TUOITRENEWS:
With the desire to create a new open playground for youths to enjoy art, especially street art, Linh and Ha, two white-collar workers, have turned unpolished containers into houses for art.
New open space for art
It was an afternoon in June when many Saigon youths and expats living in the city gathered in an area near the riverside next to modern villas in District 2’s Thao Dien to enjoy the art festival titled Melting Pot 2 which took place at a special venue surrounded by containers.
The festival, including a wide range of activities such as photo exhibitions, booths displaying woodcuts, henna paintings and fashion, contemporary dance performances and live music performed by Vietnamese and foreign artists, is one of many events which have been organized at Saigon Outcast, an innovative event venue.
Opened four months ago, Saigon Outcast has become a popular cultural destination for Saigon youths.
Located at 118/1 Nguyen Van Huong Street, Saigon Outcast was created by Nguyen Nguyen Linh and Doan Phuong Ha, who wanted to create a unique open space where youths could enjoy their favorite kinds of art. Linh and Ha hired the land to set up the containers and then designed them as living areas, with windows, stairs and kitchens.
When the time comes, those container-houses wear new outfits and turn into a heaven for street art. During events these unpolished containers, which were once used to transport goods, are now used in a surprisingly romantic way: transporting cultural and artistic messages.
During the week, Saigon Outcast offers a venue for young artists to display their installations or artwork or screen their movies. Big walls for graffiti, a playground for skateboarding, and stages for concerts are also set up within the venue.
Saigon Outcast has held many street art events including a concert featuring reggae music with a Jamaican DJ, an X-games festival and motorcycle performances.
A “crazy” dream of two office workers
Nguyen Nguyen Linh, an overseas Vietnamese who has been back in Vietnam for more than 3 years, and Hanoian Doan Phuong Ha, often describe themselves as two crazy young people. They became close friends when both were working at a gaming corporation, and that’s where the idea of Saigon Outcast was born.
To save money on hiring security to protect the land and the containers, the two moved into the containers with poor living conditions.
Through running Outcast, Linh is happy as he feels his Vietnamese part, which he thought he lost while living oversea for so long, while Ha finds it to be a great experiment that she has ever experienced before.
While talking about difficulties, the two honestly said money is one of the problems. They sometimes feel discouraged because they are office workers and do not have much money. What they have is their “crazy” dream to bring street art closer to the youths. Linh and Ha shared that sometimes they are stuck on questions like, “Why do I have to do this? It does not bring me money, why don’t I go travelling instead?”
However, they are also excited when they see youths taking part in their events, receive an offer to perform from a foreign artist, hear from a new painter wishing to display his works, or find street children who hope to learn to play instruments, and they remind each other “Keep moving on, no matter what it is!”
Saigon Outcast will feature numerous street art activities in the near future. These eventsy include “SGOC’s Rock Scissors Paper tournament” on June 16; “Saigon Outcast’s Costume Party” on June 22; “Motorcycle Lama Sunday,” a motorcycle performance with funny costumes on June 30; “Castaway 2: Moulin Rouge” on July 20; and the “Secret Garden Party 2” on August 11.
