Is fashion an art or a business? Are the aspirations of the artist different to those of the designer? On January 14 (7 AM EST; 7 PM in Vietnam), Professor Martina Thucnhi Nguyen will join anthropologist Ann Marie Leshkowich and Dolla S. Merrillees, curator of the Ho Chi Minh City Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, to address these questions through case studies of well known Vietnamese designers past and present, and in the context of the scale and rise in popularity of fashion exhibition in galleries and museums in recent years.
This discussion will explore how aesthetic and market considerations inform ideas of innovation and heritage; concepts of the designer as both artist and gatekeeper of cultural and gender identities; including the complexity of an ‘essential’ or an ‘original’ artistic vision within Vietnamese design.
Click here for more details, including how to register.
