Danh Vo

Danh Vo was born in Vietnam in 1975 and raised in Denmark after his family fled the country by boat in 1979 and was rescued by a Danish ship. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and at the Städelschule in Frankfurt. Vo’s conceptual installations often draw on personal experiences to address broader historical, political, and social themes. Central to his practice is a meticulous process of collecting and assembling photographs, souvenirs, documents, and fragments from his own life. These elements form the foundation of his artistic inquiry into the contradictions of identity, and the ideological constructs of Western society — especially those surrounding capitalism, colonialism, Catholicism, sexuality, and cultural heritage. Each of his works is a constellation of references, stories, and symbols, built through a process of creative deconstruction and repeated appropriation.

Vo represented Denmark at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and participated in earlier editions in 2013 and 2019, as well as in the Berlin Biennale in 2010 and 2014. His works are included in numerous public and private collections worldwide, including: Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), Sifang Art Museum (Nanjing), M+ Museum (Hong Kong), Faurschou Foundation (Copenhagen), SMK – National Gallery of Denmark (Copenhagen), CAPC – Musée d’art contemporain (Bordeaux), Centre Pompidou and FNAC (Paris), Kadist Foundation (Paris), Boros Collection (Berlin), Museum Ludwig (Cologne), Israel Museum (Jerusalem), Museion (Bolzano), Pinault Collection (Venice), Ishikawa Foundation (Okayama), Aïshti Foundation (Beirut), CIAC and Fundación Jumex (Mexico City), Museo Tamayo (Mexico City), Serralves Foundation (Porto), Qatar Museum (Doha), Banco Santander Foundation and Reina Sofía (Madrid), Magasin III (Stockholm), Kunsthaus Zurich, Kunstmuseum Basel, South London Gallery, Tate (London), The Roberts Institute of Art (London), Albright-Knox (Buffalo), Art Institute of Chicago, Aspen Art Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum and MoMA (New York), Pérez Art Museum and Rubell Collection (Miami), SFMOMA (San Francisco), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and the Whitney Museum (New York).