Ephemeral spaces
In China and Vietnam, underpinning urban development is a narrative of modernization. Making the modern city often implies processes of unmaking, causing the disappearance of spaces considered unsuitable to the visions of the future put forward by the authorities. Destruction is carried out in the name of ideals around the “civilized” (văn minh, wenming) city, which includes cleanliness, order and safety; ideals that often conceal market-related concerns. Places are often demolished overnight, disrupting routinised spatial practices. Sudden emphasis on legal norms to justify destruction is also extended to rural areas, where young urbanites avoid regulations by crafting out their own living arrangements. Beyond the photos included in this cluster, other places shown in the exhibition might await a similar fate.