Danh Vo Untitled

Danh Vo, the winner of the 2007 blauorange art prize awarded by the Deutsche Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken, is presenting on this occasion a new installation named 'Untitled'.

A chance encounter became an inspiration: Two years ago, the artist saw a dark-skinned woman with frizzy hair at the edge of a main road through the mountainous region of central Vietnam. He spoke to her and noticed that she, like him, had an inadequate command of the Vietnamese language. Her native tongue was that of an indigenous tribe from the region - where the toughest fighting of the Vietnam war took place. Her appearance revealed that her father must have been a black American soldier. On the walls of her hut, she had drawn Latin letters for practice. Under the colonial rule of the French, the symbols of the written Vietnamese language, which were derived from Chinese, were abolished.

In the search for his own roots, Danh Vo had found, in a presumably 'unspoiled' hinterland of Vietnam, numerous signs of 'Western' culture. In his installation named 'Untitled', using various objects and materials that he has since sought and collected, he is revealing the limitations of the Western concept of the 'other' or 'primitive' culture.

Danh Vo studied at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen and the Staedelschule in Frankfurt. Vo is a Danish citizen and has lived in Berlin since 2003. His installations, which are composed of documents, photos and appropriations of works of other artists, address the issues of identity and belonging.

The new concept for the blauorange art prize of the Deutsche Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken focuses on encouraging and supporting young artists living in Germany. A jury composed of art association directors (Kunstverein) selected the winner from nominations by professors at German art academies. Members of the jury, headed by Dr. Veit Loers, included Anja Casser (Badischer Kunstverein), Yilmaz Dziewior (Kunstverein in Hamburg), Gerrit Gohlke (Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam), Stefan Kalmár (Kunstverein München), Chus Martinez (Frankfurter Kunstverein) und Susanne Pfeffer (Kunst-Werke Berlin). The blauorange art prize is awarded annually and is endowed with 20,000 euros.

www.blauorange.bvr.de

blauorange art prize presents:
Danh Vo "Untitled"