diacritic | art and culture

An anti-American painting in Tehran. Iran's leader is forging an anti-Western national identity while reaffirming Iran's role in the Muslim world.

 The image above comes from the New York Times. For me it is visually intriguing. The different styles of both brick and painting style. The precision and complexity of Persian ornament and design and the gun itself, an appropriation of american street art itself, loaded and pointed back upon American policy (and culture?). Two types of bricks, a wall of very Bostonian red bricks abutt another wall of a different sort of brick.The woman blends into her own shadow. There are so many ways to read this photo. I could look at it for hours, if my laptop battery had the juice.

Posted by at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You are a sculptor that likes to paint, or you are a painter that likes to sculpt, an architect or emergency worker in a disaster area, or your just someone that likes to work with the newest materials.

Concrete Canvas

The applications, I believe are primarily for architects and structural engineers, but innovative applications for new materials is basically art history in a nutshell. As they begin production, it will be interesting to see what might be done.

In cases of natural disasters, the materials can be airdropped on location. The interesting thing is that this concrete structure is inflatable! Yes, you build the positive  by inflating a structure and then the concrete canvas mixed with water (does not need to be potable, but not sewage or salt water), airdry for 12 hours, the structures can last 10 years.

CC is a rapidly deployable hardened shelter that requires only water and air for construction. It can be deployed by a person without any training in under 40 minutes and is ready to use in 12 hours. The key to CC is the use of inflation to create a surface that is optimised for compressive loading. This allows thin walled concrete structures to be formed which are both robust and lightweight.

Awards
Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas, 2005 - shortlisted
Helen Hamlyn Award for Creativity, 2005 - winner
Imperial College, Ideas Challenge, 2005 - winner
British Cement Association, Innovation Award, 2005- 2nd Prize

Information
Concrete Canvas

Posted by at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

 
Goethe-Institut Boston & Boston Cyberarts Festival present

Artist Talk with Ingrid Mwangi
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
7:30 pm
Goethe-Institut Boston
170 Beacon Street
Free and open to the public

Fast Play to Somewhere in Africa:
Discovering and Creating Links with Artists from the African Continent

German-Kenyan media artist Ingrid Mwangi presents videos of her work and her collaboration with Kenyan video artists on an art center in Nairobi.

Ingrid Mwangi has achieved international recognition for her performance works and video installations. She trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Saarbrücken. A constant theme of her work is the relationship between violence, memory and identity.

Ingrid Mwangi is one of four prominent international video artists with ties to Africa who are presented in the exhibition Cross Currents in Recent Video Installation: Water as Metaphor for Identity at the Tufts University Art Gallery, February 9 – April 2. 

Goethe Institut Boston

Boston Cyberarts Festival

Posted by at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tet, for me, this year is different. Not different in the fact that I will spend half of it Cambodia (as I did last year). The new year looks like it's going to be extremely busy for me. I will continue to balance my time between the creation of new artwork on one hand and my design responsibilities for Uyen's company on the other. This post deals less with the tradition or festivities of Tet, but rather is a pause for reflection on the near future.

No red envelopes. No orange trees and yellow blossoms. No pictures of dogs, fireworks or calligraphy. Just a time to deliberately hang laundry while considering the metaphor of arrangement and duration.

My good friend, Chaw Ei has just left Vietnam after spending an incredible one month in Saigon and Hoi An where she met with artists - bringing Burma to Vietnam. I know many of my colleagues have enjoyed her company and insight and we all wish her a safe and productive time back home and hope to see her again in the very near future.

Another good friend, Kimling Lam, is currently in Ho Chi Minh City writing an article on Vietnamese artists for the central California-based arts magazine, ArtWorks. She has met with Bertrand and Sandrine from the Wonderful District and has schedule a meeting with Quynh from Galerie Quynh. I hope she is able to get the information she needs to write a fantastic piece.

Jay Brown, Director of the Lijiang Studio in Yunnan, will be arriving to Ho Chi Minh City looking for artists that might be interested in their residency program. The directors of the new Galerie Mirchandi + Steinruecke in Mumbai, India have postponed their trip to Vietnam to concentrate on their opening on February 14. They are interested in meeting Vietnamese artists for  a possible curated exhibition in Mumbai in the near future.

