Danh Vo

This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Danh Vo Ov hnaD at the National Museum of Art of Osaka (June 2 - October 11, 2021).

Vo’s works deal with his own experiences and family history, incorporating readymade objects rich in socio-political historical implications, collected materials such as photographs and letters, and objects produced by important people in his life. In these works, themes such as identity, power, history, hegemony, and eroticism emerge directly or figuratively, inviting viewers to adopt varying perspectives on a single object or phenomenon.

The book is divided into two parts: the main parts contains illustrations, and the second is two booklets that focus on the exhibition itself. Vo has bought an old farm on the outskirts of Berlin to use as a studio and has been refurbishing it for the last few years. The picture pages included in the main part of the book show what it looks like. Photos present the artist working on the field himself. This place has become a source of imagination for Vo who has set up his studio for the first time as a place where he produces his artworks. As the Museum explored the ways to showcase the important place where Vo created his art as an element of the exhibition, it was decided to reveal how the studio is transformed along with the changing seasons, in the manner of an artist book, instead of publishing a catalog that carried individual images of the exhibited works.


Edited by Yuka Uematsu & Yasuyuki Nakai
Printed by Live Art Books
In Japanese and in English
Harcover, 64 pp
Booklet I, 24 pp.
Booklet II, 29 pp.