American artist and museum professional Josh Harris (R) poses with Ha Thuc Phu Nam, co-owner of the San Art Gallery in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam’s major cities need new modern art centers so they can receive touring international exhibitions, according to an American art expert.

He was giving a talk on standards for exhibiting, storing and shipping artwork using archival materials and museum-standard practices.

He said there was a lot of work to do to change the Vietnamese perception of “what is art?” saying it usually follows the progress in the economy, and cited the examples of China and India which have invested heavily in the art industry.

During the “Preserving and Managing Your Artwork” talk, Harris, who worked for five years at Asia Society Museum in New York, explained the huge expense of putting on international touring exhibitions and asked the question “How can these exhibitions come to Vietnam?”

He said the cost of putting on important shows in New York varied between US$1 million and $25 million but that there were ways in which Vietnam could get around this.

“There are ways to reinterpret existing spaces if people are willing to battle with bureaucracy; there’s a lot of opportunities.”

The industries that support the arts, such as shipping, interior design, graphic design and audio-visuals are already here, he said, adding that they need to come up to the intense standards required by international museums.

“The amount of money that is being put into the art world is a lot… It creates jobs and tourism.”

He cited the Guggenheim Museum which had established galleries around the world. He called it the MacDonald’s of art.

To illustrate how art generates jobs and tourism he described how the Guggenheim family set up a gallery in the quiet town of Bilboa in Spain. They approached the town by saying the museum would create 20,000 jobs and bring thousands of tourists and it did, he said.

The talk covered the process of putting on exhibitions from shipping to mounting and humidity control explaining how it could be done in Vietnam using resources available here and corporate funding.

One of the HCMC gallery workers who attended the workshop, Dang Dieu Hop from Mai’s Gallery in District 1, said it was very useful adding that she believed HCMC was ready for an international gallery and many local artists would benefit.

Reported by Michael S. Smith