Ancient culture told in young language

Touching heritage with technology

“Is creative inspiration something created or something realized?” - that initial question led a group of young people to found the project “Creative Wall - Digital Walls Tell Vietnamese Stories”, launched in 2023. They did not choose to start with big slogans, but with small things: a memory, a folk motif or a wall covered with the color of time. The first two years were a period of “trial and error” to find a way to tell Vietnamese stories in a flat world .

The exhibition “On the old wall, through the eyes of children” held in Ho Chi Minh City marked the official launch of the project “Creative Wall - Digital wall telling Vietnamese stories” after two years of online operation.

“Culture does not stand still. Every person who touches heritage sees a part of themselves in it. When young people participate in retelling traditional cultural stories, heritage is revived in a different way - closer, more touching,” said Hoang Hai Ninh, project manager.

“Digital Wall Telling Vietnamese Stories” is envisioned as a digital wall, where Vietnamese stories are recreated through images, patterns, memories and technology. “Wall” is the plane of memory, “Number” is the world of variables, where the same story can take many different forms. Combining projection technology, social networks and physical exhibition spaces, the project creates a multi-dimensional interactive cultural experience - where viewers not only see, but also participate, touch and tell.

Currently, “Vietnamese Storytelling Digital Wall” operates through three main spaces: art exhibition, interactive projection screen and online space on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Threads. There, young people can create, learn and spread cultural values through workshops, talk shows, craft activities and close, open art conversations. “We create opportunities for people to touch and tell their own cultural stories. For us, Vietnamese culture only truly lives when it is told by many people in many different languages, both technological and emotional,” Hai Ninh expressed.

Between concepts such as cultural assimilation or cultural appropriation, “The Wall of Vietnamese Stories” chooses to stand between two extremes - keeping the core but expanding the form. Therefore, in each activity, the element of cultural education is always put first. The young people in the project do not want to turn heritage into an exhibition object, but want to turn it into a “lived experience” - one that can be touched, seen, felt and created together.

Keep the old soul with the young spirit

From a non-profit project, “The Wall of Numbers Tells Vietnamese Stories” has gradually been welcomed by the art community. Many young artists also participated in the project in the early stages such as Pham Rong, Le Trong Hoang... who contributed to telling creative stories, bringing a new and familiar perspective to the journey of telling Vietnamese stories.

The exhibition On the old wall, through the eyes of children (held in October, at Con Space, Millennium apartment complex, 132 Ben Van Don street, Khanh Hoi ward, HCMC) is the first milestone, where the project comes to life. More than 40 illustrations by young artists from all over the country come together, creating a space for dialogue between tradition and modernity. Folk motifs, memory images, familiar symbols of Vietnamese culture are recreated with contemporary, digital drawings and very Gen Z emotions - bold, bright, but still full of respect for the past. The event attracts a large number of attendees from many different countries, professions and ages, and also raises funds to support people affected by storms and floods.

Looking back at the journey of “Digital Walls Telling Vietnamese Stories”, it is easy to see the interesting encounter between tradition and technology, between heritage and the future. There, each wall is not only a place to preserve images, but also an “interface” for memories and the present to connect. And each young person, when stopping in front of that wall, becomes a Vietnamese storyteller in their own way. “Each experience is a way of telling. Each person who touches is a person who continues to tell. When we tell together, the Vietnamese story will never stop”, that message is perhaps the most beautiful thing that the project conveys.

From a small idea, “Digital Wall Tells Vietnamese Stories” is gradually becoming a movement of cultural storytelling using technology, opening up a new approach to heritage in the digital age. In it, young people are not only audiences, but also creators, interlocutors and inheritors. And when young people choose to tell Vietnamese stories, culture is not only preserved - but revived, radiant, and continues to spread.

BLUE

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/van-hoa-xua-ke-bang-ngon-ngu-tre-post821733.html