THE SONNET IN BLUE

An in-situ and interactive installation by Tran Trong Vu at the National Gallery Singapore, in the framework of the Childrien's Biennale 2017.

"I propose an art-work which suggests several reflexions about the reality and the fiction, the dream and the daily , the truth and the lie, the forgery and the authenticity, the violence and the softness…

I propose an art-work which would cause several dialogues between the colour and the form, between the form and the word, between what is looked at and what is felt.

I propose an art-work which would be a physical and direct connexion between the viewers and the image.

I propose an art-work which would be an appointment of two worlds: the one of reality and the other of imagination.

I propose also an art-work which would be an encounter of two universes: the one for adults and the other for children.

This art-work would be a visual pleasure which would lead to other non-visual and intellectual pleasures, a desire for the viewers to discover themselves what is beyond appearance. Thus, THE SONNET IN BLUE  would be a visual poem that hides many other poems in words."

In several Asian countries there exists a tradition according to which people hang their wishes on a tree, in a landscape, at a corner of street.… so that these wishes are realized. From this practice I created a vegetable form which flowers and in the flowers many poetic words were written by children from the South-East Asia area. 

The vegetable form are manufactured with plastic sheets. It takes the form of a labyrinth. It crawls in space and crosses from a space to another... The viewers are invited to enter the installation, to circulate, to open the flowers, to read and to write their short texts on its petals.

To prepare this work, a collection of words was organised, in collation with the Biennale, the schools, the festivals for children in Singapore… Then these words were reproduced inside the flowers.

During the exhibition time the children are invited to write continuously their messages about "Dreams and Stories", on the petals of flowers. 

My thanks to the entire the National Gallery Singapore team, the 40 volunteers who worked hard everyday during two weeks, and all the children who participate in my work.