Umberto Eco’s text ‘Travels in Hyperreality’ discusses the impetus for the ‘hyperreal’, present in amusement parks and waxwork museums such as Disney World and Universal Studios. The theme parks in Vietnam disrupt this criteria, presenting frequent instances of fallibility and liminality.
Photographing the “backstage” areas of theme parks, outside of peak times, is an intrusive act, the photographing of collateral detritus an act of aggression which violates the performance of these objects and spaces.
Documenting unseen ‘trickery’ razes the suspension of disbelief, centering the private apparatus of public entertainment.
The amusement parks all incorporate Vietnamese iterations of animism. How does this relate to varying states of animation? Attractions, spaces and sculptures are constantly in the process of being inanimate-d, literally and through disposal or disrepair.
