On the afternoon of July 29, names well-known in the Vietnamese graffiti circle like S5, Devil Days, Zappy, Uspray, and X-Crime spent four hours drawing on any wall they found capable of being drawn on, especially walls of abandoned and ruined structures.
The graffiti works created during the contest were of different styles but only one theme: War and Peace. It is LinkFish who first thought of this theme. The group was present throughout the whole festival as well as was a jury member, and this made contestants feel more assured of the contest quality.
In addition to LinkFish, which is one of the two best-known graffiti writers besides Street Jockey, the jury also included 34-year-old Madds, a leading graffiti artist from Denmark. The Attack for A.R.T festival, the third though most impressive of its kind so far, also attracted local residents who watched with wonder and admiration the young artists at work.
Local support is a very special award for graffiti writers, who are often scolded or chased away by local residents who dont like the look of graffiti on their walls. So before the contest, the Attack for A.R.T participants had never dreamt of being able to paint with freedom on such an ideally large scale as the H5 street without any angry reaction.
But they did, in broad daylight, under the very eyes of œwall owners. And for this unprecedented event, they were deeply indebted to Tran Tuan Anh, or Zugi, a Zappy Crew member. Local residents had earlier been somewhat familiarised with graffiti by Tuan Anh works, which cover his whole house in the H5 area.
18-year-old Zugi had spent much time running around persuading local people to let the festival take place in their area. He said at first people hesitated, but they all nodded after hearing him promise, œIf you dont like them, we will surely erase them the day right after the contest.
And now that it is in place with 30 works, H5 is seen as Vietnam unrivalled graffiti street in terms of the numbers of excellent works and famous participants, as well as local support. Local viewers took part in the judging process as well.
Kid by Hoang Art, a work about war, was awarded the audience prize. The highest title went to Love by TOYinc1. Peace by CCexit + ComTHAN received the second prize. Both of these works are about peace. The third prize went to another war piece, Blood by Viet Anh + Buratino.