Titled ‘Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Comics Today’, the exhibition is the first to introduce distinguished Japanese manga to Vietnam.
Nine works that have gained special attention since 2000 are ‘Number Five’, ‘The World God Only Knows’, ‘Children of the Sea’, ‘Sugar Sugar Rune’, ‘BECK’, ‘Nodame Cantabile’, ‘Solanin’, ‘Sennen Gah’o and ‘Five and Minutes from the Station’. ‘Manga’ is a popular form of entertainment for teenagers, and Japan has contributed to the diversity of manga by producing countless titles over the decades, according to visual artist and curator Tran Luong.
'This is a real contemporary art exhibition comprising of fine arts, installations, interaction and multi-media. Reading manga and seeing the exhibition will enhance young Vietnamese people's perspective of manga not only as a form of entertainment but also as a form of art,' Luong said.
Visitors have been surprised by the size of the large paintings which are hung on the wall in the main hall, featuring ‘Number Five’.
The work was serialised in IKKI, an extra edition of Spirits, and monthly IKKI (Shogakukan) between 2000 and 2005. The story takes place in the distant future where biotechnology has made the creation of androids with superhuman physical abilities possible.
’Number Five’ is the first electronic manga released by Shogakukan for the Apple iPad in Japan, the US and Canada.
In the next room, an installation has been set up featuring an oceanic scene from ‘Children of the Sea’. The piece is about an encounter between a girl and two strange boys against the setting of the vast, unknown world of the sea.
A Vietnamese pianist accompanies Nodame Cantabile on the second floor every weekend during the exhibition until June 16.
A compilation CD featuring the music has been released, and has also been performed in live concerts.
The work provides a good example of media mixing, developing the world within the manga into various real-life forms, according to the exhibition curator Takahashi Mizuki.
Manga books in Vietnamese and Japanese are also on the display in the second floor corridor for reference. Junior visitors can read the books after touring the exhibition.
'We hope that everyone who sees this exhibition will enjoy each manga's unique style of visual expression and its imaginary world, as well as feel the spirit of their times,' said Takeji Yoshikawa, director of the Japan Foundation in Vietnam.
For further details about the exhibition, a guide book is on sale for VND10,000.
The exhibition is open from 8.30am to 4.45pm until June 16 at 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc street, Hanoi.
