 April. How do we move forward each day if we cannot remember what occurred the day before? How do we understand what we want for the future if we cannot articulate how the present can be re-modeled, re-fashioned, re-imagined? What is the social body in Vietnam? By social body, I mean an understanding of how the individual contributes to a whole. What is the responsibility of art and culture to the lived memory of society? These are just a few questions that have been constantly rolling around in various conversations on this visit to Vietnam. Traveling with Lu Jie has offered great insight to how much lived experience provides a kind of validation of perspective. People take pause in their answers, the sharing of personal stories giving weight to engagement. Makes me realize the intertextuality of life as a lived memory holds so much power - knowledge production is a multi-faceted and complex process - talking, feeling, debating, remembering are so important to ideas of progress. Thanks to Tran Luong and all invited, we had a very interesting evening with Hanoi-based artists at Nha San House. Showing 'A Walking Visual Display' (the first undertaking of Long March Project) conversation spiraled off into the political and social repercussions of calling the project the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail'. Truong Tan was great in moving conversation beyond ideas of censorship and political control towards thinking further on how artists can better examine what it means to engage with history, with what it means to be a Vietnamese artist. Tran Luong highlighted the history of naming as always being a problematic occurence in Vietnam (a product of its fractured colonial history). Lu Jie and I were quietly persistent in the need to use the words 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' as the title for the project for it is essential to confront the problematic issues it arises rather than to step around it gingerly. The memory of this trail is particular to the person speaking. One of the artists attending spoke of his mother who endures the daily nightmare of landmines in rural Vietnam. Another artist spoke of how he is watched and followed (his father was a pilot in the army). Tran Luong speaks of electricity being deliberately turned off at times to hinder public events). These lived conditions are all a product of a certain cultural mindset that we hope to unravel, ease, find alternative solutions. Thanks to Tran Luong, Do Tuong Linh, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Truong Tan, Nguyen Quang Huy, Nguyen Xuan Son, Nguyen Van Phuc, Phung Tien Son, Lai Thanh Tin, Le Anh Quynh, Vu Duc Toan, Duong Pham Ngoc, Tuan Mami, Nam Tran, Yen Tran Hau The, Nguyen The Son for coming!

15 April - space

Hanoi, near Au Trieu Street

So to get to the point - the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' feels like its skeleton is being given more marrow and the human flesh is starting to form. Lu Jie and I traveled to Hanoi and Saigon (14-22 April) to meet with various people to discuss the project with key 'shakers' who may be willing to be involved in this 'knowledge production' project. 15th April, Hanoi: Vu Dan Tan, Natasha Kraskaevskia, Tuong Do Linh, visiting Salon Natasha, Bui Gallery, Studio Tho, Apricot Gallery, Art Vietnam Gallery, Studio 25, Viet Art Centre, L'Espace and ending the day editing Lu Jie's paper for a publication Long March Space is doing with CHARTA in Milan. It was such a head F*** to turn the brain back to the history of China in the mad mayhem of xecom bikes and 35 degrees and white wine but Lu Jie's ideas of how the West have pigeonholed the argument of the development of Chinese contemporary art in too simplistic a reduction of a particular historical moment is a pertinent argument. Why is it that 1989 is considered such a year of particular rupture, as if the idea of revolution and violence had not occurred before in China? The argument for how particular cultural phenomenon eventuates cannot be historicized in isolation - the occurences of the present are confluence of many various factors. Re-writing and editing this paper with Lu Jie (Yang Shaobin - X-Blind Spot) made me realize just how important it is to do the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' Project.... to provide an opportunity for an engagement of history from a lateral perspective that eases the borders of psychological or political limit. We ended the day at Tadioto, a new gallery and bar in downtown Hanoi opened by Nguyen Qui Duc. We reminisced about finally meeting Vu Dan Tan. An artist who, in the early 1970s had board a train bound for Moscow, via Beijing and Cuba..... a journey undertaken without setting foot on capitalist territory. This story Lu Jie first heard from Dinh Q Le years back. It was such a 'whoop' from Lu Jie when he realized who Vu Dan Tan was... apart from the fact that he was one of the first Vietnamese contemporary artists to open his studio doors to the public. Vu Dan Tan's daughter is learning Mandarin and will be in Beijing in July - how nice it would be to see him in China!


