DANH VO

Go Mo Ni Ma Da
An ARC exhibition from 24 May to 18 August 2013

Les Colosses de Memnon Photographies darchives du voyage de Frdric-Auguste Bartholdi en Egypte, 1856 Photo : Christian Kempf / Courtesy : Muse Bartholdi, Colmar

PRESS KIT

PRESS KIT

DANH VO
Go Mo Ni Ma Da
24 May 18 August 2013

Content
Press release.....p 3-4 Biographical notes ..p 5-7 Text by Angeline Scherf, exhibitions curator......p 8-9 List of works.........p 10-11 Cultural activities.....p 12 Practical information.........p 13 The Galeries Lafayette group, patron of the exhibitionp.14

Press contact
Marine Le Bris Tel. : +33 1 53 67 40 50 E-mail : marine.lebris@paris.fr

Press release
DANH VO
Go Mo Ni Ma Da *
24 May 18 August 2013
Opening: Thursday 23 May, 6-9 pm Press preview: Thursday 23 May, 11 am-2 pm The Muse dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris is presenting an exhibition devoted to artist Dan h Vo, born in Vietnam in 1975. Appearing highly personal at first glance, the work of Danh Vo is in fact powerfully political. Neither direct nor confrontational, his practice explores the power games underlying liberal societies, the rules governing those societies, and the fragility of the nation-state idea. Built around the circulation of values, be they material, economic, symbolic or spiritual, the artists oeuvre reveals, too, the complexity of the interchange between peoples in the context of post-colonial society. His installation Go Mo Ni Ma Da revolves around four groups of works: - We The People is a life-size reproduction of the Auguste Bartholdis Statue of Liberty, inaugurated in 1886. Thirty copper fragments are presented in the exhibition, together with photographs taken by Bartholdi in Egypt. - Three chandeliers conjure up the ballroom of the Hotel Majestic, where the Paris Peace Accords between the United States and Vietnam were signed on 27 January 1973. - In a work referencing Thophane Vnard (1829-1861), the artist evokes the Paris Foreign Missions Society, a body of Catholic missionary priests functioning in Asia since the 17th century, and its relationship with Vietnam. - Nine works included in this exhibition were produced from lots acquired from Sothebys auction of the Estate of Robert S. McNamara, the former American Secretary of Defense, whom the New York Times eulogized in 2009 as the failed architect of the Vietnam War. A handwritten work produced in situ by the artist's father is also part of the exhibition. Danh Vo's work has been shown in major international venues: Art Institute of Chicago (2012-2013); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2012); National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen (2012, 2010); Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2009); MoMA, New York (2009); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008); Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2006). He also took part in the Shanghai Biennial in 2012. Winner of the 2012 Hugo Boss Prize, Danh Vo is exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York from 15 March until 27 May 2013. He will also be showing at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

* Danh Vo has taken the sentence from an article by an American journalist who, during her travels in Vietnam, was greeted with the words "Go Mo Ni Ma Da", a mix of English and French meaning "Good morning, Madame."

Director of the Muse dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris Fabrice Hergott Exhibitions curator Angeline Scherf Assisted by Mala Bescond and Sylvie Moreau-Soteras

Press release second part

The Nobel Peace Prize 1973 - Henry Kissinger

Acceptance Speech As the Laureate was unable to be present on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1973, the acceptance was read by Thomas R. Byrne, Ambassador of the United States to Norway. The Nobel Peace Prize is as much an award to a purpose as to a person. More than the achievement of peace, it symbolises the quest for peace. Though I deeply cherish this honour in a personal sense, I accept it on behalf of that quest and in the light of that grand purpose. Our experience has taught us to regard peace as a delicate, ever-fleeting condition, its roots too shallow to bear the strain of social and political discontent. We tend to accept the lessons of that experience and work toward those solutions that at best relieve specific sources of strain, lest our neglect allows war to overtake peace. To the realist, peace represents a stable arrangement of power; to the idealist, a goal so pre-eminent that it conceals the difficulty of finding the means to its achievement. But in this age of thermonuclear technology, neither view can assure man's preservation. Instead, peace, the ideal must be practised. A sense of responsibility and accommodation must guide the behavior of all nations. Some common notion of justice can and must be found, for failure to do so will only bring more "just" wars. In his Nobel acceptance speech, William Faulkner expressed his hope that "man will not merely 1 endure, he will prevail". We live today in a world so complex that even only to endure, man must prevail - over an accelerating technology that threatens to escape his control and over the habits of conflict that have obscured his peaceful nature. Certain war has yielded to an uncertain peace in Vietnam. Where there was once only despair and dislocation, today there is hope, however frail. In the Middle East the resumption of full scale war haunts a fragile ceasefire. In Indo-china, the Middle East and elsewhere, lasting peace will not have been won until contending nations realise the futility of replacing political competition with armed conflict. America's goal is the building of a structure of peace, a peace in which all nations have a stake and therefore to which all nations have a commitment. We are seeking a stable world, not as an end in itself but as a bridge to the realisation of man's noble aspirations of tranquility and community. If peace, the ideal is to be our common destiny, then peace, the experience, must be our common practice. For this to be so, the leaders of all nations must remember that their political decisions of war or peace are realised in the human suffering or well-being of their people. As Alfred Nobel recognised, peace cannot be achieved by one man or one nation. It results from the efforts of men of broad vision and goodwill throughout the world. The accomplishments of individuals need not be remembered, for if lasting peace is to come it will be the accomplishment of all mankind. With these thoughts, I extend to you my most sincere appreciation for this award.

