An Aesthetic of Matters of Concern

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A phenomenological video exploring the aesthetic of the urban traffic in Ho Chi Minh City

Most traffic research focuses on the technological and physical infrastructure of urban traffic systems, which is only a partial picture of the dimensions that make up a traffic system. Other important dimensions, such as human feelings, human values and emotions, belief systems, future goals, past events and more are important fundamental elements in traffic. Traffic users often subconsciously react to such felt atmospheric and affective dimensions, making these aspects at least as important as the physical components, and perhaps even more so. Atmosphere and affect – present in all traffic systems, but especially in Vietnam’s traffic systems – are fundamental to how we navigate our way through these landscapes, but because these dimensions are ‘fuzzy,’ and difficult to measure or quantify using traditional quantitative research methods, they are often overlooked in place of the myth of accuracy that comes with quantifiable numbers.

This video aims to create a sensory and affective experience reflective of the aesthetic nature of the HCMC traffic system, bringing to the forefront the rhythmic interplay, the relationalities, and the atmospheric conditions that are uniquely characteristic of the HCMC urban traffic experience. This phenomenological approach to the study of traffic attempts to approach the phenomenon on its own terms and using its own unique language.