Danh Vo examines how cultural values, conflicts and traumas are constructed and inherited through work inspired both by his own experiences as well as historical and political events. When he was a child, Vo’s family fled Vietnam and settled in Denmark. His family’s assimilation to European culture and the political events that precipitated their flight from Vietnam are intertwined in his artistic practice; Vo’s work illuminates the interwoven strands of private experience and collective history that shape our sense of self. Using both historically rich readymade objects and personal details that directly and indirectly touch on his own life experiences, Vo examines the larger implications how meaning changes with context, as well as how objects accumulate symbolic weight. Vo’s work is both enigmatic and poetic, deftly avoiding didacticism as he explores the power structures underlying liberal societies, the fragility of the nation-state, and the way objects retain or absorb the sublimated desire and sadness of individuals and entire cultures. Emerging from a process of research, chance encounters, and delicate personal negotiations, Vo’s installations unearth the latent undertones and memories embedded in familiar forms.
Read MoreDanh Vo studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark and the Städelschule, Frankfurt. In 2012 he was the winner of the Hugo Boss Prize, New York; in 2007 of the BlauOrange Kunstpreis der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken in Berlin, Germany.
His most important exhibitions includes: M+, West Kowloon, Hong Kong (2019); CAPC, musée d'art contemporain of Bordeaux, France (2018); Danh Vo: Take My Breath Away, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (2018); Banish the Faceless / Reward your Grace, Palacio de Cristal, Madrid, Spain (2015); Danh Vo: We The People (Detail), Faurschou Foundation, Beijing, China (2014); We The People, Public Art Fund, New York, United States (2014); I M U U R 2, Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States (2013); Chung ga opla, Villa Medici, Rome, Italy (2013); Fabulous Muscles, Museion, Bolzano, Italy (2013); We The People (detail), The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, United States (2012); Võ, Danh, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria (2012); JULY, IV, MDCCLXXVI, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2011); Hip Hip Hurra, National Museum for Art, Copenhagen, Denmark (2010); Les fleurs d’intérieur, Kadist Foundation, Paris, France (2009); Package Tour, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2008).
Moreover, his work has been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as the Kunstmuseum Gegenwartskunst Basel, Switzerland (2013); the New Museum, New York, United States (2012); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria (2011); GAM Galleria Civica di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, Italy (2011); Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2010); Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2009); Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany (2009); Kunstverein München, Munich, Germany (2008); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2008); CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, United States (2007) among others.
He was also invited to several international manifestations such as the 58th edition of the Venice Biennale, Italy (2019); Bienal de Coimbra, Anozero 17, Portugal (2017); Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy (2017); Sharjah Biennal 12: The Past, the present, the possible, Sharjah, UAE (2015); 8th Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany (2014) ; 55th Venice Biennal, Arsenale, Venice, Italiy (2013); 9th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2012); 7th Shenzen Sculpture Biennale, OCAT, Shenzen, China (2012); 6th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (2010); Busan biennale, Busan, Korea (2008); Yokohama Triennale 2008, Yokohama, Japan (2008); U-TURN Quadrennial for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Danemark (2008); Manifesta 7, Comitato Manifesta 7, Bolzano, Italy (2008).
In 2015, Danh Vo work’s was present in Venice at the Danish Pavilion of the 56th Biennale and he curated the François Pinault collection in the exhibition Slip of the Tongue at the Punta della Dogana.
Text courtesy Galerie Chantal Crousel.
