HÀ NỘI — The project Month of Arts Practice 2018 (MAP) called Visible/Invisible has begun in Hà Nội, gathering local and foreign artists.

MAP is an annual Heritage Space project initiated by artist Trần Trọng Vũ, which aims to create space to practice new art ideas, with interaction between international and Vietnamese artists.

MAP 2018 involves seven established international artists from Germany, Japan, South Korea, Finland and Switzerland; and seven emerging artists in Việt Nam.

The project also features five art experts who are curators, researchers, art critics and writers, with rich experience in the international art scene.

Their participation will enhance the exchange and professional quality of the project.

Along with creative activities, there will be a sequence of events such as exhibitions, workshops, studio openings, roundtable discussions, camping, art trip and public programme designed to engage arts with the community.

MAP 2018 has two phases: one for art practice and exchange, from October 1 to November 10; and the other is the Grand Exhibition of MAP, opening from November 10 to December 9.

“Artists participating in the MAP will pursue ways to visualise their perceptions of the invisible,” said Heritage Space art director Nguyễn Anh Tuấn.

“They will seek the invisible from the visible, in the life and Hà Nội sceneries that they feel, in themselves. They will go beyond mere outer appearance to approach unseen stories. They will seek to express the invisible through the visible means of visual art.”

The purpose of this project is to let artists perceive the world with approaches that are not merely visual, he said.

“The collection of the work of all participating artists will create a spectacle of the invisible hidden behind the visible objects they have created,” he added.  

Founded in 2015, MAP aims to create an exchange and educational platform in contemporary art for young Vietnamese artists with established international artists.

The project also creates opportunities of interaction and dialogue between artists and communities, in order to improve the understanding and experiments in contemporary arts for normal people by series of public programmes.

MAP 2018 is sponsored by the Cultural Development and Exchange Fund (CDEF) - Danish Embassy in Việt Nam and Japan Foundation Asia Centre. — VNS