ZOOM01_DXC_BER.MP3 - Maya Nguyen
Maya Nguyen
Sounds of bartering in accented German. A phone conversation in Vietnamese. Delivery trucks honking. Tram stopping. Kids Crying. Cashier machines beeping. Bluetooth Music. Silence.
ZOOM01_DXC_BER.MP3 was a site-specific sound project based on field recordings of urban ambience at the Dong Xuan Center in Lichtenberg, Berlin —the largest Vietnamese-run market in Germany that is based on Dong Xuan Market in Hanoi, Vietnam. Sound recordings picked up atmospheres of the various hangars of the markets, identified products and services on offer, and traced snippets of conversations between store-owners, customers, and tourists. From these recordings, a performance (ZK/U, July 2023), intervention (Dong Xuan Market, Hanoi, Aug 2023) and installation (International Currents Gallery, Chicago, Nov 2023) presented the soundscape of the market as a place of both economic and social exchange within the larger narratives of migratory routes and global economies.