Lu Jie and Vu Dan Tan at Salon Natasha


Art Vietnam Gallery


Bui Gallery


Re- thinking Lu Jie's text

Hanoi based artist Dinh Y Nhi visits Beijing

Dinh Y Nhi (left) in Yu Hong's (right) studio in 798 Art District, Beijing

Hanoi-based artist, Dinh Y Nhi (b. 1967) and her husband, Nguyen Hoang Phong visited Beijing at the start of October 2008. During her brief time here, she met with celebrated artist Yu Hong (b. 1966) and also members of the Long March team.

Of the same generation, Dinh Y Nhi and Yu Hong experienced, first-hand, the political and social upheavals of Communist dictation, artistically responding to its affect on ideas of family and culture from a perspective particularly anchored in the sentiments of womanhood. Both artists speak the language of figurative painting – Yu Hong’s images largely inspired by the literal world of photography and historical motif; whilst Dinh Y Nhi’s paintings enter the psychological realm of emotion and gesture, her figures a contemplation of her own self and experience.

Both Dinh Y Nhi and Phong had long desired a visit to China’s capital so of course various historical sites in Beijing were also high on the agenda – not least to taste famous Beijing duck! Visting Yu Hong’s studio, these two leading ladies were drawn into each other’s histories and artistic motivations of practice – and it was this latter discussion that was most revealing with Dinh Y Nhi placing more emphasis on process than object, whilst for Yu Hong the investment in making an aesthetic object was an important objective. Over the following months it was intended that these two ladies (with the translation help of young Vietnamese, Beijing-based student Nguyen Quan) continue learning of each other’s artistic preoccupations with the hope of producing a body of work as a result of sharing their experiences. Yu Hong has her largest solo to date opening at the Guangdong Museum of Art on the 10 April so full conversation is unlikely to be possible until after this date.

Many thanks to both Nhi and Phong for making the journey up, it was a lot of fun and marked the beginning of many interesting discussions and an ongoing collaborative relationship between Nhi and Hong for the ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail (Duong Truong Son)’ project.

Update from 19th September Saigon meet

(Meeting in Saigon on the 19 September 2008 at the Temple Club, an old Chinese temple from c. 1900s, to discuss the Ho Chi Minh Trail project. (from left): Tuan Andrew Nguyen (artist); Dinh Q Le (artist); Nguyen Nhu Huy (artist/curator); Rich Streitmatter-Tran (artist) and Zoe Butt - big thanks to Ha Thuc Phuc Nam who was also there but sadly not photographed!)

BIG THANK YOU to Dinh Q Le, Nguyen Nhu Huy, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Ha Thuc Phu Nam, Rich Streitmatter-Tran, Tran Luong and Dang Giang for putting up with me these last few weeks of back and forth emails in the necessary discussion concerning the Ho Chi Minh Trail (Duong Truong Son) project. The discussions in Saigon on the 19 September were particularly useful, especially in my subsequent long talks with the Long March team in the final arrangements for our next gathering in Ho Chi Minh City on the 15th November.

I appreciate the sensitivities of this project and the particular historical suspicions/anxieties held between Vietnam and China, however this is an artistic project and central to the philosophy of the Long March Project is the artistic discovery of the self and its relationship to its past, its present and its future. As artists, as essential contributors to the meaning and role of culture in contemporary society, it is crucial that the systems and language of visual production be re-interpreted and challenged. This often means that Long March Project propose activities which provoke different readings of history and in turn alternate methods of artistic display beyond the white space of a gallery or museum.

