Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba Born in Japan now lives and works in Vietnam. His early works comprise of: works dealt with he life of the Vietnamese people.
The Work comprises of men who work in pairs moving the cyclos underwater. It shows there process of struggle consisting of pull, push and pedaling until once reaching the underground city in which is made from stretched out netting. The struggle increases as they get deeper whilst the trip to the surface takes longer and in-turn leading the cyclos to be abandoned.
The struggle of the cyclos is symbolic in the way that vietnamese people have had struggle with the process of modernization. I think this piece has a direct link back To the Enlightenment theory, that being of universalism and science. The idea that the world should all be similar and that things learnt can be applied any where around the world (Hamilton,1992). This specific example with the cyclos being upgraded to motor vehicles in, therefore helping Vietnam becoming more modernized in todays society. My views on this issue is that the improvements of science and technology is also in turn changing the culture and norms of the Vietnamese people such as the cyclo peddlers. The cyclo peddlers will lose their jobs along with the culture being nothing but a memory of the past. Now that vietnam is becoming more civilized and modern there has been a push for new machinery motor vehicle such as cars and taxis (http://sites.asiasociety.org/arts/nh/index.html).
The underwater town has link to the title as it can be seen as the under water town made by stretched out netting is a metaphorical metaphor for the many Vietnamese people who had drowned during the war (http://rickshawchallenge.com/tag/memorial-project-nha-trang). I think that the title reflects how Jun sees the Vietnamese people and society as still old and unmodernized. This can be seen with the use of cyclos and also using the contrast with the title and war as symbolically showing the struggle for the vietnamese people, even so back in the old days during the war.
I like the way you described this unique work. The use of words like "pulling" and "pushing" describes the work very well, with the "workers" being subject to the currents and resistance of the water, much like the steady, flowing change of time bringing on more modern concepts. These may be described as progress, but as you said many people lose their livelihoods in the process for more convenience.
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