The Conflict Between Tradition and Modernity

The spatial layering layout also appears in many Vietnamese installation works of this period, creating a strange liveliness, space and time are only symbolic, depending on the concept of the creative subject. Sometimes all are displayed on the same work, breaking the conventional order, the scientific logic of space and time, creating a subjective expression with a (loose) folk logic. The manifestations of this layout style can be clearly seen through the spatial layering in the architecture of the credit.

Traditional thresholds; arrangement of Buddha statues (three worlds); mountain worship paintings, Hang Trong paintings, village communal house sculptures... The spatial layering creates art rich in form and content, establishes a new aesthetic, breaks the rational concept of space and time, and opens up a creative direction full of potential, which Vietnamese artists can exploit.

Maybe you are interested!

• Promoting the Role of Cultural Institutions to Overcome the Tradition-Modernity Gap in the Development of Military Culture
• Managing performing arts activities at Army Art Troupes in the current period - 31
• Iv.3.6 “Tblkhachhanglapdat” table (Customer Installation)
• Space/Time Art – A Picture of the World Through the Eyes of Women
• The world of art in short stories by Y Ban - 9

The strength of the Installation work with spatial layering is that it can display the maximum combination of objects, but the limitation of this layout is that it takes up a lot of surface area of ​​the exhibition space. Some typical Installation works with spatial layering include: Characters (2013), Echo of the Great Forest (2014) by Dang Thi Khue; Comrades , Golden Season by Nguyen Bao Toan; Vac & Xom , Qua pho nho gi? by Tran Hau Yen The; Hoa thach by Vuong Van Thao; Don hang (2017) by Dao Dinh Tan.

In summary, the symbolic and conventional characteristics of Vietnamese installation works with YTTT in this period are clearly expressed through the form and theme of the work. This characteristic is recognized through the color, space and layout of the work, creating a unique cultural and artistic mark and value. In addition, Vietnamese installation works in this period also have the characteristic of folk expressiveness, contributing to effectively conveying messages.

3.1.2. Folk expressiveness

Folk expressiveness is simply understood as the expression of emotional states and feelings that leave an impression on the work and are passed down in the community. Unlike rational science, Vietnamese folk art does not express itself through formulas or abstract theorems, but rather through “figurative signs” to visualize feelings, concepts, attitudes, and ideas of the work through artistic images, folk techniques, and the voice of handmade artifacts and indigenous materials.

Characteristics of Vietnamese Installation Works with YTTT in the 1995 period

- 2018 is a folk expression with rustic, simple beauty, exuding the spirit of national aesthetics. This feature is formed thanks to the combination of aesthetic artifacts

Art, traditional crafts, folk motifs, colors and the feel of indigenous materials to create the Installation. The traditional artifacts of the Vietnamese people, created by the people, themselves contain the aesthetic spirit, ideological, cultural and historical values ​​of the rice civilization community. Therefore, Installation works using traditional artifacts often bring a sense of closeness and ease of reception. In particular, statues, water puppets, and motifs have become images and symbols in the cultural and religious life of the nation such as Uncle Teu, Thang Bom, statues of Tay Nguyen tombs, worship statues, village communal house sculptures, decorative motifs of Dong Son bronze drums, rich in the artist's emotional state and the feel of the materials. These products are the crystallization of the artistic talent and intelligence of the ancient agricultural people, so they often have a rustic and simple beauty, deeply reflecting the thoughts and aspirations of farmers. The images created by the people are always closely associated with the indigenous cultural life and great philosophical, religious and religious ideas. For example, the image of Uncle Teu, made of lacquered wood, in the installation work Faces of Life by author Chu Luong. The character Teu is created by the people as a child with a plump, innocent body and face, white skin, hair in a bun, a bright smile expressing the optimism, joy and innocence of a rural child in the past. The costume is simple, not elaborate or flashy like the costumes of the aristocracy or the costumes of fairy characters, but reveals bare arms and abdomen.

