Unidentified Vietnam
Multi-media installation and 30 min. 16mm film
2003-present
Since 2001, Lana Lin and H. Lan Thao Lam have been researching an archive of South Vietnamese propaganda films at the Library of Congress. The exhibition takes its name from over a dozen films in the Library's collection labeled only as "Unidentified Vietnam." These 1960's films--made with U.S. support--call into question the policies and politics of nation building.
With exacting attention to the material artifacts and architecture of the archive, Unidentified Vietnam simultaneously expands and contracts the space of history, offering a view of the present moment through the lens of past events. At the center of the installation, a card catalogue contains photographs of Library of Congress interiors and empty film cans. On the reverse of the cards are excerpts from interviews about the propaganda films conducted by the artists. In their video re-enactment of archival footage, former leaders of the failed republic refute Graham Greene's implication that Vietnam is "invisible like peace." Also on view, enlarged photographic stills of transitional moments in the films connote absence, stasis and movement.
Employing irony, humor and melancholia, Lin + Lam expose the force of bureaucracy, the dangers of nationalism, and the ramifications of U.S. foreign intervention. Recognizing the contingency of democratic discourse, they ask viewers to consider the viability of and possibilities for ethical interaction between nations and peoples.
