You’re in good hands when you walk the recently opened Golden Bridge in the Ba Na Hills – two humongous hands carved from stone, to be exact.

Some say driving in Vietnam is a gripping experience… don’t even ask about walking. Until now, that is, and for that we can thank the eye-popping, jaw-dropping, finger-lickin’-good (OK, don’t try licking these fingers) Golden Bridge. The 150-meter (just under 500-ft) long pedestrian walkway forms a nearly-closed loop, offering visitors a leisurely yet visually-enriching route from the resort’s cable car station to the lush Avatar Gardens.

The Golden Bridge was commissioned by resort-owner Sun Group and is set among the scenic Ba Na Hills about 40 km (25 miles) west of Da Nang. The concept can be credited to Vu Viet Anh, principal designer and founder of TA Landscape Architecture. According to Anh, the bridge takes the form of a suspended gold thread held aloft by a god’s mighty hands.

Ba Na Hill Station was founded by French colonists in 1919. They chose the location, roughly 1,400 meters (about 4,600 ft) above sea level in the Truong Son mountains, for its cooler, fresher climate and spectacular scenic vistas. Accessibility was greatly improved in March of 2013 when the Ba Na Cable Car opened. The tram system is notable for holding the world record for the longest non-stop single track cable car at 5,801 meters (just over 19,000 ft) in length.

The Golden Bridge (“Cau Vang” in Vietnamese), which opened in June of 2018, was meant to supplement the cable car system and act as an incentive to the hospitality sector. In recent years the government of Vietnam has endeavored to boost incoming tourism, especially from neighboring China, and offer that nation’s vacationers an appealing alternative to Thailand.

The 5-meter (16.5 ft) wide Golden Bridge’s outstanding features are the pair of enormous hands that support the walkway. They’re not actually carved from stone, by the way. Instead, they’re formed from fiberglass-covered metal mesh displaying a distressed appearance.

“We’re proud that our product has been shared by people all over the world,” states Vu Viet Anh of TA Landscape Architecture. That includes eco-tourists, whose concerns about disruptive construction were addressed from the get-go. “The key to the design development was how the structure was to be inserted into a sensitive site, without major damage and disruption to the cliff below,” confirms Anh. In addition, he adds, “Columns used for the Golden Bridge had their frames painted in appropriate shades to blend in with the forest and give off the impression of a hovering structure.”

Positive reviews of the Golden Bridge have so impressed the resort owners, they’ve already contacted TA Landscape Architecture for a follow-up project. Details are scarce but, according to one source, an extension of the Golden Bridge in the form of a silver strand of a god’s hair will someday complement this heavenly bridge of gold.

With his own skin as his canvas and needles as his tools, artist David Cata demands a pound of flesh from himself in return for his creative expression. That is to say, each individual piece takes a toll that may require a healing period before he can begin another – something that can’t be said about most other kinds of artistic media. Previously known for embroidering photographs of his family members onto his palms, Catá now turns to scenery and still life as his subjects of choice.

But don’t worry, it isn’t too painful, and only barely draws blood. Working just on the surface with the layer of skin that’s mostly dead and easy to pierce, Catá typically ‘sketches’ whatever’s right in front of him, whether that’s the sleeping figure of a woman in bed, photos of his relatives, a snowy landscape or – as in the case of his most recent piece, Horizonte 07. La Musicá – the keys of a piano. He has also sewn tiny pockets for soil into his skin to support seedlings.

The artist leaves his works in place for mere minutes, recording their creation or photographing the results before ripping out the stitches. He says the resulting ‘tracks’ stay on his body for about four weeks. In an interview with Citizen Brooklyn, he said, “Somehow, all of the portraits I’ve done are permanently living on me, even if they are not visible. Each print is latent on my body. But, if I had to pick one, I’d keep my great-grandmother Perpetua’s portrait.”

Historic architecture meets modern art on the canals of Venice, where a pair of gigantic hands emerge from the depths to lend support above the waterline.

Designed by Lorenzo Quinn, “Support” was put into place a month in advance of the 57th International Art Biennale but is already drawing massive crowds ahead of its official debut.

It was prefabricated and shipped into positioned down the Grand Canal, then assembled and positioned so that it appears to support the Sagredo Hotel, a structure dating back to the 14th century.

Like many historic buildings in the city, this one rises straight up from the water — also like others, it is threatened by the prospect of higher sea levels as well as sinking and settling of the ground below.

“I wanted to sculpt what is considered the hardest and most technically challenging part of the human body. the hand holds so much power – the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy” says the artist.

“Venice is a floating art city that has inspired cultures for centuries, but to continue to do so it needs the support of our generation and future ones, because it is threatened by climate change and time decay.”

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“Reflecting on the two sides of human nature, the creative and the destructive, as well as the capacity for humans to act and make an impact on history and the environment, Quinn addresses the ability for humans to make a change and re-balance the world around them—environmentally, economically, socially,” writes the Halycon Gallery, which represents Quinn.