Affective Communities: Imagining Saigon/Vietnam presented at University College London on Feb 11, 2021, 5:30pm via Zoom.
During the attack on the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021, among the signs and symbols was the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam, more commonly known as South Vietnam, whose capital city of Saigon fell to communist forces in 1975 and spurred the exodus of over a million Vietnamese to the United States and other parts of the world. The participation of these former refugees in the riot appears bewildering. This talk examines the ways in which contemporary Vietnamese artists have deconstructed these potent registers of feeling anchored to the image of a city, Saigon, as a metonym for Vietnam. The talk is part of the History of Art Research Seminar series at University College London. Pamela Corey teaches art and media studies at Fulbright University Vietnam.
