Danh Vo's Refined Complexity: From Guggenheim to Musée d'Art Moderne

Danh Vo, born 1975 in Vietnam and raised in Denmark, is known for works blending personal history with formal and conceptual decisions. Influenced by Felix González-Torres, David Hammons, and Maurizio Cattelan, his art explores contradictions. In 2013, Vo opened an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (March 15–May 27) and will have a major monographic show at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (May 24–August 18). He will also participate in the next Venice Biennale. Vo's practice includes recurring motifs like the letter of missionary Théophane Vénard, copied by his father Phung Vo, and the chandeliers from the Hôtel Majestic where the Paris Peace Accords were signed. His long-term project "We The People" reproduces fragments of the Statue of Liberty in copper at 1:1 scale, without internal support. Vo often uses found objects and documents, such as the archives of American doctor Joseph Carrier, and engages with language and identity, as seen in the title "Go Mo Ni Ma Da" (a Vietnamese-accented "Good morning Madam"). He views time as a collaborator and emphasizes practical, site-specific arrangements. Vo's work has been shown at Kunsthalle Fridericianum (2011), Renaissance Society and Art Institute of Chicago (2012), and Kunsthaus Bregenz (2012).