About the project

Tầm Chân

Tầm Chân is formed from two Sino-Vietnamese words:

尋[tầm: to seek]

真[chân: the authentic]

Applying technological advances
to preserving and developing Vietnamese culture

Technological Innovations for
Documenting and Enhancing Vietnam’s Heritage

Introduction

The project is a collaboration between technology startup Phygital Labs and the UNESCO Center of Information (UNET). Tầm Chân uses the “phygital” technologies developed by Phygital Labs to preserve, exhibit, promote, and bring Vietnam’s traditional culture into contemporary life.

In this project, UNET and its network of scholars seek out traditional cultural values that are overlooked or at risk of being lost. The team of culture experts assembled by UNET conducts research on the selected values and artifacts. Phygital Labs then designs technology-driven solutions to preserve and promote these values.

This research, combining technology and traditional culture, is developed into “phygital” products. These are then handed back to the community to keep spreading their reach.

The project begins with the Nghê Văn Miếu – the mythical guardian creature watching over the sacred grounds of the Temple of Literature – Imperial Academy in Hanoi.

The journey to bring the Nghê into contemporary life

The Tầm Chân project began with research aimed at bringing the image of the Nghê – a Vietnamese mythical creature – into contemporary life.

We chose the Vietnamese Nghê for its symbolic power. The fate of the Vietnamese Nghê represents the ongoing effort to preserve and protect Vietnam’s traditional culture in an era of globalization.

In 2013, Vietnamese scholars spoke out in unison about a cultural encroachment: Chinese stone lions were flooding Vietnam’s sacred worship spaces.

In 2014, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued a directive requiring the removal of “foreign mascots” from heritage sites. But this policy only applied to officially recognized “heritage sites” – offices and buildings continued to favor Chinese stone lion statues, both out of familiarity and because Vietnamese people still needed a guardian creature to nurture their spiritual life.

So what could serve as a purely Vietnamese guardian creature? That was when careful research into the Vietnamese Nghê began.

But 10 years alone was not enough for the Vietnamese Nghê to be “revived” and reclaim its rightful place in Vietnamese culture.