A small gallery on Hanoi's Tran Hung Dao Street invites people to explore Vietnamese spices through more than sight. Opened in August, Zero Gallery uses pho as its first theme across five rooms inspired by spacecraft. A fictional robot guides the exhibition's story of preserving food culture. Visitors can examine digital spice models from different angles, discover their origins and experience familiar ingredients in a new setting.
In one area, controlled scents help visitors recognise different spices by smell. Elsewhere, moving a hand through beams of light produces sounds associated with cooking. The experience connects technology with everyday memories of food rather than presenting objects behind glass alone. Preparing the collection took much longer than building the physical space. The project shows how interactive displays can make cultural learning more active, inviting visitors to explore instead of simply observe.