An audio-installation by Esther Johnson, Nhung Nguyễn, Matthew Sweet
In 1968, a group of American military deserters went to the North Vietnamese mission in Stockholm with one object in mind – to join the army they had been drafted to fight. Instead, they were recruited for the propaganda war – to use magnetic tape, pop music and political rhetoric to persuade other American servicemen to desert. Their recordings were transported from Sweden to Vietnam by diplomatic bag, and broadcast from transmitters on the rooftops of Hanoi, and revolutionary bases in the countryside.
This installation work by artist and filmmaker Esther Johnson, sound artist Nhung Nguyễn, and historian Matthew Sweet revives that circuit of communication, five decades later. It also transmits something of the atmosphere of paranoia in the 1970s, when anxieties about propaganda, brainwashing and war produced films such as Alan J Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974).
With contributions from some of the surviving American deserters, Swedish anti-war activists and Vietnamese journalists of the period, the voice of Liberation Radio speaks again.
Notes for visitors:
- Due to the fragility of the installation and the complexity of the set up, we can only accommodate 5 people for each slot.
- In light of the current COVID-19 developments, please wear a mask when visiting and use the hand sanitizer provided at the entrance.
Special thanks to
British Council Vietnam
Manzi Art Space
Goethe-Institut
and the following contributors and collaborators….
Klara Blomgren, Lisa Bowerman, Marilyn Phạm Dacusin, Hồ Trâm Anh, Huyền Thanh Nguyễn Ban Ga, Nguyễn Hằng, Phạm Thế Vũ, Maja Sten, Vincent Strollo, Tô Minh Sơn Triệu Đức Trọng, Peter Walsh, David Warner, Christopher Wilson
This project is funded by:
FAMLAB (Film, Archives and Music Lab) Fund as part of the British Council’s Heritage of Future Past project in Việt Nam
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