1. William Faulkner was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature. From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1971-1980, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frngsmyr, Editor Irwin Abrams, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997 Copyright The Nobel Foundation 1973

Biographical notes
Danh Vo Born in 1975, Vietnam Solo exhibitions 2013 Fabulous Muscles, Museion, Bolzano, Italy. The Hugo Boss Prize 2012: Danh Vo - I M U U R 2, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA. Gustavs Wing, Culturgest, Porto, Portugal. Chung ga opla, Villa Medici, Roma, Italy. 2012 Uterus, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago, USA. We The People (detail), The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA. We The People (detail), Statens Museum for Kunst, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark. Damnatio Memoriae, CCS Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA. Danh V/V Danh, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria. Herzlich Willkommen, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria. 2011 Ephemeroptera, in collaboration with Heinz-Peter Knes, MD72, Berlin, Germany. JULY, IV, MDCCLXXVI, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany. Henrik Olesen/Danh Vo, in collaboration with Henrik Olesen, Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples, Italy. Master-Slave Dialectic, in collaboration with Henrik Olesen, Galerie Buchholz, Cologne, Allemagne. Danh Vo, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France. 2010 Hip Hip Hurra, Statens Museum for Kunst, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark. All your deeds shall in water be writ, but this is in marble, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Germany. Autoerotic Asphyxiation, Artist Space, New York, USA. Lartiste et le dcorateur, Galerie Buchholz, Cologne, Germany. 2009 Where the Lions Are, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Les fleurs dintrieur, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France. Danh Vo and his American Friends, Alte Fabrik, Gebert Stiftung fr Kultur, Rapperswil, Switzerland. Boys seen through a shop window, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany. Untitled, in collaboration with Jay Chung & Takeki Maeda, Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris, France. Last fuck, Galleria Zero, Milano, Italy. 2008 Package Tour, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 2007 Untitled, BKV Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam, Germany. Good Life, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Germany. 2006 Go Mo Ni Ma Da, in collaboration with Tobias Rehberger, Friedrich Petzel Gallery New York, USA. Dreams and Expectations, Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway. My Blue Genes, his parents apartment, Copenhagen, Denmark 2005 Not a drop but the fall, Galerie Klosterfelde, Berlin, Germany. 2004 Selfportraits, Signal-Center fr samtidskonst, Malm, Sweden.

2003 Marriage project 2001 Illegal housing, Royal Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark

Group exhibitions 2013 LImage papillon, MUDAM, Luxembourg. 2012 Provisional Asthetics, Rehearsing History, Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, USA. Track, S.M.A.K., Gent, Belgium. The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York, USA. The New Public, Museion, Bolzano, Italy. 2011 The Hirsch-Index. The Art of Quotation, ZKM-Museum fr Neue Kunst, Karlsruche, Germany. Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands, RaebervonStenglin, Zurich, Switzerland. Camulodunum, Firstsite, Colchester, United Kingdom. You are not alone, Fundaci Joan Mir, Barcelona, Spain; MARCO, Vigo, Spain. Based in Berlin, Atelierhaus Monbijoupark, Berlin, Germany. Thats the way we do it, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria. Open House, 3rd Singapore Biennial, Singapore. 2010 All we ever wanted was everything, EFA Project Space, New York, USA. About us, Galerie Johann Knig, Berlin, Germany. 6th Berlin Biennial, Berlin, Germany. Bringing Up Knowledge, MUSAC-Museo de Arte Contemporneo de Castilla y Len, Len, Spain. 10.000 Lives, 8th Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju, South Korea. To the Arts, citizens!, Serralves, Porto, Portugal. Socle du Monde 2010: Between Cultures, HEART- Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark. Tumult, Kommunal Kunstfestival, Lolland, Denmark. Lost and Found, Galerie Neugerriemschneider, Berlin, Germany. More Carpets, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Germany. Strange Comfort, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Swiss Institute, Rome, Italy. Morality Act IV, Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands. 2009 Morality - Act II: From Love to Legal, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Preis der Nationalgalerie fr junge Kunst 2009, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum fr Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany. Fluchtige zeiten, Westfalisher Kunstverein, Munster, Germany. Quodlibet II, Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany. Bijoux de Famille, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France. The Perpetual Dialogue, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, USA. 7 x 14 Silberkuppe, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany. Sensation, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Germany. 2008 Jahresgaben 2008, Kunstverein Mnchen, Munich, Germany. Expenditure, 6th Busan Biennial, Busan, South Korea. Where the lions are, Para/site artspace, Hong Kong. Time Crevasse, 3rd Yokohama Triennial, Yokohama, Japan. Reality Check, Statens Museum for Kunst, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark. U-TURN Quadrennial for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark. Manifesta 7, Rovereto, Italy. Docking Station, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

