VietNamNet Bridge - There is a new address for art lovers in Hanoi – No. 9 Tran Thanh Tong. Many people hope this will be an arts district - such as Soho or Williamsburgh (New York), 799 (Beijing)...

From an abandoned factory ...

... to become an art shop (Nha San Collective).

... a fashion shop (2nd floor, Block A).

... or a cafe for young people named District 1.

This is the land of the Central Pharmaceutical Enterprise 2. After the enterprise was moved to the industrial zone in Vinh Phuc province, almost the entire factory here have been left fallow for many years.

From 2012, some car repair and car wash shops opened in the first floor of the factory. Early in 2013, the activities at No.9 Tran Thanh Tong were really exciting. Five rows of workshops have been divided and repaired to become wedding photo studios, galleries, coffee shops, billiard and fashion stores.

On the 4th floor of the building, there is studio 9A4 M of Phuong Vu Manh, a pioneer in body painting in Vietnam.

The 3rd floor is the workshops of artists from the Nha San Collective art club. They have turned the place into an address for painting workshops, exhibitions and an artwork shop.

Nha San Collective has opened several contemporary exhibitions of Vietnamese and Korean artists, art talks with a sound artist from Singapore, two art workshops of two Vietnamese and Holland artists...

Next to this is the office of the Dom Dom Experimental Music Center of musician Kim Ngoc.

The first floor of the building will soon have a small gallery of a final year students of the Vietnam University of Fine Arts.

On the fourth floor of E block, a group of Vietnamese and foreign artists have opened courses on storytelling by digital images for the two age groups, 12-15 and 16-20, in partnership with The Learning Project Asia. And hopefully, they will be able to open the English courses dedicated to artists.

Is it an arts district of Hanoi?

The workshop of body-painting artist Phuong Vu Manh.

No. 9 Tran Thanh Tong Street is the first place in Hanoi where many artists group up to make artworks and implement art activities, from painting to experimental arts with various forms of visual art and contemporary music.

It makes people think of the arts district of the world. The common feature of “art districts” is that artists take advantage of abandoned factories to work.

Barbetta 2 bar.

A small room in Barbetta 2 preserves memories about this factory.

If the arts districts in Los Angeles (U.S.) or 798 (Beijing) are hundreds of thousands of square meters and artists are the first to "revive" the fallowed area and form a community of artists, the one in Hanoi was not revived by the artists and they are not in a community.

One of the biggest reasons for the gathering of artists at No. 9 Tran Thanh Tong is the reasonable rent: VND50,000 to VND150,000/sq.m/month.

But things can change over time. Who knows that the artists from spontaneous operation will link together to make a community to organize small and big art events here?

TT&VH