Rufa Exhibition of Acheivements 2013

On March 8, Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, Him Chhem, attended the Exhibition of Achievements and the Future featuring design by students of the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA).

 

This exhibition presented works they had produced during the past year. The works on display are creative and designs fusing classic and modern concepts for future innovation. The reveal RUFA students’ dream to the public.

 

This is the first time that Cambodia’s only public fine art university has brought together works form all five of its separate schools. The idea came from a group of students that call themselves “ Reeksai” (Spread) lead by Lor Vuthy, a fourth year architecture student.

 

Lor Vuthy

“I organized this exhibition to increase creativitiy and develop and preserve the work of students in the arts, especially to increase the friendship among the students and between the students and society. It’s related to the national culture. As I observe it, young Cambodian people now do not really know what Cambodian art is.”

 

Sob Dsakra, Undergraduate student

“There are a lot of students, they come and meet each other. For example me, I start to meet new friends. We have been studying in the same university for four years but we do not know each other. Through this, it makes people communicate with each other. I think it is very good to help us understand each other, learn from each other’s work and explore more ideas.”

 

Pech Sarat, Former student

“During my generation we were just writing books and putting them in the library. And future featuring designs by students of the Royal University of Fine Arts. But nowadays the students can show their work to the public and I get very excited about that, to see their work, so I encourage the Khmer kids to come and learn more about our art.”

 

Kasy Voleak, Cambodian Mekong University’s student

“I think this exhibition is great. There is a lot of works and they are so different from each other. It gives me an idea of what I can do and what I cannot do so it helps me to understand myself.”

 

Vuth told the Phnom Penh Post that in the lead up to the exhibition, the students faced many cost related problem that forced them to postpone the exhibition many times. “Since we had the idea about this exhibition, we faced a lot of problems because it is the first time for me and all the students in the University of fine arts. Because we have the five different schools, we have a little bit of conflict about how we thought about it. But I tried to solve that. The university just gave us support but the students did everythning by themselves.”

 

The Exhibition has successfully run for three days already with 2,000 people attending. The exhibition feature both physical works designed by students and performance reflecting the talents and skill passed down through lecturers who survived the killing fields during the Khmer Rouge.

 

The Royal University of Fine Arts was established in 1918 by the colonial French governor who then effectively ruled Cambodia. But it was closed during the Khmer Rouge regime. Today, the university has more than 800 students studying from all over the country.

Source: Phnom Penh Post