River Cities: Film, Mapping and the Intangible Heritage of the Tẻ Canal

The Talk

This presentation, by four academics from RMIT University Vietnam, forms a reflection of three years of creative practice exploration and research into the Tẻ Canal, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The projects developed each offer unique forms of engagement with the canal. 

We started with documents and maps, held in the National Archive II, that recorded the canal planning and discussions between the French colonial authority and the local community, indicating concerns about the canal splitting a village in two. Dr Agnieszka Kiejziewicz developed a VR film that captured the stories of the community that live on and alongside the canal. Dr Andrew Stiff developed a series of films that focused around the canal as an other-than-human environment. Working with a group of student alumni, a project was developed that used augmented reality installations that were designed to float over the canal. This project encouraged the ex-students to engage with the community and the way of life around the canal. Dr Thierry Bernard developed a series of sonic recordings from within the canal, providing a whole new environmental context. Finally, Dr Rachel Jahja developed a collaborative installation that used a 28-metre length of material that was systematically dipped into the canal, in sections, over a three-week period, as a mechanism to bring together films and sonic recordings in one installation. 

All these projects developed new ways of knowing the canal context and developed innovative creative tools to engage with the canal and its neighbouring environments.

The Speaker(s)

Dr. Andrew Stiff is a Senior Lecturer and researcher at RMIT Vietnam’s School of Communication & Design, where he serves as Co-Chair of Practice Research Symposium Asia (2025–28) and supervises PhD candidates. A filmmaker with a PhD in Architecture and Urban Design from RMIT University, his research explores the complex relationships between community and the built environment. His work, including Moving Experiences: Video Observations of Ho Chi Minh City, highlights urban spaces through innovative filmmaking techniques. 

Andrew has exhibited globally, including at the Venice Architecture Film Festival. His practice focuses on urban experiences, leading to the creation of a District 4 hem archive and the development of a 'RMIT Vietnam River Cities Network archive' of Ho Chi Minh City. He is also currently developing a ‘Living City Archive of HCMC. His teaching focuses on engaging with student-focused workshops and projects that explore the future of our cities.

Dr Rachel Jahja is an award-winning Senior Lecturer in Design Studies at RMIT Vietnam, where she focuses on transformative learning, sustainability, and industry engagement. She has held numerous leadership roles, including inaugural Program Manager for Design Studies and chair of the Sustainability Committee. Rachel actively connects design education with industry and creative communities, notably establishing the VNxSymposium in 2025 and co-curating for the Vietnam Festival of Creativity and Design 2026.

Holding a PhD in Architectural Theory from UNSW, her research spans spatial design theory, urban mapping, and cultural heritage. Her current practice-based research centers on documenting the everyday city as a cultural resource, exploring how local knowledge and urban narratives can be transformed into new forms of public engagement.

Dr. Agnieszka Kiejziewicz holds a PhD in the Arts and Humanities (with an emphasis on Film and Media) from the Jagiellonian University in Poland; the author of academic publications and monographs, notably Japanese Cyberpunk. From Avant-garde to Popular Cinema (featuring the development of Japanese cyberpunk films), Japanese Avant-Garde and Experimental Film, and Completed in Apparent Incompletion. Sculptures of Wojciech Seczawa (featuring the artistic pursuit of one of the greatest Polish contemporary sculptors).

For the past few years, she has been working at RMIT Vietnam, developing Virtual Reality and holographic display-based projects connected to games, digital media, films, and Vietnamese culture. She is particularly interested in the connection between the body and nature, and in how people perceive that connection in technology-driven environments. Currently holding a role of Higher Degree by Research Delegated Authority (HDR DA) at the School of Communication and Design, RMIT Vietnam.

Dr Thierry J.D. Bernard is an environmental noise artist whose practice bridges sound art, environmental listening, and practice-based research. He is a graduate of the École Supérieure d'Art de Grenoble in France and has developed his sonic method via a background in heavy metal and experimental music. He has a PhD titled More-Than-Noise: Listening with Saigon Soundscapes (RMIT Melbourne - PRS ASIA, 2026). He used autoethnography, sensory ethnography, and sonic ethnography in his PhD to study the urban/peri-urban soundscapes using creative practice. From October 2008, Thierry has been teaching at the RMIT Vietnam School of Communication and Design (now a lecturer in Design Studies), where he teaches and does research alongside collaborations in exhibitions of Vietnam’s landscapes and soundscapes.

Attending the presentation

You can join the presentation via Teams. The presentation will take place on Thursday 10 December at 10:00 CET on Teams (link to be posted). This presentation will be recorded. 

The River Cities Network presentation series

The River Cities Network presentation series is an online platform for teams in the River Cities Network (RCN) to introduce their river-city case study projects to other members of the network and to an external audience. Teams have approximately 30 minutes to present their projects, after which there will be approximately 30 minutes for discussion. RCN teams that are interested in presenting can contact rcn@iias.nl.

Header image: Canal Cartographics. Rachel Jahja. 2026