Overvoltage, 2023

Space, steel, rebar, brass, flux, nickel-plated steel ball chain, light bulbs, LED lights, aluminium U-channel bar, silicon strip, hardware, tape, acrylic, and electricity.

Dimension is specific to the 33B high-voltage electric station , Gia Lâm Train Factory, Hanoi, Vietnam.


“Space is the main material in ‘Overvoltage’. Taking an existing site - an electric supply room - as an organic and mechanical site, both human and nonhuman, ‘Overvoltage’ witnesses an encounter between existing traces of an overall architectural structure and a sculptor who will produce on site, within a specific time frame, using materials sourced from electrical supply stores, adhering to the industry and the ecologies within the factory and nearby the site (Long Biên District). 


‘Overvoltage’ proposes that a particular site is not necessarily overcast by its socio-political shadows, but can rather be felt and made present – like how electricity current delivers, flows, and interrupts – through affect. Through Vy’s methodology of active working on-site, the train factory becomes her motor in revealing the kind of personality it once was and is as of now - being exposed, intervened, coming into sudden contact with strangers, awaiting an undetermined future.” [from Overvoltage Press Release ]

Overvoltage Website

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Acknowledgement: Overvoltage is funded by Vietnam Art Collection (VAC), with technical assistance from Á Space, and lighting support from Croled.

Photog courtesy of Trieu Chien.

Night Crawlers, 2023
Sculpture (a series of 5)


I picked objects and structures that facilitated multiple flows of ventilation, production, and circulation at the factory. All objects were found on site. Labor makes and unmakes. Time folds and unfolds. Dreams flicker and emerge again.


Night Crawler (1), 2023
Rusted ring and a crushed section from a pipe, and nickel-plated steel ball chain.
55 x 70 x 65 cm


Night Crawler (2), 2023
Ventilation pipe cut in half, rebar, brass, flux, and nickel-plated steel ball chain.
64 x 65 x 115 cm


Night Crawler (3), 2023
Section of the train, steel, and nickel-plated steel ball chain.
128 x 48 x 100 cm


Night Crawler (4), 2023
Adhoc tool table fabricated by the factory workers, rebar, steel, brass, flux, and nickel-plated steel ball chain.
110 x 140 x 145 cm


Night Crawler (5), 2023
Gas cylinder hand truck, steel, brass, flux, and nickel-plated steel ball chain.
60 x 98 x 116 cm

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More about the exhibition: https://www.hanoiadhoc.com/hah-1-0-exhibition

Photography by Trieu Chien. 

Bling, 2023
Installation view 

Streetlight, 2023
Found bicycle wheel, threaded metal rod, metal rod, and nickel-plated steel ball chain, cable zip tie, and J-B weld epoxy.
5’ 9” x 5’ 3” x 5’ ft

Streetlight, 2023
Rebar, annealed steel wire, brass, flux, and nickel-plated steel ball chain, J-B weld epoxy,
47 x 25 x 23,5 inches

Antenna, 2023
Found antenna, nickel-plated steel ball chain, cable zip tie, and J-B weld epoxy.
24 x 9 x 10 inches

Untitled Fan (Senko), 2022
Senko fan guard, brass, and metal.
24 x 25.5 x 27 inches

Fallen Angel, 2022
Found bumper, metal rod, plastic wrap, resin, and epoxy putty.
40 x 15.5 x 4 inches

Honda Dream I
2022
Honda Dream II moped chassis (bought from an automotive repair shop in Saigon), found dolly, Senko fan guards, wood, found posters, adhesive, aluminum, bondo, plastic wrap, and epoxy putty.
5’ 9” x 5’ 2” x 4’

Honda Dream II
2023
Honda Dream II moped chassis (bought from an automotive repair shop in Saigon), found dolly, metal scraps, brass, aluminum, found bumper, rubber, found tree branch, plastic wrap, and epoxy putty.
39 x 52 x 69 inches

Honda (KIA)
2023
Found bumper, PETG, metal rod, nickel plated steel ball chain, brass, flux, cable zip tie, and epoxy putty.
19 x 16 x 21 inches

Untitled Fans (Senko)
2022-2023
Fan guards and brass.
70 x 56 x 31 inches

These used fan guards come from a popular mass-produced model named Senko in Vietnam. Through the repetition of a modular form, the structure constantly negotiates in between precarity and balance, and stillness and motion. As a domestic appliance that associates with a specific socio-economic condition, the work navigates the object’s life cycle, thus exposing the embedded values.