» Power Pole Fossil

In 2006, Vuong Van Thao first unveiled his celebrated sculpture series Living Fossils. In this body of work, he created detailed models of houses and electric poles from streets in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, casting them in solid composite blocks. Each building was carefully selected for its traditional and historically significant architectural features. Thao then encased the replicas in cracked resin, giving them the appearance of ancient fossils. The installation approximates the actual locations of the buildings, forming a kind of “memory map” of the Old Quarter.

With the rapid pace of modernization and the encroachment of mass culture threatening Hanoi’s historical fabric, Living Fossils becomes a powerful statement on the coexistence of the old and the new, on historical discontinuity and displacement. The series also voices a quiet resistance against the city’s growing uniformity, expressing Thao’s vision of Hanoi as a place where preservation remains a vital, if fragile, concern.

(Edited from text excerpts provided by Designboom)