NGUYEN 2015.053

On returning to Ho Chi Minh City from a long period spent residing in Los Angeles, UuDam Tran Nguyen was affected by the transformation of Vietnam’s rural and urban spaces caused by dramatic economic and industrial development. For Nguyen, the city’s ubiquitous motorcyclists are symbols of this transformation. In Waltz of the machine equestrian, their choreographed passage through the city is set to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich’s ‘Suite for Jazz Orchestra No. 2, Waltz No. 2’. 

Nguyen explains:

When I went back to Vietnam for the first time, I was amazed that most of the riders on the streets were unrecognisable. They were armed with colourful masks, helmets, riding jackets, sunglasses, and gloves. Most of the women also wear brightly decorated sun skirts that cover them from their waist down to their knees. I am very interested in this sense of anonymity . . . It also reflects the realities that Saigon’s [Ho Chi Minh City’s] people are facing. They are always fighting to protect themselves from the elements.