Vietnam's capital city has recently witnessed the emergence of a new type of cultural space akin to what have been labelled creative hubs in other contexts: that is, locales that foster creation, collaboration, community engagement and business development in the cultural sector. During the 2010s, Hanoi saw a proliferation of small-scale, art-oriented creative hubs, most of them community-led and developed without state funding. In a context marked by a government historically wary of contemporary and experimental arts, these spaces face various forms of state control ranging from the censorship of events, to stiff fines or even closure. Despite these barriers, creative hubs have become important sites for the gathering and formation of Hanoi's contemporary arts scene and countercultures. Based on over 80 interviews conducted in 2019, this paper investigates the motives behind the rise of these spaces in Hanoi and the political engagement techniques their founders, operators and users employ to remain in operation. Drawing on the notion of 'informal life politics', we argue that creative hubs seek to provide spaces of (partial) autonomy from governmentality in Hanoi. We further find that artists, intellectuals and other creative individuals use these spaces to challenge state controls. They do so not by lobbying formal institutions for policy changes, but instead by enacting the more open and free socio-cultural milieu they seek, from the bottom up.
越南首都最近见证了一种新型文化空间的出现，类似于在其他情况下被称为创意中心的地方：即促进文化领域的创造、合作、社区参与和商业开发的场所。在 2010 年代，河内经历了以艺术为导向的小型创意中心的激增，其中大多数是由社会主导的，并没有国家的资助。在政府历来对当代和实验艺术持谨慎态度的背景下，这些空间面临着各种形式的国家控制，从事件审查到严厉罚款甚至关闭。尽管存在这些障碍，创意中心已成为河内当代艺术场景和反主流文化聚集和形成的重要场所。基于 2019 年进行的 80 多次访谈，本文研究河内这些空间兴起的动机，以及它们的创始人、运营商和用户为保持运营而采用的政治对话技巧。借鉴“非正规生活政治”的概念，我们认为创意中心寻求在河内提供（部分）自治的空间。我们进一步发现艺术家、知识分子和其他创意人士利用这些空间来挑战国家控制。为达此目的，他们不是通过游说正式机构来改变政策，而是自下而上地开创他们寻求的更开放和自由的社会文化环境。.
Keywords: Hanoi; Vietnam; creative hubs; cultural spaces; informal politics; resistance.
© Urban Studies Journal Limited 2022.