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Lakes

Acid-treated drawings on mirror;

with sound design by Nhung Nguyen
2019 - 2020

 

Site-specific installation at Museum of Biology Hanoi,

Citizen Earth group exhibition. 

Personal notes: 

 

Vietnam is an agricultural producing country. Since ancient time, Vietnamese people had to rely on natural forces in order to maintain their agricultural production. With animism as well as the amalgamation of folk beliefs and Buddhist notions, for long, Vietnamese people worship natural forces as gods and deities. Specifically for agriculture, water is the most sacred element. Hence, there are numeral folk tales and theophanies in relation to the element of water. However, in modern life, after religious rituals, people discard the religious objects such as altars, ceramic incense holders and votive money ashes to natural sites, right back to places with the said sacred element. Instead of sending these objects to the assigned places for waste or finding a more sustainable alternative, they believe by doing so, it would prevent them from being disrespectful towards the holy. Therefore, lakes, rivers and other open water spaces became places for discarding religious waste objects. 

 

Beside the disappearance of several public water spaces in Hanoi – the city known for its unique network of ponds and lakes – due to urbanization and other pollution factors, religious waste is becoming a threat to the water environment. It poses a contradiction between Vietnamese traditional customs, religious rituals and behavior-belief system of modern life. Why do they persist on praying for a wealthier, more prosperous future  with excessive rituals and frivolous religious objects while destroying the very future of our planet?


Born and raised in Hanoi, I have a special attachment to the city’s lakes and ponds with early memories of sightseeing lakes with my parents. In front of my family house, there used to be two lakes situated within very close distance to each other (Hoang Cau lake and Dong Da lake). For some time back in the days, besides being a peaceful scenery, Hoang Cau lake was used as a site for artisans to soak buffaloes and cow bones in their crafting process. That degraded the water condition of the lake and created horrific odor. In 2010, Hoang Cau lake was landfilled due to urban city planning yet it remained a parking lot for several years. Eventually, it became the land for high-rises. Dong Da lake has a different fate. It is preserved yet beside its seemingly tranquil and idyllic outlook, it is also a site where people discard religious objects alongside daily waste. 

 

All these have inspired me to create this site-specific multimedia installation as a response to Citizen Earth(*). My work was installed in the main hall of Museum of Biology Hanoi inside University of Science where the mosaic-tile floor, the surrounding architectural and interior details took influence from Buddhist and Vietnamese folk symbols. The materiality of the mirror directly replicates water surfaces. However, each mirror has a specific symbol inspired from Buddhist and folk religions in Vietnam that was created through a process of destroying parts of the mirror surface with acid, leaving them transparent. I wanted to create the in-between space of contradictions. Between the alluring, glorified reflections of the historical details and the re-interpreted religious symbols on the mirrors; between the soothing sound work featured by Nhung Nguyen and the blurry traces of my destructive process left on the glass surfaces; between one’s praise and loyalty to the divine and one’s dependence on the endless cycle of greed and desire; between being human with traditions to follow and duties to the well-being of our planet. The audience were challenged in an unsettling state, in-between contrasting extremities and are invited to question while negotiating with the said contradictions. 

 

(*) Citizen Earth is the one-year year project by Six Space that brought together artists and researchers from various fields to broaden discussions on environmental awareness and encourage action for positive change in Vietnam with support from Goethe-Institut and Prince Claus Fund in 2020-2021

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Curator Đỗ Tường Linh's notes:

 

“Water and water surfaces are integral for Hanoi, not only physically but also spiritually. Taking this inspiration from the historical and cultural significance of water in the form of lakes and ponds in Vietnamese culture and spiritual life, Chi L. Nguyen created “Lakes”. The unique network of lakes and ponds together with the Red River in Hanoi helps create natural open spaces, interwoven in the built elements of the city and above all, has distinctive geographical, environmental, economical as well as historical, and cultural significance. However, these lakes and ponds are rapidly being vanished or degraded due to various reasons including waste dumps, landfill, urbanization and privatization of public spaces. Ironically during her research, Chi found out the majority of “spiritual waste” from daily rituals in the city including old wooden alters, ceramic incense holders or lucky money’s ashes is the reason for the pollution of Hanoi lakes. 

 

Chi’s long interest in folk tales and knowledge and how these traditions sometimes teach us much more about living in harmony with nature than modern science led her to the exploration of mirror painting technique from an old artisan and the reinterpretation of different Buddhist symbols. The fragility of the mirror as well as the technique of forming images by erasing parts of the mirrors, and the sound is a poetic reminder of Hanoi lakes and ponds’ appearance and disappearance and our human impermanent existence on earth.”

​* Photos by Nguyễn Đình Hưng, Trịnh Quang Linh & Di sản Trung hưng. 

Ghi chép của giám tuyển Đỗ Tường Linh:

“Nước và không gian nước đóng vai trò đặc biệt quan trọng với thủ đô Hà Nội, không chỉ về khía cạnh vật chất mà cả tinh thần. Lấy cảm hứng từ ý nghĩa của nước dưới hình thái ao và hồ trong đời sống tâm linh và văn hóa của người Việt, Chi L. Nguyễn đã kết hợp cùng nghệ sĩ âm thanh Nguyễn Nhung để tạo nên tác phẩm “Hồ”. Mạng lưới mặt nước đặc trưng của Hà Nội không chỉ là những không gian tự nhiên tạo cảnh quan giữa bê tông cốt thép, mà trên hết, chúng đóng vai trò quan trọng về địa lý, môi trường, kinh tế, lịch sử và văn hoá. Tuy nhiên, những hồ và ao này đang nhanh chóng biến mất hoặc xuống cấp do nhiều nguyên nhân bao gồm rác thải, đô thị hóa và tư nhân hóa không gian công cộng. Nghịch lý thay, trong quá trình nghiên cứu, Chi phát hiện ra rằng phần lớn “rác thải tâm linh” từ các nghi lễ hàng ngày ở thành phố, bao gồm bát hương, bàn thờ cũ, tro hóa vàng đã góp phần gây ô nhiễm nhiều hồ ở Hà Nội.
 
Mối quan tâm từ lâu của cô đối với những câu chuyện và tri thức dân gian, cũng như cách mà truyền thống đôi khi dạy chúng ta về cách sống hòa hợp với thiên nhiên hơn là khoa học hiện đại, đã đưa cô tới việc khám phá kỹ thuật làm tranh gương từ một nghệ nhân lâu đời cũng như sự diễn giải lại các biểu tượng Phật giáo. Phần âm thanh do Nguyễn Nhung sáng tạo mang đến một không gian thiền định bao phủ lên những phản chiếu của bản thân người xem trong gương. Sự mong manh của chiếc gương cũng như kỹ thuật tạo hình ảnh bằng cách xóa một phần gương bằng chất liệu acid, cùng với âm thanh là một sự gợi nhớ đầy chất thơ về sự xuất hiện và biến mất của ao hồ Hà Nội cũng như sự tồn tại vô thường của con người chúng ta trên Trái Đất.

​* Ảnh chụp bởi Nguyễn Đình Hưng, Trịnh Quang Linh & Di sản Trung hưng. 

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