Art

I am still producing the final paintings for my upcoming exhibition in Phnom Penh. Above is a draft of the announcement. We all feel this to be a very important event providing yet another connection between the arts communities of the Sub-Mekong region. I look very much to working and listening to our friends in Cambodia. Beyond the exhibition, we will have a workshop and a panel discussion, both critical elements to improving the dialogue between our two communities. From what we know, it will be the first time Vietnamese artists will be showing in an solo exhibitions in Phnom Penh. If you know the long and recent history between our two nations, you can understand the complexity and hope that we have.

2006

I hope to put more time into my work, particularly painting and three-dimensional work this year. Now that I'll have my first studio space I think I'll be able to concentrate on more complete and ambitious art projects.

I am hopeful for this upcoming year and feel positive, although rushed, about its beginning. Happy New year, or as we say in Vietnamese, Chúc mừng năm mới!

Posted by at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My friend asked me to do a quick search for wireless cafe's in Danang where she's staying for the Tet holidays. Wireless cafes are spotted throughout Ho Chi Minh City but do they exist in Danang, or for that matter, in some remote area of Nepal? Eyebeam Re:blog has an interesting post on this subject.

In almost every village, town, or city in the developing world, there are people who can build just about anything. With the right know-how, this can include wireless networks that connect their community to the Internet. The book addresses what Rob Flickenger, the book's editor and lead author, calls a chicken-and-egg problem: "While much information about building wireless networks can be found on-line, that presents a problem for people in areas with little or no connectivity", said Flickenger from his workshop in Seattle.

In the developing world, one book can often be a library, and to a techie this book may well be a bible. Access to books is difficult where there are few libraries or book stores, and there is often little money to pay for them. "Our book will be released under a Creative Commons license, so everybody can copy and distribute it free of charge. That doesn't mean it is a 'cheap' book. I think it is a great book," stated Corinna 'Elektra' Aichele, one of the books co-authors who was recently installing wireless networks in Bangladesh. 

Sources
Eyebeam. Wireless Networking in the Developing World
WNDW. Pdf instructions to get you started

Posted by at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today Jeremy Strick, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles and Melissa Chiu, Director of the Asia Society Museum in New York, spoke about their institutions and work at the Saigon Biennale space. The Shoshana Wayne Gallery, who represent Vietnam-based artist Dinh Q. Le, were also present.

Information
+  Asia Society Museum
+  Asia Society. Melissa Chiu
+  Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Los Angeles
+  Shoshana Wayne Gallery 

Posted by at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm not sure what I did, but the formatting of text on this blog is all wrong. Everything is in italic. Argh. And I'm the sort that gets sore about bad text kerning. So, I've gone through the MovableType support forums and doublechecked my own stylesheet and I'm still at a loss on how to fix. If anyone has any idea, please give me some direction!

Posted by at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Again, not what you think.

At elementary schools, kindergartens, and preschools all across Japan, kids are losing themselves making hikaru dorodango, or balls of mud that shine. Behind this boom is Professor Fumio Kayo of the Kyoto University of Education. Kayo is a psychologist who researches children's play, and he first came across these glistening dorodango at a nursery school in Kyoto two years ago. He was impressed and devised a method of making dorodango that could be followed even by children. Once Kayo teaches children how to make these mud balls, they become absorbed in forming a sphere, and they put all their energy into polishing the ball until it sparkles. The dorodango soon becomes the child's greatest treasure. Kayo sees in this phenomenon the essence of children's play, and he has written academic papers on the subject. The mud balls could also offer fresh insights into how play aids children's growth.

"Kayo first became interested in dorodango in May 1999. As part of his research in developmental pshychology, Kayo visited a Kyoto preschool once a week. When Kayo made mud balls with the children, a teacher at the preschool told him, "I'll show you a real dorodango and proceeded to produce a shiny one for Kayo"

Sources
Bits & Pieces. How to make a shiny ball out of mud
Trends in Japan. Kyoto Professor Taps into the Essence of Play

Posted by at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've written several times about the disgrace of the Vietnamese national soccer team getting busted for game fixing in the 2005 SEA Games and its larger connection to the distrubing trend of dishonest competition in Vietnam. The Vietnamese press has gone high priority in highlighting its recent efforts to curb the rampant corruption in the sports sector (and indeed its own government as the National Assembly has just last week passed the Anti-Corruption law). Also, the related cases about cheating in the fine arts sector have also received significant coverage.

You think people would learn.

