Antique Dragon Spacecraft

What could be antique about a spacecraft? In this piece, ornamental decoration from eighteenth- or nineteenth-century Vietnam intersects with imagery from the age of aerospace. A roof beam from an upper-class home in Hue--delicately incised with scrolling vines, bat motifs associated with good fortune, and the face of a protective dragon--is fitted with wings and tailfins carved in a similar style by present-day artisans. The result is a sophisticated version of a familiar children's game: almost any oblong object can be turned into a jet plane, a sword, or a similar weapon with a little imagination (and perhaps a few sounds effects).

The transformation here is complicated by other factors: the legacy of European imperialism in Southeast Asia, the role of aircraft in the Vietnam War, and the modernization of old infrastructure through foreign investment. The protective figure of hte dragon seeems a weak defense against these issues.

The Propeller Group is a cross-disciplinary collective founded in 2006 and based in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and Los Angeles. It comprises three artists with backgrounds in visual art, film, and video: Matt Lucero (b. 1976), Tuan Nguyen (b. 1976), and Phunam (b. 1974).