This proposed project seeks to engage the inheritance of the ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail’ as another kind of journey of self-discovery. As a historical moment, it references certain political alliances and beliefs of both a local and international confluence, as a social moment it highlights the complex interwoven narratives between these countries.

Looking forward to see you all and many more on the 15th. Ly Daravuth will be coming from Phnom Penh; Tran Luong and Dang Giang from Hanoi, and hopefully a few artists from Hanoi (awaiting word of funding). If anyone has any great ideas for venue for this informal gathering I would be keen to hear ... and zoe has ideas of holding the meeting in the lower 'dungeons' of the Reunification Palace... but I am not sure that would be allowed.... heh.

Ciao
Zoe

March to the South - Nam Tien

Dear Giang

While I wait for your further reply, I have been intrigued by Viet Nam, ('nam' meaning south) as reference to being south of the middle kingdom - ie. China. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I am wondering if you could enlighten me a little more on this in relation to something i read by Oscar Salemink '(A) major part of the Vietnamese national narrative is the so-called Nam Tien, or March to the South, of the Kinh (Viet)' ['One country, many journeys' in 'Vietnam: Journeys of the Body, Mind, and Spirit', 2003]. I'd like to know more about this 'national narrative' which as far as I have thus read, is the 'story' used for the gradual movement south, of knowledge and power, when the Kinh gained independence from China, in the early 20th Century, and thus began their slow southward gain of conquest (for instance, their nineteenth century stronghold of certain power in Cambodia, Laos and Siam (Thailand).... a march that created great social divides between North and South Vietnam. Further reading I pulled from here: http://www.aseanfocus.com/publications/history_vietnam.html

This directional movement of knowledge and social assumption I am very interested in.

If I am to think about Vietnam today, i am struck by the local politics and divides between north and south Vietnam. Similar attitudes of social and cultural difference exist in China, between Shanghai and Beijing. Interestingly, both Shanghai and Saigon, were, at different periods and varying degrees, considered pearls of the Orient. These sites of ex-colonial power have now become associated with the engine rooms of commercial capital, while ideas of a so-called 'cultural' knowledge remains tied to the capital, to Beijing and Hanoi (both cities resting in the north). Not to get obsessed with geography here but I find this opens up some interesting analogies regarding the relationship between place, knowledge, liberalism and economy? In light of Vietnam's current financial woes, I am particularly keen to hear how ideas of 'knowledge' can be effectively created through cultural capital today in its heady push for market reform. How can artists, as participants in producing cultural capital, how can they contribute to changing/creating knowledge building systems? Be great to hear some artist proposals to this. I appreciate this is a hard space to tackle in Vietnam.... considering government control of information dissemination. Your comments? Anyone?

More later, so much more research required!
Zoe

Dear Zoe

Just a short note to let you know that I received your email which helps me to understand better the current thinking at Long March. There are still many questions, some concerning very fundamental things. I'll respond in details later this week. In the meantime, I'd be absolutely happy if you include Luong, Dinh and even others to broaden the discussion. It would be great if we can sustain a rich online debate which eventually goes on to be part of the realization of the project. A blog would be a convenient form.

Talk to you later,
Giang

(the above excerpt shared on email on 12 August, 2008)

Dear Giang

Please don't think my silence has been any kind of deliberate act on my part. I have been wanting to respond for some time now, but wanted to find the space to appropriately respond to your email, an email that I was very very grateful for your time and consideration. I hope that there will be plenty more of these kinds of critical debates online and in person.