Vietnam produces performance-enhancing drugs for athletes

The Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday that Taxaton and Saraton would increase the natural testosterone level and the amount of red blood cells, and enhance oxygen inhibition. Testosterone is a hormone from the androgen group and is secreted in males.

Trials have been carried out on volunteers and athletes since 2003 and the drugs found safe with no apparent side effects.

The Institute of Biological Technology tied up with the University of Technology’s Centre for Sport Health and the Central Pharmaceutical Materials Company No. 1 to produce Taxaton and Saraton. 

How can Vietnam expect to gain trust and respect when it hates fair play? A bad way to start the new lunar year. 

Source
Thanh Nien News. Vietnam produces performance-enhancing drugs for athletes
Thanh Nien News. Vietnam football top brass meet to take stock of crises
Thanh Nien News. State official turns up for $1.8 mln betting inquiry

Posted by at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We held our first group meeting to discuss ideas about the connection between art and print. We are currently developing some good ideas. In the meantime, here are photos from an afternoon of many ideas.

Magazine des cultures émergeantes

Art est un magazine culturel basé à Hô Chi Minh ville - Vietnam, publié en bilingue anglais/ vietnamien. Sa diffusion sera internationale mais se fera massivement au Vietnam et en Asie du Sud Est.

Son principal objectif est de rendre compte des transversalités entre les différentes disciplines, de faire partager les réflexions et le travail de penseurs et de créateurs, d'encourager et alimenter les débats sur l'art et la culture en général.

Art se veut être facile d'accès, en proposant différents niveaux de lecture et en mêlant recherche artistique pointue et culture populaire. Il adoptera dans sa forme globale un mode de communication simple et direct, laissant au contenu artistique droit à plus de subtilité.

Structuré comme un magazine de mode au graphisme innovant, Art proposera un éventail de textes et d'images touchant à tous les domaines de création contemporaine (art visuels et graphiques, littérature, philosophie, musique, théatre, danse, cinéma, mode, architecture...) et aux mouvements émergeants.

Chaque numéro s'articulera autour d'une thématique qui rassemblera: des textes approfondis et interviews rendant compte des réflexions d'écrivains, d'artistes, de commissaires d'exposition, de critiques d'art, de scientifiques... accompagnés de nombreuses et larges illustrations une exposition de travaux artistiques spécifiquement choisis ou réalisés pour le support magazine quelques travaux d'étudiants.

L'actualité artistique internationale sera relayée par des articles proposés par des correspondants à l'étranger.

La cible principale est la jeunesse curieuse de s'informer des phénomènes innovants au Vietnam et à l'étranger. Plus précisément, il s'agira d'étudiants, de personnes travaillant dans des domaines créatifs, d'amateurs d'arts.

Posted by at 6:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

From the Onion:
U.S. Troops Draw Up Own Exit Strategy

BAGHDAD—Citing the Bush Administration's ongoing refusal to provide a timetable for withdrawal, the U.S. troops stationed in Iraq have devised their own exit strategy.

In a striking rebuke of the assertions of the Pentagon and the White House that a swift exit is neither practical nor possible, soldiers of varying rank have outlined a straightforward plan of immediate disengagement, dubbed "Operation Screw This." 

"Pfc. Barbara Terland expressed the sentiment of many soldiers and Iraqis. "If the real reason we're here is to let the Iraqis run their own country, I have the perfect solution: my ass on a plane to St. Louis." 

Source
The Onion. U.S. Troops Draw Up Own Exit Strategy
The Onion Infographic. The Search for WMD 

Posted by at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The BBC reports today that French President Jacques Chirac has said that France might respond to a conventional weapons terrorist attack with nuclear weapons. How does this figure into the EU-led alliance aimed toward convincing Iran to abandon their nuclear development? The logic always escapes me - how to deter nations from developing nuclear military programs when those already possessing the technology have no intention to reduce their own nuclear weapons development. Can we know group Chirac into the crazyman category with Kim Jong Il?

