Driftlight

BackgroundDriftlight, a short film developed through an internally funded research grant, explores embodied relations between movement and the built environment. The project re-centres attention on the peripheral vision of a passenger undertaking journeys through Ho Chi Minh City. While the passenger focuses on direction and destination, they also experience sensory shifts in the spaces they traverse. By positioning the camera perpendicular to the direction of travel, the film foregrounds the peripheral experience of the city. This approach draws inspiration from Ed Ruscha’s Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966), James Benning’s One Way Boogie Woogie (1977), and is informed by Sarah Pink’s sensory research, which contributes to revealing ambience and atmosphere in ethnographic and visual studies.ContributionThe broader proposition of these films is that the experience of riding a motorbike constitutes a form of intangible heritage. The relationship between Vietnamese communities and their motorbikes is longstanding and deeply embedded. Unlike cars, motorbike journeys offer an embodied urban experience defined by the exposed and immersive nature of travel. Movement, sound, events, and smell combine to form a distinctive sensory encounter. The filmed journeys, captured both day and night, not only document this experience but also serve as visual records of urban transformation—showing how spaces evolve and adapt in response to weather, redevelopment, and societal change.SignificanceBy recognising the cultural significance of the everyday, Driftlight highlights heritage values not centred on monuments or physical artefacts, but on a critical and ubiquitous mode of transport, business, and leisure in Ho Chi Minh City and across Vietnam. Filming these journeys reveals not only the experience of motion but also the relational dynamics between the passenger and the pavement spaces where city life unfolds. These films contribute to an understanding of intangible heritage that, because of its everyday nature, often goes unseen and underappreciated. Creative post-production techniques are employed to amplify and bring to the forefront the sensory dimensions of motorbike travel in HCMC.