Some people just like to create and you can’t fit them into a box. Lâm Đạo Đạo is one of these people. The Vietnamese creative has got his hands into a little bit of everything. From music production and DJing, to digital art and production design; he just likes to make things whenever the inspiration strikes. His main passion is film direction, and all of these inspirations help to make his videos crazy engaging. Sculptures made of bulky glowing CRT televisions, post apocalyptic CGI worlds, 3D drone mapping. All of this finds its way into his videos. But on the side he’s continually making cool little side projects as well.
Đạo, who’s born and raised in Saigon, started producing music 4 years ago, making everything from techno to hip hop. During COVID he started to experiment with digital art and now makes 3D art on Blender for fun. Sometimes he also builds stuff. Recently he made a humanoid table with pants and sneakers just for the sake of it. It’s got regular table legs affixed to the round top, but he can change the pants and sneakers that it wears. He also created a flower boat for the DJ booth at a recent beach party. And he’s a breakdancer with a small crew called XFO.
You can see this wide range of interests all crystallize in the music videos Đạo is involved with. Through his production house ZORBA, he co-directed the massive intro (above) for the new Street Dance Vietnam show alongside Phương Vũ of Antiantiart. It featured 200 dancers and 10 sets. They shot the entire thing over the course of seven days and only had ten days of pre-production. But the results were nothing short of impressive, combing a number of different locations, styles, and people in a seamless, engaging production. “I didn’t sleep for two weeks, I was so busy I don’t really remember much of it,” he laughs. “The energy was great though, it was crazy. It felt like a really long party. Finding locations that would bring the Vietnamese mood to the audience was probably the biggest challenge.”
Đạo’s interest in 3D led him to to get involved with a collective of Vietnamese 3D artists called Out Of Nothing. As part of ZORBA, they handled the animation for Viet rapper VSplifff’s recent music video. In neon greens and greys, they race detailed cars through endless parking lots, LED covered city streets, and industrial back alleys.
You can catch Đạo here in Bangkok this weekend. He’s helping friends and family from AAH MIDNIGHT CLUB and AEIE clothing brands at pop ups in Siam Square. And they’ll be spinning at our very own Blaq Lyte 11 on Saturday night. Make sure to tap in!
