News, 26-28/6/99
hytran
* Protest expected at Vietnamese art show - Activists say works show
communist influence
SANTA ANA (The Orange County Register , 26/6/99) -- Bowers Museum
officials decided to reverse a promise to pull a controversial painting
from a collection of contemporary Vietnamese art.
The entire exhibit will debut today.
The decision stunned Little Saigon activists, who predicted that huge
crowds of protesters will gather at the museum on opening day to
demonstrate against works they believe were not painted freely and have
communist ties.
Protest organizers, who were pleased that the one painting had been
excluded, had expected about 500 demonstrators.
But as news spreads via local radio and word of mouth that the
controversial pieces will be displayed, those numbers will swell, they
believe.
``We have known from the start that they are in league with the
government in Vietnam. This confirms it,'' said Lac Tan Nguyen, vice
president for the Vietnamese Community of Southern California. ``They
have lied to us, and they are looking down at our community.''
Earlier this month, curators invited Nguyen and fellow immigrants to
preview the show, billed as the first cultural exchange between the
United States and Vietnam since the countries established diplomatic
relations in 1995.
Janet Baker, Bowers curator of Asian art, announced Thursday afternoon
that the collection of 75 pieces will be shown -- including ``Young
Woman Forging Steel,'' which initially was excluded because of
community concern. It portrays a girl in a uniform similar to those
worn by communist soldiers.
Art experts commended the Bowers. Many people in the arts community
believe that artistic expression should be given free rein within a
museum's walls.
* Vietnamese Art Exhibit Sparks Peaceful Protest
Dispute: Demonstrators decry the display as Communist propaganda. But
one emigre says, 'The society in Vietnam is changing. The war is over.'
LAT, 27/6/99
SANTA ANA -- Outside an art exhibit that has reignited anti-Communist
passions in Orange County, Hao Nguyen told a story that immigrants have
repeated time and again.
He and his wife came to the United States from Saigon five years ago
for all sorts of things--for food, for work, a good bed. But most
importantly, he says, it was freedom that brought them to a country
where they could speak their minds, where they could spend a Saturday
afternoon on Main Street in Santa Ana and--without fear of
prison--grind the red flag of Vietnam under their shoes.
Nguyen and his wife, An, stood stood outside the Bowers Museum of
Cultural Art with about 100 other people, mostly Vietnamese, protesting
"A Winding River," a traveling exhibit of Vietnamese paintings that
opened Saturday. Earlier this year thousands descended on Little Saigon
in Westminster to demonstrate against the display of a Vietnamese flag
in a Bolsa Avenue video store.
The art exhibit had attracted about 124 visitors by 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Some in the local Vietnamese community have complained that it amounts
to propaganda for their homeland's Communist government.
The protest, which began at 10 a.m., lasted through the afternoon
without violence or arrests. Demonstrators carried signs that read,
"Human Rights for Vietnam," "Winding River is Propaganda," and "In
Vietnam Communists use Forces. In America Communists Use Art."
Bowers officials have said they chose the exhibit, in part, to serve
Orange County's Vietnamese emigre population of 200,000, the largest in
the country. But many in that community responded angrily over what
they saw as sympathetic depictions of Communist Vietnam. They also were
angered by the fact that the museum reversed a decision to remove one
of the pictures.
The show was put together by Meridian International Center, a
Washington-based nonprofit arts organization, and has toured the United
States for 18 months. The drawings and paintings, chosen by an
independent panel of American and Vietnamese art experts, include
pieces from the 1930s to the 1990s. Most were created in the last five
years.
Many are of rural scenes--rain-swept roads, huddled children poring
over books, a white house nestled in a blaze of red trees. In others,
prewar Hanoi streets are painted in relentless grays and browns, and
ancient Vietnamese lacquer techniques are melded to contemporary,
abstract stylings.
Beside each piece is a message from the artist. "I would like my art to
be laconic and capable of arousing feelings among the viewers," wrote
artist Bao Toan Nguyen of a 1997 work.
From artist Thanh Chau Nguyen: "A work of art acts like a bridge
between the artist, who uses the power of visual expression, and the
viewer, who reads it like a message."
The exhibit's message to visitor Tu Binh, 59, was that the Bowers
Museum did not cave in to "mob pressure." A Westminster resident and
refugee from South Vietnam, Binh said he had been following news of the
exhibit as it toured the country, eagerly waiting its arrival in Orange
County. "Art must reflect the reality of the society, and the society
in Vietnam is changing," Binh said. "The war is over."
* Protesters picket exhibit from Vietnam
SANTA ANA (AP, 27/6/99) -- Dozens of Vietnamese-Americans staged a
museum protest to condemn an art display from their Communist-governed
homeland.
About 100 people waving signs and South Vietnamese flags held a
peaceful rally Saturday outside the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art. No
arrests were made.
Protest organizer Hanh Chang said the 75 paintings on display convey
``the false image that there is freedom of expression in Vietnam.''
``This is the product of oppression and censorship,'' he said.
``A Winding River: The Journey of Contemporary Art in Vietnam'' is
scheduled to run through Oct. 3.
The museum initially agreed to remove a work called ``Young Woman
Forging Steel,'' which shows a woman in a North Vietnamese military
uniform. However, it decided to keep the painting on display after
receiving numerous calls from people who said they wanted to see the
entire exhibit, said Peter Killer, the museum's executive director.
Earlier this year, a Westminster video store that displayed a poster of
Ho Chi Minh and a Communist flag was the target of months of protests.
* Vietnam, Thailand strengthen cooperation
ABC, 27/6/99 - Vietnam and Thailand have signed a memorandum of
understanding aimed at strengthening ties by improving cooperation in
several priority areas.
Vietnam News reports the agreement focusses on commerce, investment,
technology, transportation, fisheries and maritime relations, and oil
and gas.
The memorandum was signed in Hanoi by Vietnam's Minister of Planning
and Investment, Tran Xuan Gia, and Thai Foreign Minister, Surin
Pitsuwan.
They were attending the sixth session of the Vietnam-Thailand Joint
Commission on Economic Cooperation.
Despite the impact of the Asian financial crisis, bilateral trade
volume last year reached close to one billion US dollars, up 27 percent
from 1997.
* Japan's Prince Akishino visits Vietnam
ABC, 28/6/99 - Japan's Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko, have
arrived in Hanoi, for a four-day visit at the invitation of Vietnam's
Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam.
Prince Akishino is making the first visit to Vietnam by a member of the
Japanese imperial family.
The youngest son of Emperor Akihito, the prince and his wife are
scheduled to visit former Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and
dine with President Tran Duc Luong on Monday.
On Tuesday they will travel to the southern Ho Chi Minh City and on
Wednesday to Hue, the former Vietnamese imperial city.
They will leave on Thursday for Laos, before visiting Thailand.
hyt...@my-deja.com
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