Art talk «Bài toán kinh tế cho nghệ sĩ trẻ» (Making Art, Making a Living)

   Making a living from art remains the hardest question for young artists in Vietnam. VCCA puts it on the table as a problem with workable answers: how the market actually operates, how to price your work, how to build a public presence, and what forms collaboration with galleries, foundations and institutions can take.

   The speaker is curator Ace Lê, Senior Advisor at Sotheby's, Founding Director of the Lân Tinh Foundation and Editor-in-Chief of Art Nation. He curated the landmark Indochine exhibitions «Trời, Non, Nước» (2025), «Trong Ngọc Trắng Ngà» (2024), «Mộng Viễn Đông» (2023) and «Hồn Xưa Bến Lạ» (2022), holds a master's in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices from Nanyang Technological University, and sits on the advisory boards of the Lê Bá Đảng Creative Fund, UOB Painting of the Year and VCCA itself.

   The moderator is Nguyễn Tú Hằng, co-founder of the Vietnam artist residency network AiRViNe and VCCA's Education Curator from 2020 to 2022. She received a Special Award from The Professional Exchange Program 2024 for Southeast Asian art and cultural practitioners in Taiwan, and will co-direct Art Fair Beppu for the 2027–2029 term.

   What the talk puts on the table
How the domestic art market actually works
Pricing your work and holding that price
Building a presence with the public and with collectors
Forms and trends in artist collaboration with institutions

   The programme is aimed at artists early in their careers, fine art students, independent curators and first-time collectors — people who rarely hear the money side of art discussed plainly, with figures and examples. Seats are limited and registration is required in advance.

   The talk is held in Vietnamese, without interpretation.

   If you are caught between making the work and paying for it, this is an afternoon worth giving to two people who have walked that exact stretch.