Unveiling 'Mind & Machine' fusion in Vietnam Festival of Creativity & Design 2023

Tiếng Việt

Unveiling 'Mind & Machine' fusion in Vietnam Festival of Creativity & Design 2023

The annual Vietnam Festival of Creativity & Design will celebrate its fifth anniversary with its return in November and December 2023 under the theme of ‘Mind & Machine’.

The Vietnam Festival of Creativity & Design (VFCD) initiated by RMIT University Vietnam creates an open and interactive platform for creative individuals and organisations to keep abreast of the latest trends in creative industries.

Themed Mind & Machine, VFCD 2023 will be held from 13 November to 19 November in Ho Chi Minh City and from 1 December to 7 December in Hanoi. The program will include a series of insightful events, such as workshops, exhibitions, talks, panels, and performances, to explore the creative potential of technology and its tools and consider the challenges and opportunities that they present for the creative industries. People can enjoy free admission to most events.

Organisers and delegates at the VFCD 2023 launch event in Ho Chi Minh City.

Professor Julia Gaimster, Dean of RMIT School of Communication & Design, said: “This year’s festival highlights Vietnam's creative power and recognises the positive impact of the human mind, in a new era of technology. We will explore the theme of ‘Mind & Machine’, how they interact and influence each other in the creative industries and the potential that comes from the pairing of human thought, artificial intelligence and other technological developments.”

“Technology has always been a driving force for innovation and transformation, but also a source of challenges and dilemmas. As we enter a new era of digitalisation and automation, we need to ask ourselves: How can we harness the potential of technology and its tools to enhance our creativity and productivity? How can we cope with the risks and uncertainties that technology and its tools may bring to our society and culture? How can we balance the human and the machine, the mind and the matter, the art and the science?

“These are some of the questions that we will address in this festival. We will showcase the best examples of technology application in creative fields. We will also invite experts and practitioners from various disciplines and backgrounds to share their knowledge, insights, and experiences on how to use technology and its tools effectively and ethically,” she said.

Mr Michael Croft, Officer in Charge of UNESCO Hanoi Office in Vietnam said: “Vietnam is blessed with a vast pool of young talent, with more than 22 million individuals between the ages of 16 and 30 who are well-educated and technically savvy. They provide the country with enormous potential for the cultural and creative industries, as young people are at the heart of the creative industry with their natural inclination to both innovate and be creative and take calculated risks, especially through entrepreneurship.

“We have to continue to make the time and space for young people to play a leading role in optimising the creative economy's impact on the social and economic growth of the country. This has remained a key objective for the festival since day one of the first year.”

Associate Professor Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS) spoke at the VFCD 2023 launch event in Hanoi.

Associate Professor Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS) said she has complete trust and confidence in the importance of VFCD as the leading creative platform for any individuals, organisations, and communities in the areas of culture, arts and creativity in Vietnam, to accelerate the development of the cultural industries.

“This trust comes from the fact that this is the fifth year that VFCD has continued to successfully shape and establish many programs, events, connections and creative partners in the last few years,” she said.

Initiated in 2019, VFCD has contributed to driving partnerships and projects among organisations and individuals in the cultural-creative sector in Vietnam.

VFCD 2023 is organised by RMIT University Vietnam in collaboration with UNESCO, VICAS and other partners in the creative industries, with Hanoi Grapevine as the media partner and organisational adviser.

For more information, visit the festival’s channels: