Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam' (2001)
'Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam- 'Towards the Complex-For the Courageous, the Curious and the Cowards', (2001) is a video project by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba.
Research this project to identify the ideas behind the work. Can you connect some of the concepts and ideas from the renaissance, Enlightenment or Modernism with the work? Discuss your answer.
Discuss how do you think the title of the work reflects the artists' intentions?
In a work commissioned for the 2001 Yokohama Triennale of Contemporary Nguyen-Hatsushiba again focused on cyclo drivers in his video project, Memorial Project Nha Trang, Vietnam: Towards the Complex-For the Courageous, the Curious and the Cowards (2001).
Filmed on location in Vietnam’s Indochina Sea, this remarkable 13-minute video depicts a number of young men struggling to propel cyclos across the rock-strewn, sandy, ocean bottom. Memorial Project Nha Trang does not employ actors, using actual fishermen instead, for the grueling task. Meant to signify the harsh, challenging conditions of everyday life for many Vietnamese people, the arduous job of dragging the cyclos through the ocean speaks to the difficult burden of the past in the face of modernization. Working in teams, they pull, push, and pedal the passenger less vehicles; and periodically they must rush up to the surface for air or risk drowning. The water grows deeper; the boulders get larger; the trip to the surface takes longer; and the task is increasingly arduous.
The film’s sense of absurdity is heightened by the fact that the physical struggles are real; from the splashing and stumbling trek from beach to sea-floor, to the maneuvering around boulders and beds of coral. Each time a man seeks traction in the sand with his toes or pushes to the surface to breathe, he does so out of the necessity to overcome the tangible barriers he faces. Finally, the drivers abandon their cyclos, and swim together toward an underwater “city” composed of tents made from white netting strung between boulders, a metaphorical memorial for the many Vietnamese boat people drowned in the aftermath of the war. The clear blue water, sunlight dappling the ocean floor, and gentle flute music composed by Quoc Bao and Nguyen-Hatsushiba, again provide stark contrast in this all-too-real metaphor for this endangered way of life.
This cheap means of transportation has provided a source of income for many of those unemployed as a result of the country’s reunification. Modernization, however, has made these vehicles, which are good for the environment, but slow moving and old-fashioned, unwelcome on Vietnamese city streets; and the government has banned further production of cyclos.
http://www.nyartbeat.com/nyablog/2008/07/for-the-courageous-the-curious-and-the-cowards/
http://listart.mit.edu/node/533
Hey Emma
ReplyDeleteI like your interpretation of the video, the way you describe the struggle and toil of the cyclo drivers is very emotive, you clearly enjyoed the piece. After seeing the video 'art' at the Thrid triennial I couldnt bring myself to consider video as a form of art, however after seeing this artwork its made me reconsider, the beauty captured in the camera is quite considerable. I couldnt manage to find the full 13 min video, but from watching the snippets I was able to find it was enough to make me want to see the final copy.
The idea of using cyclos under the water because Hatsushiba has been looking at cyclos and their drivers since I arrived in Vietnam back in 1994. As modern means of transportation, such as taxis, become more popular with modern business, cyclos become less and less in demand. In the near future, we may see them only as tourist attractions. Hatsushiba used video to present his art work because he thinks it is a interesting and more memorial way to remind people that in today's society not many people value the old. People chasing new and fashion .Colonial houses are destroyed for new multi-story apartment buildings.
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