Firstly, your comment on the Ho Chi Minh Trail project ideally fundamentally anchored to the shared act of physically taking to the road (either backwards or forwards) is a definite conceptual concern and of course, an integral part of the overall project. We have had much debate here on the motivations for this project for the Long March organization that it is today. As you already know, the 2002 re-tracing of China's historical Long March has shaped the understanding of our ongoing activities, it has provided a philosophical platform to which our ongoing interrogation of historical memory, consciousness, awareness of the fragile relationship between social custom and market driven production... and much more.... continues to be voiced and visualized. Since 2002, the Long March Project has grown to become a powerful institutional voice in contemporary China. It is now a gallery space, an author, a consultancy, a publishing house and commissioning atelier. Many consider our operations quite a conundrum because on the one hand we operate as commercial space, while on the other many consider us a not-for-profit entity. This confusion can often be to our benefit but artists, our solid core, are constantly questioning us of the
meaning of the Long March Project today. How have our working methods and needs changed and why? What is our forward focus in a climate heady with market concerns between producer and consumer? Where is the place of history, of social community in today's contemporary cultural climate? it is in this vein that the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail' project was initiated. We are
trying to fight for a different model of an artist-servicing entity, one that engages with critical and important concerns regarding why we do what we do, desiring a continued dialogue, a continued opportunity for debate that further stimulates critical thinking. It is in this realm of criticism that the Long March Project have sponsored publications (such as the journal
YISHU); sponsored online projects such as the '25000 Best Exhibition of the Year Award'.

I tell you these things to try to articulate our own reasons for doing this project and why beginning with the march for the Ho Chi Minh Trail project is possible but also somewhat conceptually problematic. We need to configure this 'march' that differentiates itself from the 2002 project 'A Walking Visual Display' which, yes, took 3 years of research. It needs to be an
undertaking that the local people want, see value in, will engage and be inspired, it needs to be a journey that addresses the needs of all participants. The 2002 march had a particular structure, one based upon the events of 1934-36. For the trail, yes as you say the Vietnam War has shaped world history, and I agree with you that it is about time that divergent perspectives concerning why and how this event came to be should be more laterally re-interpreted - but it would be more enlightening to try and make this journey about something that is not so tied to stereotype - to try and expand the meaning of roads, of pathways as linkages, as potential metaphorical spaces of shared time and memory. It is in this vein of the 'journey' that I think would be a necessary inclusion - in thinking of the journey's of the Vietnamese boat people, of the journeys of rural migrants
in city centres such as Saigon, to consider the POW psychological journey's in Con Dao etc..... The Long March Project seeks progress on a social and practical level, it is about testing our own understanding of ourselves and our drive to push boundaries, test limits. We cannot take the model of the 2002 march, making work along the way, holding exhibitions and debates along the road and transfer this to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. This 2002 model transpired because it was initiated by a Chinese person highly anxious of the role of his own past in determining a certain kind of future. The 2002 march was initiated by chinese people with deep regard for their own history. What kind of statement is the Long March Project making in
asserting a march of similar methodology, on such a heavily loaded pathway between Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Is this another kind of colonial act?

Assuming what expands the conscience for one should necessarily be the process for another. All of these questions are still boiling around with us here and one we need much more debate. What kind of model or framework would drive the people in Vietnam to open up to discussion. I would be keen to hear your ideas. Do you not think that by trying to insert a lecture program in Vietnam before this possible 'march' will serve to only broaden the potential ideas for the project? It is also a very practical decision to state residency and lecture programs as essential to the main aims of the project - education lies at the core of Long March - and it is also something to which we can gain adequate funding for such an ambitious project.

I would like to include Dinh Q Le and Tran Luong to this email conversation. I would like much more open debate here and these two people are also essential to the overall realization of this project. Please let me know if you are OK for me to do this and I will send on (I'm looking into an online platform, like a blog, to have this discussion between us to make it easier). In the spirit of engaged discussion - I hope this email conversation continues in person when I am next in Vietnam. I'll be in Saigon 18-20 Sept. San Art have a fund raiser evening on the 18th and if you are able to attend it would be great to follow up with a hearty evening of talk the next night.

Let me know what you think.
Thanks Giang. sorry this is so long!
Best
Zoe

(the above excerpt was shared on email on 10 August, 2008)