Of course, France is not the worst offender. The United States has continued to consider, threaten or indeed use nuclear weapons since the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (these sites were known for 60 years as Ground Zero before it was repurposed in contemporary parlor to refer to the site of the World Trade Center attacks). The US considered their use in Vietnam (see the 1975 Academy-award winning documentary, Hearts and Minds, which a French diplomat goes on record that the US approached France with the idea of using its nuclear arsenal against the North Vietnamese Army) but instead opted for equally horrific chemical weapons including Agent Orange. Claims have been made that small nuclear "bunker busting" bombs were considered, if not used, in Afghanistan and Iraq along with the confirmed use of bombs carrying white phosphorus payloads. Recall it was the US that asserted Iraq was in violation of international protocols regulating the usage of chemical and weapons of mass destruction. In such warfare, the US Intelligence has classified white phosphorus as a chemical weapon while at the same time pointing to the fact there no international treaties specifically banning the use of white phosphorus in combat . Not that treaties are always recognized, or honored if so. (Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Gharaib in Iraq circumvent the Geneva Convention; or the White House's opposition to passing legislation banning torture).

On a side note: Below is a list of ten international agreements that the the US has refused to recognize. Consider US global policy and war making strategy and how they might be complicated by the recognization of such treaties.

(1) Convention on Discrimination Against Women (2) Convention on the Rights of the Child (3) Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (4) Kyoto Protocol (5) Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (6) Anti-Ballistic Missle Treaty (7) Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (8)Chemical Weapons Convention (9) Land Mine Ban Treaty (10) International Criminal Court

It can be pared down to the simple statement: You can't have what we have. Look no further to the misbalance of 'got-not got' in conflicts where Palestinians armed with sticks and rocks receive Israeli small arms fire. When you only have rocks, you want more. There's has got to be better deterrents to violence (for both sides) than this. Here's a start. Think poker. Don't show your hand. Chirac should just shut the fuck up.

Another strategy, get some long-term memory. Chirac (and indeed the US) can look back to Voltaire. A daily visit for me, Bloggy writes in 'Ridicule is all we have left' of the new biography "Voltaire Almighty" and excerpts:

The French -- and not only the French -- were much more likely to condemn the horrors of war and religious intolerance if these were made to seem absurd. Don't rant and rail: just show people what's dumb. Horrors and injustices are always someone else's problem, but none of us wants to look foolish. As he told Damilaville, a fellow-philosophe, ten years later: "I have only ever addressed one prayer to God, and it is very short: 'My God, please make all our enemies ridiculous.' God has granted my wish." 

Sources
BBC. France 'would use nuclear arms'
BBC. US used white phosphorus in Iraq
Independent Online. US intelligence classified white phosphorus as 'chemical weapon'
Wikipedia. White Phosphorus (weapon)
CDI. Iraq & US Bunker-Buster Nuclear Weapons
About. US Could Use Limited Nuclear Weapons in Iraq
Bloggy. Ridicule is all we have left 

Posted by at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

and my 38-ton Richard Serra sculpture?

BBC reports:  A leading Spanish museum has admitted it has lost a massive steel sculpture which weighs 38 tonnes.

Madrid's Reina Sofia Museum bought the Richard Serra sculpture in the 1980s for more than $200,000 (£114,000). The museum says that in 1990 it put the sculpture in a warehouse belonging to a company that specialises in storing large-scale artwork. The piece's disappearance only came to light when the museum's director Ana Martinez de Aguilar decided to put it on display again.

Source
BBC. Madrid 'mislays' Serra sculpture
The Guardian. Museum discovers loss of 38-tonne sculpture 

Posted by at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There have been several posts today regarding the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is interesting to note, with the United States now embroiled in an extended military conflict, that many of the posts are reviving King's eloquent and courageous stand against the then escalating conflict in Vietnam. In 2003, I created a sculptural art installation in a warehouse space in Lowell, Massachusetts.

The Year of the Rat: 1972 is a sculptural sound installation created between March and May 2003 by R. Streitmatter-Tran for inclusion in the group exhibition, Frag, curated by Mobius Artists Group director, Jed Speare, for the Evos Arts Gallery in Lowell, Massachusetts. The installation is intended to be experienced in the evening and in its entire duration (approximately 16 minutes). The sound recording is a sampling of a 1968 speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his opposition to the Vietnam War coupled with the panning interrruption of helicopters. The recording is looped.

Below is an excerpt from his speech "Beyond Vietnam" in 1967.

 " The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality [applause], and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing "clergy and laymen concerned" committees for the next generation. They will be concerned about Guatemala and Peru. They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. They will be concerned about Mozambique and South Africa. We will be marching for these and a dozen other names and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy . . .

    Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin [applause], we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered . . .

    A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just . . ."

    A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Beyond Vietnam - April 4, 1967. New York. Martin Luther King Jr.

