🗣️ Languages: English, Vietnamese
👥 Capacity: Maximum 20 participants

🎟️ Ticket: 350.000VND / person, discount 20% to 280.000 VND/person for students or HAS library’s and TOONG’s members; discount 10% to 315.000 VND/person for groups of 2 or more.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:

Join us for a special workshop led by Yehezkiel Cyndo, a visual artist from Indonesia who has been practicing sketch journaling—also known as urban sketching—since 2011 in his hometown of Yogyakarta. This activity involves drawing directly on location and adding personal or contextual notes to capture the moment, transforming each sketch into a vivid memory. 

Unlike a photograph, a sketch develops gradually, giving us time to absorb our surroundings and reflect on what we see. These slow observations create deeper impressions, allowing us to remember more clearly what we experienced at the time.

For artists, researchers, or storytellers, these sketches are more than drawings—they're visual diaries that preserve moments, thoughts, and feelings. Many established artists begin with such studies before developing larger works. Over time, sketchbooks become powerful records of one’s artistic journey.

The workshop will feature a special guest: Nguyễn Vũ Hải, a Hanoi-based storyteller known for his immersive, place-based narratives. Hải will accompany participants during the sketching session, guiding them through selected locations with insights drawn from his years of experience designing interactive tours. One of his most notable works, River Traces, City Soul, explores how the Tô Lịch River has shaped Hanoi’s urban landscape over the past century. More recently, Hải has begun researching the history of Hanoi’s Chinatown and the once-vibrant ethnic Chinese community—now nearly invisible in the city’s daily life. His presence will offer participants a deeper contextual understanding of the places they sketch.

WORKSHOP FLOW:

At Toong Coworking Space:

• Welcome & Introduction by Heritage Art Space & representative of Toong

• Artist Talk: Cyndo shares stories from 2 weeks in Hanoi

• Introduction to urban sketching & its global manifesto

• How to select sketch subjects (places, events, objects with stories)

• Tips on combining drawing with written reflections

• Demo: common layout styles (full-page sketches & multi-panel pages)

• Sharing of sketches from Cyndo Jalan-jalan (Cyndo go Explore) project in Vietnam & Malaysia

Walk to the Old Quarter:

• Nguyễn Vũ Hải lead a tour for participants visiting special location around the Old Quarter

• On-location sketching session with guidance from Cyndo

• Individual sketch review and feedback

Back to Toong Coworking Space:

• Sharing session: each participant presents their sketch

• Group photo to wrap up the day!

MATERIALS & PREPARATION:

Participants should:

• Be 15 years or older (no advanced skills required—just the ability to draw and write simply)

• Bring their own sketchbook (A6–A4, portable size of your choice)

• Bring drawing and coloring tools (e.g., pens, watercolors, crayons, markers, colored pencils)

• Optional: A water bottle. Drinking water will be provided to reduce plastic waste.

Follow the Facebook event for more information. 

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NOTE:

*We aim to reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions in our culture and art events, so please bring personal bottles and avoid bringing drinks in disposable cups to the event. We have the water tank to fill your bottles inside the space.

**The event will be documented in the form of images and audio recordings, serving the purposes of storage, research, survey, and promotion... of the author and Heritage Art Space. By participating, the audience agrees to allow Heritage Art Space (and the author) the right to use your images and opinions as material for the program.

**Bank transfer details:

• Account number: 2794887.
• Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB), Ngo Quyen branch, Hai Phong.
• Account holder: Cao Thien Thanh.
• Content: Registrant's name (ex. caothienthanh)

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The workshop is a part of the Asia ARTMAP: City-Storytelling between Hanoi and Semarang, a long-term project initiated by Heritage Art Space, co-organized with Collabox. The project includes a local knowledge sharing session and a residency exchange program between art and culture practitioners in Hanoi and Semarang.

Sincere thanks to TOONG for providing the venue to organize this workshop and ba-bau AIR for supporting the artist residency space.

RECAP “MEMORY AND URBAN SKETCHING” WORKSHOP:

What We’ll Remember, What We’ll Forget

 

On Sunday afternoon, June 22, artists Cyndo and Nguyễn Vũ Hải led participants on a walk through Hanoi’s Old Quarter—exploring the city through the language of sketching.

 

Described by Nguyễn Vũ Hải as a practice that feels simple and familiar—much like how a tourist might observe a new place—but one that quietly raises deeper questions: If these houses were to disappear one day, what would happen to the city?

 

Cyndo began the workshop by sharing his illustration project from Semarang, Indonesia, where he created 100 sketches of Chinatown’s architectural facades. Participants then learned a few simple techniques to begin their own sketches.

 

 

The group went on a walking tour through the Old Quarter, observing and sketching the homes nestled in its alleys.

It was:

• A gathering and a conversation,
• A search for memories and how to preserve them in the city,
• A journey through narrow streets, discovering the language of sketching,
• A playful, hands-on exploration.

 

This was also the last event organized by the Heritage Art Space Library before we move to a new home.