Rethinking Solidarity and Brotherhood
Heritage Space, Hanoi, Vietnam, September 2023
This workshop seeks to rethink the concept of mutual aid and brotherhood between socialist countries and the impact of these relationships of exchange before and after 1989, which remain to this day. Focused exclusively on the voices of Vietnamese actors, narrations of the aftermaths of the Cold War from a new perspective are presented. These voices reflected the collecting of stories and memories of people who shared direct personal experiences of traveling as exchange students, doctors, and engineers to study and work in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and who later returned to Vietnam to build the socialist Vietnam together. This format facilitates the retelling of the personal histories of these individuals, and also integrates the stories, memories, and thoughts of their relatives, friends, and neighbors, thereby contributing to expanding the research scope and prompting reflection on the overlapping of surrounding memories. The series of visual and auditory storytelling workshops explores intellectual, political, and economic exchanges in the arts and culture, showing the influences these countries have on one another, while also tracing the lives of Vietnamese citizens who were expelled from the GDR after unification or returned willingly to Vietnam.
Heritage Space is an independent art space for many interdisciplinary activities including: art exhibitions and projects, library, music concert and performance, education and exchange programmes, and other activities. Run by a team of art managers and curators, Heritage Space aspires to become a platform for individuals/groups/organizations from a wide range of domestic and international creative fields, with a long-term goal to support and contribute to the development of contemporary art & culture in Vietnam.