Information
R. Streitmatter-Tran. Year of the Rat: 1972 

Posted by at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Cute has been on my mind. Originally, I wanted to a paint photorealistic series of portraits of women based on images they've posted of themselves in online communities such as Friendster and Myspace. Given a large sample (that is, a lot of images), patterns emerge. One being the "cute" aesthetic. Images falling into this category are often shot from above, the forshortened  perspective enlargening the eyes, and depending on the crop, offering a birds eye view of cleavage. The images go beyond simplistic Lolita associations, but for me relate to a larger culture of "complex cuteness". I was suprised to find that actual, undoctored images of women taken at certain angles actually looked like manga cartoons. They have in effect reduced themselves to cartoonish charicatures of the idea of cuteness.

For an example, see the friendster user account: Most Desired

And it is through this departure that the series of paintings I'm currently working on have instead become flat outlined color, cartoonish and exaggerated. Cute but with something unsettling.

There is an interesting post on the "I oso want" blog of Vincent Liu. He has reposted an article by Natalie Anger, "The Cute Factor", which attempts to examine the culture of cute - launching with cute phenomena surrounding the newborn panda at the Smithsthonian's National Zoo in Washington D.C.

More reading
I oso want. The Cute Factor
Website. All things Kawaii 

Posted by at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

No artist is complete without the Dali mustache.

Posted by at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week I feel like a serious artist. I have been painting for 4-5 hours a day (usually at night after returning home from work) preparing for my exhibition in Phnom Penh early next month. I am bloodshot every morning. But the rigor of the schedule is affirming and there is a deep satisfaction about being regular. Last night I finished another work. Each work takes around 2-3 days to complete from sketch on paper, to sketch on canvas, to finished painting. I can roll up the acrylic paintings after a couple of hours, no need for oil to dry. Below are two sketches done last night before sleeping which will be layed out of canvas and painted this evening. Each painting is approximately 90x75cm (35x30").

Posted by at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Finally, after 2.5 years, I will have dedicated studio space in Vietnam. I had been largely working in video, performance, photography and small installations and didn't necessarily need another location for art production. Fabrication and modeling was often done at the factory or collaborating artist's studio. Meetings at coffeeshops for the type of work I was doing was appropriate. Curators and visiting artists could view my work on a laptop or browse through exhibition catalogs.

That is until I started painting. Painting in my small room is a serious liability. After four or five hours of painting, I would need to clean up everything before using my room for anything else. Large scale work is impossible and the flourescent lighting is a huge zero.

My friend Justin and I have found a location that we can both use for our projects. The industrial space is currently storing coffee roasting equipment. After remodeling and refurbishing, the ground level will be a new cafe lounge that Justin and Julie (of Sugar Street Cafe) will run. The 2nd floor (about 1/2 the area of the ground) will be my studio space.

The factory has extremely high ceilings (think: airplane hangar). For my studio space, we intend to install a spiral staircase to replace the ladder steps, laydown an a plywood floor to distribute the weight across the  beams, replace some of the corrugated steel roofing with transparent materials to let in natural light, and install a dedicated sink for washing brushes and cleaning materials. I will probably build a pully lift to transport materials to and from the studio to the ground. I may erect some drywall to display and photograph work.

I'll have some pics of the space once I begin converting the space upon my return from my exhibition in Phnom Penh. Possibly around late February. 

Posted by at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Working feverishly preparing new work for my exhibition in Phnom Penh. More information to come. 

Posted by at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

According to a recent interview on Thanh Nien News, Vietnam hopes to join the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member for the 2008-2009 term. On one hand, I believe it makes sense. Vietnam is the among the 15 largest nations in the world (according to population). And as a developing nation Vietnam might provide a counterbalance (as do many of the non-permanent rotating seats) to the heavyweight permanent member nations.

However, I am concerned given Vietnamese record of non-action when dealing with particular issues within the smaller alliances of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and ASEM (Asia Europe Economic Meeting). Take for instance, the issue of Myanmar which year after year continues to cause anguish and frustration among all other members. This year, for the record, the Myanmar situation and patience of the rest of the world had so diminished that it was discussed in a UN Security Council closed-door briefing just over a month ago and ASEAN took the unusual step of insisting on a visit to Yangon to access the situation (it was reported days ago that Myanmar has reneged on its offer to host ASEAN due to it's "being too busy"). What would Vietnam say, if the Myanmar issue were brought to the UN Security Council given its history of defending the military regime (see last year's ASEM held in Hanoi)? Such a hypothetical situation, for obvious reasons, presents a dilemma for Vietnam. Or on the recent flurry of arrests in Cambodia of human rights activists and opposition parties to the Vietnam-friendly Hun Sen government? Does Vietnam really want to attract attention to itself at this time?

