Viet Nam News
HA NOI — Artist Nguyen Thu Thuy hosted a visit and talk at the Mirror House in Thong Nhat Park, Ha Noi, with many international guests who are members of the Friends of Vietnamese Heritage group (FVH).
The Mirror House, or Laughing House, was built in 1979 with support from the government of the former Czechoslovakia.
Renata Greploud, spouse of the Czech Ambassador to Viet Nam, was moved to visit the construction when she learned it has a new coat made from colourful ceramic pieces.
The guests learned how the construction was coated with ceramic pieces to make it “a sea world” on the land. They applauded Thuy’s project and expressed appreciation for the efforts of Ha Noi’s authorities and artists in preserving public art constructions.
Thuy has finished the first part of the project and the new Mirror House began receiving guests early this month. She will finish 3D paintings inside the house in the near future.
The house was built in the shape of a huge snail shell, with a labyrinth of 50 mirrors reflecting distorted images of visitors.
The House was in a state of disrepair with oxidised mirrors, leaking roof and damp walls until Thuy’s project started in July 2017.
Ha Noi authorities assigned Thuy and designers from the Tan Ha Noi company to renovate the house and turn it into an artistic work engraved with ceramic designs.
Thuy decided to take inspiration from the ocean. The floor was paved with the colour of ocean blue to depict an aquatic scene of coral, sea star, sea anemone and fishes. She used images of Ha Long Bay and Truong Sa’s [Spratly Archipelago] waves as guidance for the entire work.
Thuy is considered primarily an artist of ceramic paintings. It was her idea to transform the Red River Dyke Road wall into a work of art running along Au Co, Nghi Tam, Yen Phu, Tran Nhat Duat, Tran Quang Khai and Tran Khanh Du streets. At 3.85km long, this is the world’s largest ceramic mosaic and was awarded a Guinness World Records certificate.
She is also the mastermind of a great number of other public works of art such as the ceramic mosaic lotus steps in Thanh Hoa Province, the Ha Noi Amsterdam school mosaic sign, mosaic items along Tran Vu Street by Truc Bach Lake (Ha Noi) and the painted mural wall in the Da Nang International Airport. — VNS