A contemporary art space in HCM City has a multimedia exhibitionthat challenges the Western version of history about a shipment ofAsian porcelain in the 1600s.
The show, Porcelain byDanish artist group Superflex, in collaboration with The PropellerGroup, is being featured at San Art exhibition hall.
It isbased on a three-part television documentary called Porcelain, filmedin Vietnam and broadcast on Vietnamese television in March.
The starting point of the exhibition comes from events surrounding ashipment of porcelain from Asia to Europe on December 17, 1601, when theSan Jago set sail from Goa , India , bound for Lisbon , Portugal .The cargo included the first consignment of Southeast Asian porcelaindestined for the European market.
On March 14, 1602, offthe coast of St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean , the San Jagoencountered three Dutch ships and a fierce battle followed. After threedays of fighting the Portuguese surrendered and the Dutch tookpossession of the San Jago.
Artefacts from the San Jagoare in the Zeeuws Museum in the Netherlands and the artists weregranted the right to use these objects to make a film.
Rasmus Nielsen of Superflex says: "We wanted to recreate Dutch historyfrom a Vietnamese perspective using authentic historical objects andadding a disturbing layer of constructed props to the official memory ofthe Dutch."
Tuan Andrew Nguyen, of The Propeller Group,says: " Vietnam is heavily represented in the shared global narrativeof film and TV. We like the idea of using the format of a Vietnamesetelevision drama series to be part of recreating the history of awestern country."
"What you are seeing before you is anartist's fictional appropriation of the situation. A Danish collective(Superflex) wants to ship a series of art objects to a Vietnamesecollective (The Propeller Group) in Vietnam . When these objectsarrive in HCM City , they are not allowed into the country bycustoms."
Porcelain is sponsored by the CulturalDevelopment and exchange fund and the Danish Art Council. It is on viewat San Art, 3 Me Linh Street, Ward 19 in Binh Thanh district untilSeptember 20./.
The show, Porcelain byDanish artist group Superflex, in collaboration with The PropellerGroup, is being featured at San Art exhibition hall.
It isbased on a three-part television documentary called Porcelain, filmedin Vietnam and broadcast on Vietnamese television in March.
The starting point of the exhibition comes from events surrounding ashipment of porcelain from Asia to Europe on December 17, 1601, when theSan Jago set sail from Goa , India , bound for Lisbon , Portugal .The cargo included the first consignment of Southeast Asian porcelaindestined for the European market.
On March 14, 1602, offthe coast of St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean , the San Jagoencountered three Dutch ships and a fierce battle followed. After threedays of fighting the Portuguese surrendered and the Dutch tookpossession of the San Jago.
Artefacts from the San Jagoare in the Zeeuws Museum in the Netherlands and the artists weregranted the right to use these objects to make a film.
Rasmus Nielsen of Superflex says: "We wanted to recreate Dutch historyfrom a Vietnamese perspective using authentic historical objects andadding a disturbing layer of constructed props to the official memory ofthe Dutch."
Tuan Andrew Nguyen, of The Propeller Group,says: " Vietnam is heavily represented in the shared global narrativeof film and TV. We like the idea of using the format of a Vietnamesetelevision drama series to be part of recreating the history of awestern country."
"What you are seeing before you is anartist's fictional appropriation of the situation. A Danish collective(Superflex) wants to ship a series of art objects to a Vietnamesecollective (The Propeller Group) in Vietnam . When these objectsarrive in HCM City , they are not allowed into the country bycustoms."
Porcelain is sponsored by the CulturalDevelopment and exchange fund and the Danish Art Council. It is on viewat San Art, 3 Me Linh Street, Ward 19 in Binh Thanh district untilSeptember 20./.
