Night Crawlers
a part of Hanoi Adhoc’s architecture pavilion, ARCHITECTURE, FACTORIES AND (RE)TRACING THE MODERN DREAMGia Lâm Train Factory, Hanoi, Vietnam - as part of UNESCO’s Hanoi Festival of Creative Design 2023.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.
Overvoltage
A site-responsive intervention, curated by Vân Đỗ.High-voltage electric station 33B, Gia Lâm Train Factory, Hanoi, Vietnam. - as part of UNESCO’s Hanoi Festival of Creative Design 2023.
Overvoltage, 2023
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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.
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
-----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.
Bling
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
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 Dreams
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
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
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.
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.
Crutches
Recto/Verso
found wood palette, found brick, bondo, tape, sawdust, found construction bag, and xeroxed found signs
Dimension variable
Verso/Recto
found plywood sheet, bondo, tape, found brick, glue, xeroxed found signs, and found wire mesh
Dimension variable
Crutches (series)
rebars, found brick, sanding paper, sawdust, and burlap
35 x 19 x 24 inches
Crutches (series)
dirt, carbon paper, sand paper, construction tape on found plexi glass
36 x 49 inches
found wood palette, found brick, bondo, tape, sawdust, found construction bag, and xeroxed found signs
Dimension variable
Verso/Recto
found plywood sheet, bondo, tape, found brick, glue, xeroxed found signs, and found wire mesh
Dimension variable
Crutches (series)
rebars, found brick, sanding paper, sawdust, and burlap
35 x 19 x 24 inches
Crutches (series)
dirt, carbon paper, sand paper, construction tape on found plexi glass
36 x 49 inches
Blind Maps Series
In this work, I start to work more with construction materials to capture the tactility and rhythm of a city’s becoming. Drawing the aerial perspective allows me to highlight the nonlinearity of urbanization as a material, temporal, and spatial process.
Blind Map series (0.1)
2021
mixed media on drywall
4 x 2 ft
Blind Map (0.2)
2021
mixed media on drywall
4 x 2 ft
Blind Map (0.3)
2021
mixed media on drywall
4 x 2 ft
2021
mixed media on drywall
4 x 2 ft
Blind Map (0.2)
2021
mixed media on drywall
4 x 2 ft
Blind Map (0.3)
2021
mixed media on drywall
4 x 2 ft
No Stop City Series
No Stop City
2019
mixed media on paper
9 x 7 feet
Firework City
2020
graphite, rosin paper, newspaper, carbon paper, wax paper, and tape on paper
3 x 5 feet
Patching City
2020
found floor plan poster, carbon paper, pencil on wood
41 x 20 inches
Build/Unbuild
2020
sawdust, rosin paper, construction tape on MDF
36 x 43 x 0.75 inches
2019
mixed media on paper
9 x 7 feet
Firework City
2020
graphite, rosin paper, newspaper, carbon paper, wax paper, and tape on paper
3 x 5 feet
Patching City
2020
found floor plan poster, carbon paper, pencil on wood
41 x 20 inches
Build/Unbuild
2020
sawdust, rosin paper, construction tape on MDF
36 x 43 x 0.75 inches
Chap Choang
Chập choạng
2019
Found cardboard, wood, rubber tire, cement, found rock, and used sandpaper.
Dimension variable
Marking while landing
2019
Found tree, clay, wood, charcoal and graphite on paper, sanding paper and rubber tires
Dimension variable
2019
Found cardboard, wood, rubber tire, cement, found rock, and used sandpaper.
Dimension variable
Marking while landing
2019
Found tree, clay, wood, charcoal and graphite on paper, sanding paper and rubber tires
Dimension variable
Test Sites
mixed media, since 2018 - ongoing
A series of sketches and unfinished plans for unrealized and/or becoming works.
mixed media, since 2018 - ongoing
A series of sketches and unfinished plans for unrealized and/or becoming works.
Vy Trịnh
b.1996, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Bio:
Vy Trịnh is a sculptor, whose work explores how networks of objects extend beyond themselves and reflect the larger socio-economic textures and conditions of contemporary Vietnam. Her practice follows the traffic of objects, different forms of labor and agency, and the sites where these categories are constantly being negotiated and improvised. Vy holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA from Parsons School of Design. Select group exhibitions include Worthless Studios (Brooklyn, NY), Atelier (Philadelphia, PA), Automat (Philadelphia, PA), White Columns (New York, NY), and Gallery MC (New York, NY). Vy is the recipient of the 2022 Christopher Lyon Memorial Award. She currently lives and works between Ho Chi Minh City and New York.
Statement:
My current work explores how networks of objects extend beyond themselves and reflect the larger socio-economic textures and conditions of my hometown, Saigon, Vietnam after the neoliberal Đổi Mới reforms. Materials and objects are sourced from different economies and ecologies—infrastructural, automotive, electric, discarded. I incorporate and work with found objects through addition, subtraction, and calibration to maintain the integrity of the economies and industries they come from. Tying, balancing, bundling, and welding are making tendencies borrowed from the city dwellers and manual workers I’ve observed and grown up around. I am interested in the ways objects constantly mutate and adapt as they adopt multiple lives through the circulation between different sites and usages.
In my sculptures, methodologies and material content are intertwined, insisting on resourcefulness and a make-shift ethos indebted to the city’s polyrhythmic, cyclical, and sedimented material environment. My work follows the traffic of objects, different forms of labor and agency, and the sites where these categories are constantly being negotiated and improvised.