A session from Building Cultural Institution at Vidyashilp Academy
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The School of Design at Vidyashilp University recently hosted a workshop titled, Building Cultural Institution: Creative Entrepreneurship. Helmed by Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, a cultural curator from Hanoi, the program looked at guiding participants in their quest to becoming independent artists.“Though traditional art has value we must look ahead. Contemporary art by its very definition covers a broader spectrum of creativity,” says Nguyen, currently the artistic director at Heritage Art Space, an independent art organisation in Hanoi, Vietnam.The workshop involved a guided discussion on art and the individual, society’s relationship with art and the manner in which it is portrayed in media, art’s impact on social consciousness and its moral fabric, among other topics. According to Nguyen, there are parallels between the treatment of art in India and Vietnam.“Much like in India, there was not just one form of art — every region had a specific style and often, it was nurtured and flourished in the village or community square,” he says, adding many instances of Vietnamese folk art depicted scenes from Buddhist and Hindu mythology as well as lettering and text in Sanskrit.
