Take a look inside the Vietnam Festival of Media & Design: Hanoi 2019

Tiếng Việt

Take a look inside the Vietnam Festival of Media & Design: Hanoi 2019

The Vietnam Festival of Media & Design: Hanoi 2019 officially launched on 1 November to celebrate the city’s creativity and culture.

(From left) Mr Michael Croft (Head of UNESCO Hanoi Office in Vietnam), Dr Pham Lan Oanh (Deputy Director of Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies), Mr Hoang Quoc Viet (Representative of Hanoi Party Committee’s Commission for Propaganda and Education), and Professor Rick Bennett (RMIT Vietnam Vice-President Academic and Head of School of Communication & Design) are cutting the ribbon to officially mark the beginning of Vietnam Festival of Media & Design: Hanoi 2019.

Supported by RMIT University, one of the leading creative educators in Vietnam, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies (VICAS), the festival’s opening ceremony welcomed Mr Hoang Quoc Viet (Representative of Hanoi Party Committee’s Commission for Propaganda and Education), and honoured guests and partners from the creative industry.

RMIT Vietnam Vice-President Academic and Head of School of Communication & Design Professor Rick Bennett said the timing of the festival is perfect on many levels, including RMIT’s 20 year’s of collaboration in Vietnam, Vietnam’s appointment as ASEAN Chair in 2020, and Hanoi being awarded the status of Creative City for Design and becoming a member of UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

“RMIT is wholeheartedly dedicated to the ongoing creative development of Hanoi, including an expansion of our own RMIT campus,” Professor Bennett said. “We are totally committed to becoming an integral part of the urban fabric of this Hanoi and have some amazing ideas of how to do that.”

Professor Rick Bennett shared about RMIT Vietnam’s commitment to the ongoing creative development of Hanoi, including an expansion of our RMIT Hanoi campus to become an integral part of the urban fabric of Hanoi.

Deputy Director of Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, Associate Professor Dr Pham Lan Oanh emphasised the significant role of cultural industries on Vietnam’s socio-economic development, and the festival’s alignment with the national strategy to raise community and societal awareness of creative activities and education in Vietnam, and to train and improve the quality of human resources in the cultural industry.

Dr Pham Lan Oanh (Deputy Director of Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies) discussed Vietnam Festival of Media & Design: Hanoi 2019’s alignment with the Strategy to develop cultural industries in Vietnam until 2020, with a vision to 2030.

From 1 to 17 November, Hanoi locals and tourists will get to discover, attend and engage with a series of creative activities within exhibitions, workshops, industry talks and social media through the Vietnam Festival of Media & Design.

The festival will kick off with two creative exhibitions at the VICAS Studio - NEXUS and Tòhe・vo・lu・tion – organised and curated by RMIT and the University’s student club Current Media.

Visitors expressed their interest in the brief history of tò he, uniquely shown via the 6-metre long artisanal parade crafted by local artist Dang Van Hau and Toheviet team.

NEXUS is a fashion and architectural photographic exhibition created by RMIT academics in collaboration with Vietnamese architects and fashion designers. Deputy Head of the School of Communication & Design Professor Julia Gaimster said the two fields highlighted in this exhibition, architecture and fashion, do not exist in isolation from each other.  

“NEXUS brings together contemporary architecture and fashion design and connects them directly in a photo series. Architecture is the backdrop for new fashion; the models are live inhabitants for the architecture,” Professor Gaimster said.  

In Tòhe・vo・lu・tion, the idea of timeless art and limitless creativity is uniquely expressed through the symbolism of  tò he through films, a 3D model, Hanoi’s creative map co-creation, and a 6-metre long artisanal parade crafted by local artist Dang Van Hau and Toheviet team.

The festival will host a variety of workshops in which art lovers can spend time having fun and being an artist for a day.

Representatives of the organising board from RMIT University, UNESCO and VICAS at the opening ceremony.

RMIT Creative Experience Day is one highlighted event that’s open to high school students and parents to explore careers in media and design fields. The event will host a sharing session with industry experts and provide free workshops including game design, 3D animation, fashion design, scriptwriting and brand-building. 

Discover what’s on at the Vietnam Festival of Media & Design website or visit the Facebook page.

Story: Cindy Tran

Communication and design

05 November 2019