KOREA FOUNDATION

ASEAN GALLERY

Bridging Korea and Viet Nam Through Art
By _ JeongEun-gyeong, CEO of EK Art Gallery

Among the 10 ASEAN member states, VietNam has one of the most active exhibition exchanges with South Korea. With the prominent presence of Korean businesses in Viet Nam, the two countries are already closely connected in the economic and trade sectors. Coach Park Hang-seo, a Korean football manager who serves as head coach of the Vietnamese national team, is another key influence bringing them together. A group exhibition of artists from the two countries, called the Korea-Vietnam Art Exchange Exhibition, has been held regularly, and is sponsored by the respective Ministries of Culture, Sports and Tourism as well as local governments in Korea and VietNam.

Despite such dynamism of government-led initiatives, it is still rare to find Korean galleries picking up and connecting Vietnamese artists to Korean collectors through special exhibitions and art fairs. For this next step, there needs to be a higher Vietnamese interest in art. The country has only a small number of art museums and galleries, and the production quality of exhibitions still has a long way to go. Exhibition spaces are concentrated in Hanoi, the political capital of Viet Nam, and Ho Chi Minh City, the economic capital. The themes often focus on war, family, and the everyday life of people suffering from poverty. It suggests that Vietnamese artists seemingly can not step away yet from the trauma and tragedy of the endless wars their country experienced.

Some of the most notable modern museums include the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts. In comparison to Korean museums, the former serves a role somewhere between those of the National Museum of Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. On the other hand, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Arts is dedicated to presenting works by Viet Nam’s contemporary artists. Its main building displays local contemporary art, and the annex holds special exhibitions such as the Korea-Vietnam Art Exchange Exhibition and solo exhibitions. Aside from these, the Art in us 3D Art Gallery in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7 is also popular among the Vietnamese public for the immersive art experience it offers.