Although he was a rural child, on the water puppet stage, Teu became a prominent figure who stepped out of his identity to transform into a central character with the ideology of the masses, sometimes telling the story, sometimes openly mocking the bad habits of the mandarin and nouveau riche classes. The puppets with strong folk expressions in large numbers in the installation work The Faces of Life (Fig. 4.1.4, p.204) created a vivid picture of ancient society, deeply reflecting humanistic ideology and social criticism.

contemporary, creating a diverse cultural identity and expression in the trend of international integration. Therefore, installation works using a combination of traditional artifacts and motifs always have the advantage of folk expressiveness with rustic and simple beauty when creating installation works. It can be said that using YTTT to create installation works is like using the mother tongue to express dialogue and text, always has many advantages and the ability to best convey information, attitudes, emotional moods... that the subject wants to express. Thereby, the public not only easily accepts the new form of expression but also feels many artistic, cultural and historical values ​​through folk expressiveness in artistic images and emotions.

Exploiting the folk expressiveness from traditional Tay Nguyen tomb statues quite effectively, most of the installation works of author Phan Thao Nguyen use a combination of folk statues that are shaped very rustic, simple with simplified, generalized shapes. The characters in the Tay Nguyen tomb statue system are mainly carved by artisans from traditional axes, so the images are often highly generalized, not focusing on details but showing large areas and areas. However, the Tay Nguyen tomb statue characters often exude a rustic beauty, especially the faces are expressed by artisans very richly, expressing the spirit, the variety of emotional states of each character is very impressive.

Besides some statues depicting common activities in life, fertility statues, statues with chins propped up with sad faces are often reserved for the elderly who have passed away, statues of two children happily hugging and playing are reserved for children who have unfortunately passed away. These statues not only show the age of the person in the grave, but in terms of art, they are highly expressive through the rustic, simplified shaping, rich gestures and postures of each character with natural, rough colors of wood or strongly contrasting dyes such as: black, white, red.

The installation work Giat Dew Jrai by Phan Thao Nguyen has combined the rustic, simple beauty of the Central Highlands tomb statues with the colorful decorative patterns of the highland people, creating a strong visual beauty. The complex of traditional statues rich in folk expression in the Installation work Giat Dew Jrai is not only renewed by the author on the traditional statue base but also arranged in a new space, a new art form, creating uniqueness, distinction, attracting the attention and interaction of the indigenous community and the international public.

Folk expressiveness is also expressed through colors associated with the colors of festivals, beliefs and the philosophy of yin and yang and the five elements. The colors of votive offerings clearly demonstrate this concept. The colors in installation works such as A Soul, The Story of the Communal House, The Old Clouds, Tropical ... all aim at folk expressiveness with the rustic, simple beauty of natural materials and traditional handicrafts. If the colors of the scarves in the installation works A Soul, Tropical are metaphors for the discreet, profound souls of Vietnamese women with colors that evoke memories of festivals; then the colors in the installation works The Story of the Communal House, The Old Clouds recall the value of heritage and colors associated with the cultural and religious life of the community past and present. The colors in the installation works using votive objects such as Cauldron & Squat , Message to the Distant World , Circle of Life, My Name is... also express folklore with the rustic, simple beauty of votive objects and the concept of yin and yang and the five elements in traditional folk cultural and religious life. Commenting on the characteristics of Vietnamese artists, author Natalia Krevkaia said: "There are artists who have created a connection between traditional values, Eastern philosophical principles and Western conceptualism" [66, p.42].

Thus, the installation works with YTTT have created outstanding features with folk expressiveness with rustic and simple beauty in a new form of expression. Folk expressiveness is expressed through the way of creating shapes.

The characters, handicrafts and colors are associated with the concept of yin and yang and the five elements. Folk expressiveness is the combined effect of concepts, shaping techniques, folk colors and indigenous materials used to create the work. Folk expressiveness has given the Vietnamese Installation work its own unique beauty and characteristics, unique and simple cultural and artistic values, effectively conveying messages, easy to receive, and evoking many associations.

