Video Spotlight: UuDam Tran Nguyen

UuDam Tran Nguyen (Born 1971 in Kontum, Vietnam. Lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Los Angeles, CA, U.S.). Waltz Of The Machine Equestrians, 2012. Vietnam. Single-channel video with sound. Duration: 3 minutes. Asia Society, New York: Gift of Mitch and Joleen Julis, 2014.1. Courtesy of the artist, digital image © UuDam Tran Nguyen

UuDam Tran Nguyen’s multidisciplinary practice is focused on the ramifications of rapid sociopolitical development in Vietnam, especially in relation to power, identity politics, and technological innovation. The artist was born in 1971 in Kontum and was trained as a figurative sculptor. He received a BFA from Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University in 1994 and the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2001, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2005. Waltz of the Machine Equestrians is a witty examination of the social and environmental effects of the rapid urbanization occurring throughout Vietnam. Set in Ho Chi Minh City, the video follows twenty-eight scooter riders literally connected by their brightly colored ponchos and identical face masks, the uniform of the contemporary work warrior, in a choreographed formation whose unified forward momentum becomes a metaphor for the combined achievements and constraints of urban modernization. The accompanying soundtrack set to Suite for Jazz Orchestra no. 2, Waltz no. 2 by the Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich provides a theatrical undertone that heightens the drama of negotiating one’s way to the office in modern-day Vietnam.