Nguyen Ngoc Quy’s project explores how generative art can reimagine and sustain Vietnam’s intangible cultural heritage, focusing on the tradition of Xoan singing from Phú Thọ Province. 

Xoan is a communal art form that combines ritual singing, dance, and symbolic performance. While archives often rely on static video or audio, such methods struggle to convey the living, participatory essence of this practice. Through a practice-led approach, Quy uses generative systems in TouchDesigner to transform sound, gesture, and ritual objects into real-time visual artworks. These experiments translate the cyclical rhythms, repetition and symbolic motifs of Xoan into evolving digital forms, creating a dialogue between tradition and contemporary aesthetics. Rather than a fixed archive, the work presents a dynamic process – an ongoing exploration of how intangible heritage can be engaged with artistically in the digital age. For cultural practitioners and researchers, it proposes new media as a methodology for documentation. For wider audiences, especially younger generations, it offers a visually resonant way to encounter heritage.

This project positions generative art as a bridge between cultural memory and artistic innovation, ensuring traditions like Xoan singing remain relevant and adaptable for future generations.