Vietnam’s pine-forest contemporary art museum marks decade of growth

Marking a decade of development, the museum now houses more than 100 contemporary works, setting a new milestone for Vietnam’s cultural landscape and reinforcing the country’s growing presence in the regional art scene.

According to Chu Kien Quoc, former director of the Singapore Art Museum and founder of the first Southeast Asian Contemporary Art Museum in Singapore, Flamingo stands among the finest art spaces in the region.

He made this remark five years ago to artist and critic Nguyen Quan, who recalled it during the celebration of 10 years of the Art in the Forest journey and the museum’s 5th anniversary on November 29 in Phu Tho.

The mark of contemporary art

Nguyen Quan shared that after a decade witnessing the museum’s growth and its collection, he fully agrees with Quoc’s assessment. 

He has also contributed two paintings to the collection.

He noted that the museum’s artistic quality and its forest exhibition setting are deeply meaningful to him.

He expressed hope that the institution will expand its role by not only supporting artists in producing high-quality works, but also fostering art education and public engagement.

Over the past decade, the 'museum in the forest' has gathered more than 100 sculptures, installations, and paintings created by Vietnamese and international contemporary artists through artist-in-residence programs hosted on site.

Luong Xuan Doan, chairman of the Vietnam Fine Arts Association, praised the museum’s long-term investment in culture and the arts.

Doan remarked that its sculptural works, in particular, have achieved harmony between art and nature, creating a distinctive imprint on the contemporary art landscape of Vietnam.

“A contemporary museum with more than 100 sculptures, installations, and paintings contributes meaningfully to the emerging diversity of Vietnamese contemporary art,” he said.

Diverse voices of sculpture

To mark the 10th anniversary of Art in the Forest, the museum introduced eight new sculptures by artists spanning generations: Dao Chau Hai, Le Thi Hien, Do Hiep, Uu Dam, Hoang Tuong Minh, Hoang Mai Thiep, Pham Dinh Tien, and Le Anh Vu.

With their arrival, Nguyen Quan noted, the museum’s sculpture collection now represents a full spectrum of contemporary Vietnamese sculptural expressions.

Sculptor Dao Chau Hai presented Iron Bird in the Silent Space, a reflective work that questions where true strength resides -- in the figure or in its motion.

Meanwhile, OK, Buddy by young sculptor Pham Dinh Tien offers gentle humor and friendliness, like a companion to the pines of Dai Lai.

Sculptor Hoang Tuong Minh’s No Limit cuts through space like an incision -- cold, still, and sharp -- symbolizing human limitations while suggesting the tension between restraint and release in both art and life.

In Do Hiep’s Elsewhere, inspired by the fairy-like guardian figures of village communal temples, wide wings and a small, humble body evoke simplicity and the quiet longings that shape human life.

Returning to the program this year, sculptor Hoang Mai Thiep introduced Source, a continuation of a creative thread he has followed for many years, recalling beginnings and the stirring of new life.

Portrait of Emptiness by Nguyen Tran Uu Dam evokes stillness, impermanence, and the Buddhist concept of emptiness -- a quiet harmony with all beings.

Beneath the surface of Le Anh Vu’s earthy work lies the fullness of ripened fruit, a metaphor for vitality.

In contrast, Le Thi Hien’s Lotus, radiant in vivid pink, conveys lightness and buoyancy, as if floating in the air.