Here is a new addition in town that art lovers will welcome with open arms. Sao La is a non-profit initiative by the well-established Gallery Quynh, located on the ground floor of the HCMC Fine Art Museum (1 Le Thi Hong Gam, Dist. 1).
On the 30th of May it opened its doors with the first exhibition, ‘Out of nowhere’, showcasing works in different media – photography, installation and painting - by ten young artists based in Saigon (Do Thanh Lang, Hoang Nam Viet, Le Nguyen Duy Phuong, Le Vu Anh Nhi, Ngo Dinh Bao Chau, Nguyen Duc Dat, Nguyen Uyen Minh, Nguyen Vuong Thao, Pham Vuong and Tran Minh Duc).
One of the core ideas behind Sao La is to establish itself as a creative space for young artists by promoting experimental art, helping young artists to show their works and nurturing the growth of Vietnamese contemporary art. “We need to build up the education about art in Saigon, for this reason it is important that if a new artist wishes to show new work, it has to fit with the community”, explained Sao La’s curator, Mr Tung.
Gladly, this is not simply a series of exhibitions to give opportunities to new creative minds. The initiative aims to involve citizens, tourists and students in cultural events and to broaden the understanding and knowledge of the Vietnamese contemporary art scene; “we will have workshops, art classes and talks, ideally run by artists, which will be in line with the public, they have to be approachable.”
The program is still underway; in the meantime, they are building a close collaboration with the Fine Art Museum, specifically regarding educational projects that would involve, among others, students and schools in Saigon.
It is too early to predict the outcome from this collaboration but, considering that there are already other organizations, such as San Art and the Saigon Artbook, that have successfully initiated outreach to local schools and Universities, there is no reason to doubt that Sao La will add a further positive impact to the art appreciation from young students. “Kids here follow a really hard school program that leaves them no time to have fun and therefore approach art in their leisure time to entertain themselves. Also, the approach towards art that teachers apply is that every child has to do the same thing. There is no creativity or personality. We would like for children to have fun with art and play with it.”
Moreover, it could bring a renewed boost to the often forgotten but nonetheless beautiful Fine Art Museum, which seems to be overlooked by Saigonese and tourists.
San Art has been working for many years on providing a wide range of educational talks by bringing in professors from both Vietnam and other countries and by offering residencies for artists.
How does Sao La fit in this existing frame? “It is not a competition; the purpose is to build a bigger picture, to reinforce the work that has been already started. We would like to collaborate with organizations like San Art or Zero Station, for instance.”
For their future projects, they are working on introducing different forms of art such as performances, photographic shows, expanding the presence of digital media artworks with DJs and VJs and feature young graffiti artists.
More information will be available via their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/gqsaola
In the meantime, you can still go and check out the exhibition ‘Out of nowhere’ which will run until the 27th of July.