The Thanh Nien interview also touches upon the prospect that Vietnam might have to send military troops abroad for international missions connected with the UN. The positive points include the improved training through interaction with and observation of multinational forces. However, would Vietnam send troops to participate in the coalition forces currently in Iraq "to promote democratic reform" given that state-organized protests against the US invasion of Iraq were widely reported in such public spaces as Youth Center (Nha Thanh Nhien).

Vietnam continues to push at full steam for WTO membership in a seemingly endless game of setting projection dates and then watching them float by unresolved. Yes. Vietnam must be a part of the international community and it deserves to be. But Vietnam must proceed carefully and for its own best interest. Concentrating on ending corruption, improving education, eradicating internal poverty and understanding the bird flu are good places to start.

 
Sources
Thanh Nien News. Vietnam at the threshold of UN Security Council membership
VietnamNet Bridge. SMEs key to WTO bid, but not just yet

Posted by at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm happy with the back. The front needs some work. Pilates anyone?

Posted by at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You are probably as surprised as I. Not about the IED's, but that Myanmar has a "Saigon Division". I consulted with Burmese colleague who says it's a typo. Sadly, Myanmar does not have a Saigon.

Source
Sify. India-Myanmar border sealed after bomb blast

Posted by at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

My research project, Mediating the Mekong, made possible by the Martell Contemporary Asian Art Research Grant and the Asian Art Archive is now a mid-point. Shortly before the holidays I submitted my briefing to the Asian Art Archive for the January 2006 newsletter. The report with images, covers the cities: Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Bangkok and Yangon.

You can view the newsletter directly from the Asian Art Archive at:

Asian Art Archive January 2006 Newletter 

Posted by at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

City of Melbourne
2006 Young Artist Visual Arts Grants Program
HO CHI MINH CITY

To be young again. Now that I'm approaching 34, I'm now finding that I'm no longer in the young artist category. But it's a great opportunity for those 20-somethings..

Application deadline is January 9th! Act Now. (I just got word of it today) 

This project is proudly supported by the City of Melbourne Council in conjunction with the Australian Consulate – General, the Office for Culture and Information, Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts, RMIT International University Vietnam to benefit Young Visual Artists.

Program Objectives

The City of Melbourne’s Young Arts Grants Program seeks to support the diverse arts and cultural activities for the benefit of Ho Chi Minh’s young artists. The program supports initiatives that achieve the following key objectives:

• Support the quality and diversity of visual arts practice of young artists in Ho Chi Minh and its role in reflecting its distinctive character;
• Express and explore the essential spirit of Ho Chi Minh as an exciting, contemporary and cosmopolitan city that values the culture of its community;
• Encourage innovative approaches to the visual arts;
• Result in the creation of new work that may be exhibited in Melbourne Australia:
• Encourage the imaginative and creative use of public spaces and galleries;
• Increase community participation in the cultural life of Ho Chi Minh.

Download the forms
Guidelines 
Application Form

Posted by at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Following up on a recent post regarding the extent of dishonest play in Vietnamese sports:

Police Arrest Selves Following Investigation 

It reads like a page from the news satire favorite, The Onion. The caption above is not true the story connected to it is. And this is no laughing matter. 

An investigation underway is currently determining the extent of unfair sportsplay in connection with the match-fixing scandal by members of the Vietnamese national team in the recent 2005 SEA Games. However, one begins to doubt the earnestness of the investigation when it was today revealed that the Ho Chi Minh City police department soccer team has engaged in the very same practices. The following excerpt is from the Vietnam News online:

It has come to light that before a match between Song Lam Nghe An and the HCM City Police Team in the last round of the 2000-2001 season, coach Nguyen Huu Thang negotiated a deal in which the HCM City Police Team agreed to throw the game in exchange for 65 million VND. By winning the match 4-3, Song Lam Nghe An became the first champions of Vietnam’s professional football league. 

