E L E P H A N T I N T H E R O O M
UuDam Tran NGUYEN envisions the everyday sight of exhaust gas clouds created by ten millions of motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh City as Serpents enlivened by that very deadly fume captured in his colorful plastic sculptures. Just like the Serpents that kills the Laocoon, the prophet in the Trojan War, or the Serpent that appears in the Hinduistic creation myth of the “Churning of the Ocean of Milk,” Nguyen’s work caught on film how the exhaust gas snaking from lines of motorcycles invading the human body like a living being. Serpents’ Tails originally was made up of 8 components: 6 images, 3 videos and 5 installations. They include Waltz of The Machine Equestrians video, Serpents' Tails video, Serpents' Tails Morning video, 6 Light boxes, One Large installation with 20 motorcycles and hundreds of hand-made inflatable sculptures, Breath, 2 Elephants in the Room, and a Rainbow Canopy. This exhibition at ACC includes the three videos with the installation Elephant in the Room. While Vietnam has a large elephant population, their number has dwindled by more than 90% due to the destruction of their habitat.