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Multiple personalities: A painting by Bui Xuan Phai. |
HA NOI — An exhibition entitled Ha Noi – City Mirrored in Art displaying works by more than 20 artists who have featured the capital city in their creations opened on Thursday. The exhibition, curated by Natasha Kraevskaia and Lisa Drummond, both of whom designed their exhibits based on their passion and scientific expertise, will be held in three separate parts.
The first part, to run until December 3, with theme Nostalgic, Utopian, Romantic and Idealised, shows Ha Noi as more of a dreamy than melancholy place, bright and airy rather than dark and muggy. Part one features works by artists such as Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Bao Toan, Vuong Thao, Brian Ring, Do Phan and Tran Nguyen Hieu, who have all portrayed Ha Noi as a romantic and nostalgic place.
A jazz concert by Thaerichens Tentett accompanied the opening ceremony in the courtyard of the Goethe Institute.
Ha Noi – Dystopian, Realistic, and Change will be the theme of the second part of the exhibition which will open on December 7. The six-day exhibition will focus on Ha Noi as an urban structure which is undergoing rapid change and upheaval.
Long considered romantic, Ha Noi is becoming a contradictory city which can be viewed critically through the works by Do Minh Tam, Vu Bich Thuy, Nguyen The Son, Vu Dan Tan, Nguyen Nhu Y and others.
The final part of Ha Noi – City Mirrored in Art will display the artistic research conducted by Hamburg photographer Andre Lutzen along the blurred border between private and public life in the Vietnamese capital.
In his series Public/Private Ha Noi, the artist plays with the contradictions and paradoxical harmonies of these two poles.
Opening on December 16, the final part of the exhibition will run until December 30.
Enjoy the exhibit at the Goethe Institute, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street. — VNS