Danish Support: Performance Artists Get Chance To Shine At New Competition

A new
national competition sponsored by the Cultural Development and Exchange Fund
(CDEF) of the Danish Embassy in Viet
Nam
is encouraging young performance
artists.
    “We
hope our competition can create an opportunity for young Vietnamese performance
artists to show off their talent”, said Peter Lysholt Hansen, the
Ambassador of Denmark to Viet
Nam
and chairman of CDEF.

    The
Performance Art Talent Prize 2008 supports amateur and professional artists
under 35 years old involved in performance art – a relatively new arrival in Viet Nam.
    Participants
can either perform alone or in group not exceeding ten people, and use
different elements of theatre, dance and music.
    Proposal
submissions can be in the form of artwork or a 200-page abstract.
    The ten
best entries will receive US$500 to complete their vision at the finals,
scheduled for October 16 in Ha Noi.
    The winner
will be chosen by viewers, and get a $3,000 award.
    The
competition’s judging panel consists of visual artists who have worked hard to
develop performance art in Viet
Nam
, including Dao Anh Khanh, Tran Luong and
Nguyen Nhu Huy. They have also supported younger colleagues to display their
works in the past.
    Last year,
the CDEF supported seven projects in dance and theatre by rising stars like
dancer Tran Ly Ly and the Ha     Noi-based Youth Theatre. Candidates must apply
before July 30 to the CDEF at 19
Dien Bien Phu Street
in Ha Noi.
    Though it
was developed nearly a century ago, installation art has only caught on among
young Vietnamese artists in the past decade.
    Young
artists are drawn to the world of installation and performance art because
these “new creative areas allow people to explore”, said Huy, one of
the country’s leading installation artists.
    Huy and his
peers draw upon traditional Vietnamese techniques and materials, such as
laquerware and silk painting, in their projects.
    “Our
works are the results of a mix of Eastern and Western ideas”, said Huy,
who has exhibited at galleries at home and abroad, including the Vermont Studio
Centre’s Redmill Gallery in the US.
    “As
the nation’s contemporary art scene develops faster and faster, new trends in
visual arts have taken steps towards becoming more popular,” he said.
    Artists
like Huy can find a home in a growing number of private gallaries in Ha Noi and
HCM City, in addition to State-owned venues.
International organisations like the Ford Foundation or the Goethe Institute are
also supporting local artists and art students’ exhibitions of installation and
performance art.

 


 


 

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