Artist Thuy Tien Nguyen's solo exhibition, "Press, Release," debuting at Gasworks in South London, offers a thought-provoking exploration of memory, circulation, and the subtle resistance against societal momentum. The centerpiece, a kinetic conveyor belt installation, meticulously transports everyday items from diverse cultural backgrounds—Vietnamese, Thai, and British—through a carefully orchestrated yet deliberately disrupted path. This work, along with earlier pieces, reveals Nguyen's profound engagement with how personal and collective histories are shaped, remembered, and reinterpreted through seemingly ordinary objects and experiences. Her art prompts viewers to consider the impact of time, pressure, and the intricate mechanisms that govern our interactions with the past and present.
Nguyen's artistic vision extends beyond mere display, transforming materials and concepts into intricate narratives. Through various mediums including sculpture, sound, and installation, she meticulously examines the translation and adjustment of memory over time. Her works challenge conventional notions of speed and efficiency, advocating instead for attunement and thoughtful repair. By infusing everyday objects with deeper meaning and historical weight, Nguyen invites audiences to engage with art on a more intimate and reflective level, uncovering the hidden emotional landscapes embedded within our material world.
The Poetics of Pause: Nguyen's Conveyor Belt and Memory's Echoes
Thuy Tien Nguyen's upcoming exhibition, "Press, Release," at Gasworks in South London, starting July 9th and running until September 13th, 2026, presents an intriguing mechanical installation. A conveyor belt, designed with a sleek polished steel framework reminiscent of industrial efficiency, navigates through two distinct gallery areas. This system, however, operates with an unsettling rhythm, carrying a collection of everyday items from Vietnamese, Thai, and British cultures. These objects, including traditional krathongs—small floating bouquets meant to release negativity and convey wishes—are moved along a path that frequently hesitates and reverses, suggesting a promised release that is perpetually deferred. This deliberate slowing of the system invites contemplation on processes of circulation, memory, and cultural exchange, highlighting the tension between the smooth logic of production and the intricate, often delayed, realities of human experience.
This pioneering exhibition, marking Nguyen's UK debut, employs a modular polished steel structure combined with fragments of reclaimed timber, underscoring a dialogue between rigidity and organic forms. The krathongs, symbolic of letting go and aspiring for a better future, become emblematic of a larger system where intentions are caught in a cycle of repeated motion without definitive resolution. Nguyen's artistic approach challenges the aggressive optimization prevalent in modern society, instead advocating for a focus on attunement and mending. Her works, spanning sculpture, sound, and installation, meticulously explore how memories are transformed and conveyed across generations and cultures, often through objects that appear mundane at first glance but possess deep personal and collective histories. The artist's use of materials like memory foam and sugar, which absorb and retain impressions, further emphasizes the enduring legacy of past pressures and experiences.
Intergenerational Narratives and Material Resilience in Nguyen's Art
In her artistic endeavors, Thuy Tien Nguyen frequently explores the nuanced interplay between vulnerability and resilience, particularly through the lens of intergenerational narratives and the tactile qualities of various materials. Her work, such as "In the manner of speaking (me and grandma and you are both tired)," showcases a profound sensitivity to inherited experiences. This piece, a long sculpture crafted from welded aluminum ballet brackets and memory foam, visually represents the contrasting themes of rigid support and the absorption of physical and emotional strain. The ballet brackets signify discipline and the imposition of form, while the memory foam, capable of conforming to pressure and slowly recovering, embodies the persistence of fatigue and the echoes of ancestral struggles. This sculptural dialogue between hard and soft materials poignantly captures the shared burdens and enduring connections across family lines, transforming personal history into a universal artistic statement.
Nguyen's exploration of family ties and the evocative power of objects deepens in "Gentle Integrity," a 2022 artwork that ingeniously reinterprets a missing element from her grandmother's chair. By casting a delicate, elongated sculpture from caramelized sugar candies in the form of the absent chair leg, Nguyen transforms a void into a fragile yet potent symbol of domestic history and emotional sustenance. This choice of sugar, a material prone to melting and cracking, underscores the transient nature of repair and the inherent instability of memory, while also inviting touch and interaction. The work was prominently featured at Documenta 15 in Kassel, highlighting its significance in contemporary art discussions. Through such pieces, Nguyen elevates everyday items into vessels of profound meaning, suggesting that the seemingly minor details of daily life and family artifacts can convey sentiments and histories that language often fails to articulate, solidifying her unique artistic voice.