“Slip of the Tongue” addresses these historical mishaps. The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the artist Nairy Baghramian (born in 1971), who has been in active conversation with Danh Vo. Three of her installations are presented. Indeed, the exhibition can also be seen as an attempt at mapping friendship, as several other artistic interlocutors are included in the exhibition as well as in its production.

Other curatorial projects by Danh Vo combine both the personal and social dimensions of rela¬tionships around artists, some of whom he never met, such as Felix Gonzalez Torres (2009, Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels), Martin Wong (2013, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York), as well as his friend Julie Ault (2013, Artists Space, New York). Some objects presented al¬so carry both an individual and a collective meaning, such as the chandeliers of the Paris Majestic Hotel, which were silent witnesses to the negotiations on the future of Vietnam, in 1975 – the same year the artist was born in Vietnam. In the light of this notion, one can also liken Danh Vo’s work “as artist” to the different kinds of caretaking that have sprung from this root word over the centuries.

Each of the objects and works of art (around 120) presented in the exhibition “Slip of the Tongue” seem to partake in this idea that the activity of the artist is aimed at the preservation and afterlife of objects rather than of their interpretation.

Text: excerpt from THE EXHIBITION “SLIP OF THE TONGUE” by ELISABETH LEBOVICI
Image: Vitamin Archive

Slip of the Tongue
Curated by Danh Vo and Caroline Bourgeois
April 12 – December 31, 2015
François Pinault Foundation, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy

For more information: http://www.palazzograssi.it/en/exhibitions/slip-tongue