LookAtVietnam – In the last 20 days, the “Emergency Room” exhibition at the Vietnam Art University in Hanoi has become an art space with real life issues.

A video artwork by Le Tran Hau Anh about traffic jams (photo: emergencyrooms.org/hanoi)

Climate change, traditional cultural preservation, escalation of the prices for apartments, cooking hygiene, traffic and environment are the topics of dozens of artworks displayed at the Emergency Room.

A globe put into a microwave oven, a bandaged throne, high-rise buildings, men in cars and motorbike horn are all images that have caught the audiences’ attention.

With the idea of reflecting urgent matters of society, the Emergency Room exhibition, sourced from Denmark, has traveled to many countries. In Hanoi, it has become a playground for 16 Vietnamese and six Danish artists.

Many artworks displayed at the exhibition reflect breaking news on the local media: thousands of cubic meters of timber floating in Dai Loc, central Quang Nam province after the recent flood (Wood storm by Mai Ky); urban farmers (Why farmers go to cities. Who will be farmers in the future by Ngo Xuan Phu); brick carriers (Brick carrying women by Na Son), etc.

Some artworks strongly reflected burning issues of Vietnam and the world: the aspiration to preserve and restore traditional culture (The Restoration by Tran Hoang son), corruption in countries (Corruption Flags by Peter Lind), US President Obama before the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 (Who will untie for the President in Cophenhagen by Peter Ravn).

At the exhibition, visitors can also “join” the game by marking Vu Duc Trung’s Hanoi map of rubbish to show sites where waste is found.

With nearly ten works contributed to the event, painter Tran Hoang Son, a lecturer of the Hanoi Art University, said: “In over three weeks, we had made a creative art playground. However, if artists have the chance to maintain discussion and exchange on the Internet and through other exhibitions, then the Emergency Room can be even more effective”.

Artworks displayed at the Emergency Room in Vietnam can be seen on http://emergencyroom-hanoi.blogspot.com and http://www.emergencyrooms.org/hanoi.html.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre