Culture Vulture

Artist Le Tran Hau Anh won first prize at the Viet Nam National Youth Fine Arts Festival held recently by the culture ministry's Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition. The 31-year-old artist teaches at the Viet Nam Fine Arts College. He spoke to Culture Vulture about his prize and the development of the fine arts in Viet Nam.

You won first prize in the festival with a video installation entitled Green Earth. How did the project come about?

The idea for Green Earth comes from my interest in nature. I like painting everything that belongs to nature. I have recorded videos about nature for a long time, and my experiences in video technology have been strengthened.

The video installation follows from my other works. In the beginning, I thought about a sphere but then I wanted to make a universe with the sphere in the universe. What is the universe? It is a black night. I cover my work and create a blue sky outside. I want people to try to see my work inside. I screen a video on environmental issues in the sphere where viewers will see both the beauty and the destruction of the earth.

I create two windows that are not comfortable for viewers. Adults will have to bend down and children to crane their neck to see inside. I think that our earth is beautiful and people have to try to look at it. Many have asked me why I didn't create windows in different places. But I want people to respect that the earth that is being destroyed by human behaviour. In my video, people will see smoke, floods and drought.

When did you started to work with video art with nature as a theme?

I have thought about the environment for many years. I think video art is an artform that can record the environment changing. Green Earth was made along with other work of mine displayed in the Emergency Room exhibition. My work in Emergency Room is also about the environment, as is the work of other artists.

I was born in an artistic family which nurtures my video-art hobby. When I was very small, I played with my father's camera, recording family films. When I entered college and had contact with foreigners, I began to study video-art.

Video-art uses software and cameras. It isn't too difficult. The technology isn't important but the idea always is.

I studied both lacquer and oil painting in college. In the fourth year, in 2003, I had a chance to study video-art in Sweden. Since then, I have made video-art for many exhibitions in which I have participated. In these exhibitions, I began to screen videos in shapes I liked. I think video-art becomes a video-installation when it is displayed in combination with other media.

Did you think the jury board was persuaded by the environmental issue?

I don't know. I can't say about the jury decision. The most important thing is that many viewers come to see my work and they like it.

The juries said my work was made with 2D technology but it's visual effects look like 3D. I liked this comment. I sent my statement to the jury but it didn't mention how I made it. I wanted to create interaction between my work and viewers.

I think that surprise is the most important factor. Because modern art is always updated. If you come to see an exhibition today it will be different tomorrow.

While I began to set up Green Earth at the exhibition, women who were working there saw the screen about fish. And they thought it was an aquarium. They said a lot of things about the aquarium. I really liked it because the artwork and viewers had an interaction.

You are teaching at the Fine Arts College. Are many students studying video-art?

Video-art is taught at the Viet Nam Fine Arts College for all students as a basic subject for one month only. I hope video-art will receive more attention from the college administration.

In fact, the college has co-operated with Sweden International Develoopment Co-operation Agency to teach video-art in Viet Nam since 2004. Thanks to that it has become a major subject. And I think that video-art development depends on people who are not artists. For example, Ministry of Education and Training officials and how they think about multimedia art. Because many people don't understand it clearly. When all sectors in society understand the value of the art, it will be easy for artists.

In the festival, an artist was found who had copied another's work. What do you think about this?

I think it is the artist's ethics. Piracy is widespread in Viet Nam. When a case was found at the national event, it was criticised widely. But there are many copied paintings in galleries, and who cares? I always remind students about copyright because video-art has two sectors: images and sound. The students in my college have trouble with sound mixing because they are used to working with their eyes not their ears. All my students' video-art have been uploaded to Youtube, which scans everything. If the sound is known, the video will be locked. — VNS