Urban influence

A unique cultural program to be held in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City this month will explore how artists and the city they live in influence each other.

An audiovisual program entitled “Re-imagining the City” will be held from January 18 to 21 as part of the British Council’s “Creative Cities” initiative and in collaboration with the Vietnam Performing Arts Agency and London-based agency Onedotzero.

It will explore how artists are both influenced by, and can help shape, cities as well as give them a voice in how cities are planned, and will address issues of creativity, community and connectivity, identity, planning and sustain-ability.

A live performance in Hanoi, titled “Surface” will feature a collaborative, ongoing audiovisual work produced by the London-based creative group D-Fuse and artists from eight cities across East Asia.

D-Fuse and Vietnamese artists Tri Minh, Trinh Thi, Pham Ngoc Duong and Nguyen Duc Tu will film aspects of Hanoi and

HCMC over three days and demonstrate the results on January 18 at the Hanoi Fine Arts University.

There will be talks on “The Role of Artists in the Shaping of Cities” by D-Fuse, Michael Norman DaCosta Babb from the UK and local artists on January 19 at the Goethe Institute in Hanoi and on January 21 at the Duxton Hotel in HCMC.

After each talk, “Onedotzero Graphic Cities” will be on display, featuring innovative moving images exploring artists’ interpretations of the urban environment, curated by onedotzero and artists such as Neutral, Ed Holdsworth, Richard Fenwick and Light Surgeons.

Free tickets for the event are available at the British Council Vietnam.

Cities - artists

“Re-imagining the City” is a part of the British Council’s “Creative Cities” project, a three-year cultural and artistic partner-ship between East Asia and the UK to develop creative cities with successful knowledge economies where global citizens can thrive.

It has been touring 12 cities in eight countries and territories (New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, and Indonesia) from October 2007 and will go on until August 2008.

At the end of the tour, Surface will have captured the essence of urban expansion on film and in sound across the region in a unique and vital way.

According to the organizers, the UK and countries through-out East Asia have much to gain from sharing skills, ideas, resources, and networks between artists, architects and designers who will play a significant role in shaping the quality of life in cities.

Source: Thanh nien