Tuan Andrew Nguyen Wing Balance, 2023
Brass (sourced from artillery shells), Makha wood
186 x 180 x 60 cm (73 1/4 x 70 7/8 x 23 5/8 in)
Forged from brass artillery shells and Makha wood, Wing Balance is a kinetic sculpture that addresses the enduring presence of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind by the U.S. war in Vietnam. From a turned wooden base, a slender brass arm arcs upward, suspending a delicate mobile whose polished pendants shift with the surrounding air and catch the light. The artillery shell, found in a scrap yard in Quảng Trị province, was transformed through the time-honored processes of pounding, casting, and polishing.
A deliberate homage to Alexander Calder's mobiles, the sculpture references Nguyen's 2022 film The Unburied Sounds of a Troubled Horizon, whose protagonist—believing herself to be the reincarnation of the American sculptor—uses the very material that killed her father to heal her troubled mother. In Wing Balance, this idea of material reincarnation takes physical form: a weapon designed to destroy is reworked into an object of poise and quiet motion.
Meticulously constructed to achieve perfect equilibrium, the work recalls a metaphorical scale. The Makha wood base, its silhouette evoking both a bomb casing and a Buddhist stupa, grounds the composition in the gravity of the histories it carries. Suspended between violence and compassion, chaos and balance, Wing Balance becomes a testament to the ongoing work of rebuilding.
A deliberate homage to Alexander Calder's mobiles, the sculpture references Nguyen's 2022 film The Unburied Sounds of a Troubled Horizon, whose protagonist—believing herself to be the reincarnation of the American sculptor—uses the very material that killed her father to heal her troubled mother. In Wing Balance, this idea of material reincarnation takes physical form: a weapon designed to destroy is reworked into an object of poise and quiet motion.
Meticulously constructed to achieve perfect equilibrium, the work recalls a metaphorical scale. The Makha wood base, its silhouette evoking both a bomb casing and a Buddhist stupa, grounds the composition in the gravity of the histories it carries. Suspended between violence and compassion, chaos and balance, Wing Balance becomes a testament to the ongoing work of rebuilding.