Lecture: Fiona Tan and Venice

2010-09-30T23:00:00Z

Saskia Bos, dean of the Cooper Union School of Art and a key figure in European contemporary art, discusses Tan’s work and her own experiences as curator of the Dutch Pavilion—a presentation of three projects by Tan—at the 2009 Venice Biennale.

The Little Girl of Hanoi

2010-10-02T18:00:00Z

In person: William Belding, Frederick Z. Brown, Bill Marmon, Ron Nessen, and Jonathan Rosenbaum

Filmed amid the rubble of a recently bombed Hanoi, this harrowing tale—of a girl searching for her soldier father after losing the rest of her family during a bombardment—is at once a powerful drama and a very rare look at life in the city during the Vietnam War. In the words of film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, "the film is remarkable not only for its sincerity and emotional directness, but for its accomplished visual style." (Dir.: Hai Ninh, Vietnam, 1974, 72 min., B&W, video, Vietnamese with English subtitles)

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.

Panelists: William Belding is an adjunct professor at American University's School of International Service. He was president and CEO of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, an international humanitarian organization that co-founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. He also served as chief of staff of Common Cause. He was a Navy SEAL and served in Vietnam.

Frederick Z. Brown is a visiting research scholar in the Southeast Asia studies program, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. He is a retired State Department officer who served in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1968–78.

Bill Marmon was a Time Magazine staff correspondent in Saigon from 1968–71. He returned to Asia more recently as general counsel for MCI/Verizon, covering Vietnam. He continued to follow events in Vietnam as vice-president of the US ASEAN Business Council from 2008–2009. He is now retired but works with the European Institute as managing editor of its online journal.

Ron Nessen is Journalist in Residence at the Brookings Institution, a Washington thinktank. He served five tours as an NBC News correspondent covering the Vietnam War, and was wounded while covering a battle with the 101st Airborne Division. He later became President Gerald R. Ford's White House press secretary. In that capacity, he announced the end of America's military involvement in Vietnam. His memoir, titled Making the News, Taking the News, will be published in 2011.

Jonathan Rosenbaum was head film critic for the Chicago Reader from 1987–2008, and has contributed to many major film publications, including Film Comment and Cahiers du cinéma. An authority on world cinema, among his books are Moving Places: A Life at the Movies (1980), Placing Movies: The Practice of Film Criticism (1995), Movies as Politics (1997), Essential Cinema: On the Necessity of Film Canons (2004), and Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition (2010).

Gallery Talk: Remember, Recollect, and Revive: Time and Fiona Tan

2010-10-02T18:00:00Z

Curator Carol Huh reveals how Tan’s videos and photographs explore the power of images to construct memories and provide a compelling dimension to understanding contemporary Asian art and culture.

Freer and Sackler Galleries|Talks and Lectures

Lecture: Fiona Tan and Venice

The Little Girl of Hanoi

Gallery Talk: Remember, Recollect, and Revive: Time and Fiona Tan