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Aug 12, 2021 / 18:15

Online Premiere: ‘The Long Poem for the Boundaries’

A 40-minute show, featuring a poetry recital, experimental music performance, and a talk show, will be performed this weekend.

Goethe Institut in Hanoi holds an online poetry & music performance by Vietnamese artist Chinh Ba at 8pm on August 14.

Poet Chinh Ba wrote 'The border lines' to showcase his feeling when receiving a recording of the sounds of a bomb from Gaza. Photo courtesy by Goethe-Institut Hanoi

The show features a poetry recital, experimental music performance, and a talk show. The clip of the performance will be available on the YouTube channel Goethe-Institut Vietnam until 10pm August 28.

As a poetry recital artist from 2013 up to now, Chinh Ba exposes himself to the emotional stratum by choosing the random arrangement of languages and different sound bands.

‘The long poem for the boundaries’ is made up of sentences, words, from real sounds which artist’s friends recorded and sent from the isolated countries, from conflicts, from the confinement. They are from many parts of the world and Vietnam.

Artist Chinh Ba said that he wrote the poem after receiving a message from his friend from Gaza at 6am some years ago. It was a recording of the sounds of bombs blasting around places where his friend was staying. It was 2am on his side.

The installation illustrates the poem reading performance by Chinh Ba. Photo courtesy by Goethe-Institut Hanoi

According to the artist, humans build borders to stop the attacks. It means they have no way to escape. They fall into their own traps.

“That’s how I see the world. I see how conflicting it is when people try to create a dream of heaven without borders, and then trap themselves in it,” he said.

The poetry & music performance is an event within the context of the project Culture Lab, an initiative by the Goethe-Institut Hanoi.

Chinh Ba is a performance artist, poet, music artist, and also the founder of CAB Hoi An art space.