In general, Vietnamese art in this period has created a prominent feature of folk expressiveness. This feature is richly expressed in the themes of the works, from exploiting traditional artifacts to honor tradition to the theme of historical memories, becoming a mark in the concept of creation. Painter Vu Dinh Tuan once said, roughly: "There is nothing better than using tradition to talk about tradition". However, the use of traditional handicrafts and indigenous materials with inherent folk expressiveness to build installation works is a challenge to the artist's mettle, avoiding dependence, reliance, easy illustration, and lack of depth of ideas, which needs to be overcome as author Natalia Krevskaia pointed out: "Vietnamese Installation Art is limited to the framework of familiar objects in an understandable context and in a certain order" [66, p.45]. Direct use of traditional artifacts, indigenous materials or exploitation of ancient stories, motifs, colors, folk songs, proverbs with diverse expressiveness to build works honoring traditions, recreating memories of history and war has become a prominent feature of Vietnamese contemporary art in this period. Folk expressiveness has created a highlight in Vietnamese contemporary art. In addition, questioning the relationship between tradition and modernity, between international and national, global and local also creates a conflicting feature in the work.

3.1.3. Conflict between tradition and modernity

The context of globalization, international integration and exchange, cultural life, socio-economy has had many positive changes, at the same time many problems have arisen.

new issues of contemporary life, including the conflict between tradition and modernity, the opposition between the world and the local, the global and the national. Author IoIa Lenzi commented: "The works show the friction when Asia encounters modernity and the conflict between tradition and modernity is still relevant today" [87, p.93]. This is also an issue that many artists doing Installation Art are interested in, reflected through the works, creating outstanding features, strong visual impressions, and polysemy. Through practical surveys, it can be seen that the conflict in the Installation works with YTTT in this period is mainly formed from the oppositional relationship between the combination of objects; the oppositional relationship between objects and context; the oppositional relationship between old and new concepts . These opposing relationships create conflict in the form and theme of the work, expressed through techniques, shapes, layout, context, cultural concepts, beliefs...

The oppositional relationship between the set of objects creates conflict: besides the characteristics of symbolism, convention, and folk expression, the conflict in Vietnamese installation works with YTTT in this period is also a prominent feature. Works of this type have not only created unique characteristics but also shown the effectiveness of YTTT in Vietnamese art when they are components of the work, promptly reflecting contemporary issues. A typical example of the conflict and opposition between the set of objects is the installation work Phuot by author Nguyen Manh Hung. Using the contrasting technique, a scrap tire is placed on top of four turtles, creating a "conflict" with a novel layout. This installation suggests to viewers a rich connection with conflicts and prominent issues in contemporary life. The conflict and contrast between the combination of objects through traditional images, sacred symbols of Eastern culture (turtles) made by hand with mass-produced industrial products (car tires), a popular means of transportation in the world used in the installation work Phuot, is a typical example.

The oppositional relationship between objects and context creates conflict: the combination of traditional artifacts in the installation work Cauldron & Squat by Tran Hau Yen The with the effigies (religious, handicraft, indigenous materials) interact with the modern context to create meaning for the work. The effigies, traditional votive objects, strongly contrast with the modern space, advanced technology equipment (computers, air conditioners, cameras) of the context space at the British Council Library in Hanoi. Using YTTT to interact with the context, modern equipment, the installation Cauldron & Squat (Fig. 4.1.21, p.213) by Tran Hau Yen The has established meaning from this contradiction and opposition. The skeleton of the paper itself carries the cultural symbol of “spirituality” popular in traditional rituals, which is the component that creates this Installation, the empty figures, bewildered in front of the computer screen, forming a second symbol that metaphorically describes the Vietnamese people’s psychological beliefs, bewildered and bewildered by knowledge in the context of globalization. The aesthetic symbol in this Installation also reminds viewers of a message of cultural resistance to the whirlwind of globalization, a playground of a flat world. The Installation work Vac & Xom strikes the viewer’s vision with the chaotic, discordant appearance of the empty woven bamboo figures: One is squatting, another is sitting on a modern chair, worse, some are “sitting openly” on the bookshelf filled with human knowledge, above the viewer’s head. “Squatting” until “Vac” goes away, withers away. An individual who is empty of culture and intelligence will inevitably lead to deviant behavior. An empty society is incalculably dangerous... The installation work Cauldron & Squat is an open suggestion, depending on the ability to perceive, the viewer can ponder and ask many questions when enjoying. Emphasizing the relationship of the set of artifacts with the context, author Natalia Krevskaia wrote: "The idea of ​​​​considering Installation... attached to a place where the value and meaning of an object are discarded, the focus of attention is on the relationship and interaction between objects and their context to create a whole"