Source
VietnamNews. Central football team admits to match fixing

Posted by at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Documents and miscellany can offer a wealth of information for researchers, historians and even artists. But what happens if the item in question is fake? How do you know? It takes a learned eye.

The image above was taken from the website of The Society of Indo-China Philatelists (um, that means, stamp collectors). According to their site, the above item was indentified as fake because the:

1. Cover known to have been made in 1975, shipped overseas

2. Overprint is fantasy (a few trials exist, never used). Nge Khe used French Indo-china stamps after liberation. This P.O. is a branch located on a French plantation with two postal workers to service the workers of the plantation. There was no need for all of the so-called stamps, and no ability to print overprints.

3. The cachet is taken from a 1950s piece of paper money.

4. The slogan is from a Dec 19, 1946 event

5. Cancel states Interzone 2 (Lien Khu II). Nge Khe was in Interzone 3 (but not until 1946), never Interzone 2.

There are other address and province errors. 

The site offers a number of interesting images of both real and fake stamp and cancels from the French colonial period to the current Republic of Vietnam. Go to the site to find out why this one is a fake. Each one is stamp-sized detective story. 

Source
Website. The Society of Indo-China Philatelists

Posted by at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That we cannot fully trust the photograph is not suprising. The visual manipulation of history and current events continues.

ESWN, who apparently posseses a picture perfect memory,  shares a recent photographic trespass by Chinese media. The event: The WTO protests in Hong Kong. No need to explain here, the two pictures speak for themselves.

Yet somewhere deep inside, we cannot resist the temptation to trust the image. Seeing is believing. 

With or Without You 

Stalin, after coming into power, commissioned films highlighting his participation in the Bolshevik Revoltion alongside Lenin and years later his triumphant march into Berlin with the downfall of Hitler. The fact was, Stalin was not in the Bolshevik uprising nor was he in Berlin. It was only after years after that Kruschev restored the original documentary film footage and photographs of the revolution to their unretouched state, sans Stalin. Glorification was not the only motive. Critical to Stalin's consolidation of power was the elimination of competition, better known as purges. It was the dying Lenin's explicit wish that Stalin not be his successor but instead favored Trotsky. Trotsky was years later assassinated in Mexico where he was in exile. Trotsky actually was photographed in close acquaintance with Lenin and in his participation with critical real events. Stalin systematically erased Trotsky from the photographs in an attempt to erase him from memory.

 
Wanted: Dead or Alive

Stalin was not an innovator by any means. We can look to Mathew Brady's war photographs from the United States Civil War. Certainly the Civil War was the bloodiest and deadliest that the United States has ever experienced. There is not dispute. However researchers have found cases where Brady had staged scenes for the camera, in some cases using people as corpses in one shot and as fighting soldiers in later shots.

Other unethical picture manipulations during the Civil War have been discovered by researchers. William Frassanito (1978) located two stereocard views attributed to Brady taken after the first battle of Bull Run in July 186 1. One view shows a group of standing, kneeling, and firing soldiers. The second picture titled, "Confederate Dead on Matthews Hill," shows the same group of soldiers lying on the ground, presumably killed. Frassanito disputed the authenticity of these scenes because Brady fled with the Union Army shortly after the battle and one man in the picture is dressed in a heavy overcoat, a strange wardrobe choice for July. "Someone apparently told the soldiers to pretend they were fighting in the one view," wrote Frassanito, "and then instructed them to pretend they were dead in the other" (pp. 31-32).  Picture Manipulations

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Sources and reading

Hong Kong
ESWN. The Sling Shot at the Hong Kong WTO
ESWN. The Streets of Caracas- Part I

Stalin
Falsification of history. The Soviet Union
New York Times. Photo Ops with Uncle Joe
Newseum. The Commissar Vanishes 

Vietnam
The Digital Journalist. Kerry: The Real Fake

Posted by at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

I spent the New Years Eve alone, grappling with putting ideas to paper for my upcoming exhibition in Phnom Penh. I was looking through a collection of Renaissance Masters drawings and as much as I could feel the dynamism and tension in their lines, I was unable to do it myself. I took a bathroom break. On the toilet, I looked down at my own body. I saw the wrinkles in my belly and recalled how Michelangelo was able to get the same wrinkles in his sculptures. Returning to my room, I decided to ignore the pencils and head for the molding clay. I was able to construct some quick studies (pictured above) based on my toilet experience. I was then, able to draw more clearly.

Posted by at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)