Dear readers,<\/p>\n
At first glance, the relationship between image and text appears to be one of a contesting nature, contingent on different modi operandi and primarily deployed in service of diverging strands of art: the pictorial versus the literary; the immersive versus the discursive. And yet, taking a sweeping view across histories of civilisations, text and image have been made intimate companions in their joint imperatives of reality-constituting and power-making. Within the genealogy of Vietnamese art, language has never occupied the visual field as a mere passive vessel of documentation. From early carvings that preserve traces of spiritual life, to Sino-Nom inscriptions woven into painting across delicate royal artefacts, to woodblock printing and the folk traditions of Dong Ho and Hang Trong, the textual has long operated in symbiosis with the figurative in Vietnamese art, forging an artistic whole of remarkable aesthetic refinement and cultural depth.<\/p>\n
In that spirit, Art Nation presents issue #12 under the theme \u201cOf Diction and Nation\u201d. The issue opens with an essay by Dao Hoa, laying the theoretical groundwork for an inquiry into the resonances between image and text. [Art]Salon begins with a dialogue with calligrapher Xuan Nhu on seal carving and the philosophy of literati painting within the national aesthetic, before moving towards contemporary signifiers in an exchange with art historian Pamela N. Corey. From a practice-based standpoint, writing is deployed as a constituent image-making in strikingly varied ways, foregrounding both art\u2019s intertextuality and its capacity to move between forms: Nguyen Quang Huy\u2019s indecipherable characters; Ha Manh Thang\u2019s landscapes infused with classical poetry; the sounds of memory carried through Thuy Tien Nguyen\u2019s kinetic installations; and exhibition designer Laura Miotto\u2019s discussion on how text can be projected into and through space.<\/p>\n
Expanding the dialogue, the [Art]natomy section opens with evocative retrospections on antiquities from the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History, selected and presented by Tran Nguyen Tuan. The relentless cultural transitions spanning across the 20th century left distinct imprints throughout the visual systems of press graphics during the French-colonial period and revolutionary propaganda posters of the Resistance era, sharply dissected in essays by Dr Nguyen Hong Ngoc, Nguyen Hoang Gia Bao and Cao Quoc Huy. Approaching language from distinct vantage points, Dr Iola Lenzi interrogates the catalysts behind the hybrid text-image impulse characteristic of Hanoi\u2019s 1990s avant garde, while Vinh Phu Pham deconstructs exhibition text and curatorial discourse in domestic and international contexts through the lens of post-continental philosophy. Finally, the [Art]jacent section presents two studies that situate theater (cai luong) and craft (lantern making) at the intersection of linguistic and visual modalities across creative disciplines.<\/p>\n
This issue occupies a singular position when viewed against the contextual expectations of an art publication \u2013 a domain inherently exists at the critical intersection of text and visuality. Language constitutes the soul of a nation, and it is our hope that \u201cOf Diction and Nation\u201d illuminates the investigative imperative and value of language \u2013 in its disparate configurations and contingencies \u2013 within Vietnamese visual art.<\/p>\n
Faithfully, \u2014<\/p>\n BOARD OF DIRECTORS EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS CREATIVE MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES Dear readers, At first glance, the relationship between image and text appears to be one of a contesting nature, contingent on different modi operandi and primarily deployed in service of diverging strands of art: the pictorial versus the literary; the immersive versus the discursive. And yet, taking a sweeping view across histories of civilisations, text […]\n","protected":false},"featured_media":8179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[251],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-8174","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_cat-art-nation-12","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-variable"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nAce Le
\n<\/strong>Editor-in-Chief<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Ace L\u00ea
\nTr\u1ea7n Th\u1ea3o Nguy\u00ean
\nT\u0103ng B\u1ea3o Quy\u00ean<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Editor-in-Chief: Ace L\u00ea
\nManaging Editor: ChuKim
\nEditors: Nh\u1eadt Anh, Mary L\u00ea, Dao Hoa, H\u1ed3ng \u00c1nh, B\u1ea3o Ng\u00e2n<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Writers & Translators: Erika Chandra, Weiqin Chay, Iola Lenzi, Nguy\u1ec5n Ho\u00e0ng Gia B\u1ea3o, Nguy\u1ec5n H\u1ed3ng Ng\u1ecdc, Nguy\u1ec5n Nguy\u1ec7t T\u00f3c Ti\u00ean, Trinh Nguy\u1ec5n, Nh\u1eadt Anh, T\u00e2m Ph\u1ea1m, Vinh Ph\u00fa Ph\u1ea1m, Tr\u1ea7n Nguy\u1ec5n Tu\u1ea5n, Xu\u00e2n Qu\u1ef3nh<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Studio Manager: Cao Qu\u1ed1c Huy
\nGraphic Designer: Ng\u1ecdc H\u00e2n, Nguy\u1ec5n Danh Kh\u00f4i<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Media Executive: Trinh Nguy\u1ec5n<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Hanoi: T\u00e2m Ph\u1ea1m
\nBangkok: Mary L\u00ea
\nSingapore: Nguy\u1ec5n L\u00ea Th\u1ee7y Ti\u00ean
\nTaipei (China): Xu\u00e2n Qu\u1ef3nh
\nTokyo: H\u00e0 Ch\u00e2u B\u1ea3o Nhi
\nBerlin: L\u01b0u B\u00edch Ng\u1ecdc
\nBrussels: Tr\u1ecdng Gia Nguy\u1ec5n
\nParis: Th\u1ea3o Tr\u1ea7n
\nLos Angeles: Brian \u0110o\u00e0n
\nNew York: Ally L\u00ea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"