Installation shots of original 2005 version, three functioning vintage record-players from Vietnam and the United States playing Vũ Dân Tân’s piano improvisations of a single day inspired by downtown-Hanoi street noise and Vũ Dân Tân’s Old Quarter street, Hàng Bông. 

Originally produced for Out of Context, a 2005 group exhibition held at Huntington Beach Art Centre, CA, USA, 2005.

Description

A vinyl record with recordings of the artist’s piano improvisations made in one day serves as the centerpiece of the sound installation One Day. The musical snippets capture Vũ Dân Tân’s response to the chaotic life of his native Hàng Bông Street in Hanoi, which he observed every day from the open space of his studio. Vintage turntables and the rattling noises coming from the loudspeakers, which are so typical of Hanoi streets, gave an impression that you were immersed in the raucous city life of Hanoi. 

Text by Iola Lenzi, PhD, Historian of Contemporary Southeast Asian Art. Lenzi has conducted extensive research on the contemporary practice of Vũ Dân Tân, located in the context of contemporary art in 1990s Hanoi.