Street art livens up APEC Summit

DA NANG — An art space has been launched on the east side of the Rong (Dragon) bridge in Tran Hung Dao Street as part of the city’s street art programme in hosting the 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Summit on November 5-11.

Artist Phan Thanh Hai from the city’s Culture and Arts College told Viet Nam News that a group of lecturers and students spent 10 days completing murals on a set of concrete columns, beams and girders under the bridge.

“We turned rough concrete columns of the bridge into colourful art spaces that sent tourists and pedestrians snapping photos while walking,” Hai said.

“The art space connects with food courts, cafes and an art performance stage on the east side of the bridge into an entertainment for visitors on the Han River banks,” he said.

Hai said the programme, which started on October 21, includes free portrait painting and calligraphy for tourists as well as an exhibition of mixed printing making 3D and art installations.

Artists decorated concrete columns and beams with lively ocean scenery using 3D art, featuring the rich biodiversity of the Son Tra Nature Reserve in the Son Tra peninsula.

Last year,  college artists also debuted two paintings, which were recognised as the largest  acrylics on canvas in Viet Nam, in a pedestrian tunnel on the west side of the Rong (Dragon) bridge in Bach Dang street on the Han River bank.

Another group of sculptors and artists are decorating a 1.5km concrete sea dyke wall in My Khe beach with paintings and ceramic mosaics as an art space and tourist attraction.

In May, a mural created by artist Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy and her colleagues from the New Ha Noi Art Company located at Da Nang International Airport won a bronze medal at the 10th International Design Awards (IDA). — VNS