- Purpose & Concept
Hầu đồng is not only a ritual but also a living art form blending music, costume, dance, and myth. This zone invites participants to become co-creators, translating their impressions of the ritual into artworks, writing, or digital creations. It emphasizes that cultural preservation is not passive observation but active re-creation and reinterpretation.
- Learning Objectives
Participants will:
- Transform inspiration from other zones (costume, music, dance, storytelling) into personal creative output.
- Explore how artistic expression can be a tool for cultural preservation and self-reflection.
- Recognize the psychological value of creative acts as pathways for healing, meaning-making, and identity formation.
- Leave a tangible contribution to the collective exhibition space.
3. Core Components
a. Art Creation Corner
- Exhibit of Ngoc Bao Anh Le’s hầu đồng-themed paintings on a variety of materials such as canvas, silk, Do paper, bamboo, composite, vintage metalware, macarons…
- Tables with paper, brushes, acrylics, and digital tablets.
- Prompts: “Paint your version of a spirit,” “Design your own ritual costume,” or “Draw the feeling of music & rhythm.”
- Visitors can choose traditional media (painting) or digital sketching.
Hau dong-themed paintings by Ngoc Bao Anh Le
b. Poetry & Reflection Wall
- A space where participants write short poems, reflections, or blessings on colorful cards.
- Cards are pinned to a wall, forming a collective tapestry of voices.
- Example prompt: “What story would you tell if you were a medium?”
c. Collective Exhibit Space
- Finished artworks, poems, and digital creations are displayed in real time.
- By the end of the exhibition, the zone evolves into a living gallery of participants’ expressions inspired by hầu đồng.
- Psychological & Cultural Dimensions
- Active Preservation: Visitors engage not just as spectators but as cultural participants.
- Creative Healing: Art-making channels emotions and provides a symbolic way to process inner experiences.
- Identity & Ownership: Contributing to the exhibition allows visitors to feel part of the ritual’s living continuum.
- Dialogical Exchange: Personal creations become part of a shared cultural narrative, echoing the collective nature of hầu đồng.
- Design & Atmosphere
- Spatial Layout: Bright, open, studio-like space following darker immersive ritual zones → symbolizes transition from reflection to creation.
- Materials: Traditional brushes, colors inspired by ritual costumes, tablets for digital creativity.
- Atmosphere: Calm, inspiring background music (soft chầu văn instrumentals).
- Display: Rotating digital screens + physical gallery wall to showcase visitor works.
6. Educational & Preservation Value
- Demonstrates how heritage can inspire contemporary creativity.
- Preserves intangible cultural elements through new forms of expression (painting, poetry, digital media).
- Encourages participants, especially younger generations, to see heritage as interactive and personally meaningful.
- Evaluation & Impact
- Metrics: Number of artworks created, poems written.
- Quality: Variety of themes and symbols drawn from hầu đồng.
- Feedback: “How did creating something help you understand or connect with the ritual?”
- Long-term: Collect works into a digital archive to showcase the ongoing dialogue between heritage and creativity.
- Outcomes: Creative Expression Zone
- Cognitive: Understanding how ritual can inspire modern creative practices.
- Emotional: A sense of pride, joy, and self-expression through their artwork.
- Cultural: Feeling like contributors to the preservation and renewal of hầu đồng.
- Psychological: Relief, healing, and meaning-making through the act of creation.
- Tangible: A personal artwork, poem, or digital remix to take home or leave behind as part of the collective exhibition.
Poems by some participants
- “The Veil Between” by a quiet observer
I dipped my brush in crimson light,
and painted the air between breaths.
A spirit looked back,
not from heaven,
but from my own trembling hand.
- “If I Were the Medium” by a young dancer
I would not call down gods
I’d call my grandmother’s voice,
woven in threads of gold and smoke.
Her laughter would whirl like silk,
and I’d dance until the past forgave me.
- “Blessing to Myself” by a healing visitor
Spirit
lend me the courage to sing again.
I’ve buried too many songs
beneath the noise of being “practical.”
Tonight, I let rhythm breathe me back.
- “Digital Offering” by a teen with a tablet
On glass, I draw
the flicker of a god in pixels.
No incense, just light.
Still,
something ancient moves my fingers.
- “We Are the Continuum” by a collective voice
Paper, paint, code, and ink
each stroke a whisper from the unseen.
We do not watch the ritual;
we become it,
one color, one line, one heartbeat at a time.
