Hem: urban archive of D4, Ho Chi Minh City.

This archive is a collaborative research project between the School of Communication & Design and the Library RMIT University Vietnam, with funding through the Research Office, RMIT University, Vietnam. The archive is a collection of materials that have been captured and manipulated to document the various events within the Hems [Alleyways] of District 4, Ho Chi Minh City, using video, photography, audio recordings, drawing and mixed reality technology. This archive should be understood as a creative archive. It is an ongoing collection of audio visual material is processed using various digital tools. Alongside this the raw captured data also forms a key component of the archive. Together this forms a factual and creative understanding of these unique spaces.

This archive primarily came about through a research project that focused on the District 4 Hems as an urban environment that offers a specific glimpse into urban living in the 21st Century in Ho Chi Minh City. This urban investigation is considered critical as the city rapidly undergoes redevelopment. These unique urban spaces offer an insight into not just urban living conditions but also an insight into a cultural environment that is resilient and resourceful. The value of this archive is defined through its factual and creative functions. These two functions at as a record of what has been and what can be.

Since September 2016 a group of RMIT University Vietnam researchers and research assistants, have made many visits to a group of Hems in Ward 14, District 4. Their interest, as creative practitioners, was to record different aspects of this group of hems. The material captured included audio, photographic, video and audio based material. The researchers then have used the material for creative outputs that celebrate the uniqueness of the spaces, and hopefully help define these spaces as culturally critical, in the ‘egoless’ city.