2007 Oh Girl, Its a Boy!, Kunstverein Mnchen, Munich, Germany. The California Files: Re-Viewing Side Effects of Cultural Memory, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, USA. Secret Flix, Neue Alte Brcke, Frankfurt, Germany. I Want to Believe, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland. 2006 Crime and Punishment, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn, Estonia. Fr die Ewigkeit, JET, Berlin, Germany. Dictionary, bookproject, Copenhagen, Denmark. 2005 Not a Drop but the Fall, Knstlerhaus Bremen, Bremen, Germany. 2004 Deutschland sucht, Klnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany. EXIT 2004, Kunstforeningen GL Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The work We The People has been presented in: 2013 Gustav's Wings, Culturgest, Porto, Portugal L'Image papillon, MUDAM, Luxembourg Monuments, Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, Ireland Fabulous Muscles, Museion, Bolzano, Italy Go Mo Ni Ma Da, Muse dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris/ARC, Paris, France 2012 The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New York, United States You are not alone, BACC, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok,Thailand Herzlich Willkommen, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria Orchesterwechsel; Sammlung Rheingold, Schloss Dyck, Juchen, Germany Damnatio Memoriae, CCS Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, United States Track, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium Accidental Message: Art is Not A System, Not A World, 7th Sculpture Biennial, Shenzhen, China OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China We The People, Statens Museum for Kunst, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark We The People (detail), The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, United States Uterus, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago, United States Reactivation, 9th Shanghai Biennial, Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, China. 2011 You are not alone, Fundaci Joan Mir, Barcelona, Spain FIAC 2011, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France JULY, IV, MDCCLXXVI, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany

Text by Angeline Scherf, exhibitions curator

Go Mo Ni Ma Da*
In 2009, Danh Vo was a resident at the Fondation Kadist in Paris where he pursued research he had already begun on the Paris Peace Accords that were signed by the United States and Vietnam at the Hotel Majestic in 1973 to officially seal the end of the war, and on botanical specimens collected in China and Tibet by missionaries. He worked intensively at the archives of the Missions trangres de Paris (Paris foreign missions), a society of apostolic life founded in 1683 as the Sminaire des Missions trangres (seminary of foreign missions), whose goal is the evangelizing of non-Christian countries in Southeast Asia. His residence gave rise to an exhibition, Les fleurs dintrieur (interior flowers), showing a chandelier from the Hotel Majestic, 26.05.2009, 8 :43, 2009, a letter from Thophane Vnard, and an 1852 group portrait of five Catholic priests about to leave France for Asia as missionaries. Highly precise, these installations operate as an intrusion into Frances past, a subtle questioning about institutions and their repercussions on international political discussion. The exhibition presented here falls is in continuity of these ties, of the artists relation to Paris, to its culture to which he feels tied with fierce lucidity when he cites E.M. Cioran1 or the socially committed films by the Dardenne brothers (Rosetta, 1999, Le Fils, 2002). It is an occasion to take another look at three themes that are fundamental to him, as much from a personal as a political point of view, and on the terrain that gave him his notoriety to begin with, that is a reflection on our times what do we still expect from liberty today? on the fragility of liberal societies, on the complexity of dialogue between peoples in the context of decolonization. First is the idea of liberty through the project that led him for the past two years to work on a lifesized replica of Frdric Auguste Bartholdis Statue of Liberty. Never having visited it, the artist knew the monument consists of a hollow structure, a thin shell of pounded copper held in place by a metal structure. He decided to do the replica in a foundry near Shanghai, according to the same methods used in the 19th century. Fragments of this work, entitled We the People the first three words of the American Constitution written in 1787 have been shown, throughout its production, in different parts of the world since September 20112. Given his familys history, the choice of this symbol is hardly neutral. Danh Vos family fled Vietnam in 1979 on a boat built by his father in the hope of reaching the United States. Turned away from their original destination, the family settled in Denmark, where they have lived ever since. Emblematic of the artists story, it is so in the collective imagination as well, both as a symbol of liberty and independence for immigrants arriving in New York and as an allegory for the free world, within a well-delimited framework of reference, i.e. Western culture. By presenting it in pieces, Danh Vo suggests a new interpretation: Let her travel, let her be spread around. Let it just be this fluid mass that travels and becomes something very different from what the one in New York is3 I think of it as the range of what we can claim as freedom Removed from its original context, the artist opens it up to other conceptions, questioning the authority and authenticity of a univocal narrative. Over the course of time, liberty occupies no more instants than that of ecstasy in the life of a mystic. It escapes us at the very moment we try to seize and formulate it: no one can enjoy it without trembling. 4 The second important subject in the personal, intimate life of the artist: the relationship between his origins the Vietnam he left at the age of five and Western culture. Paris offers an exceptional opportunity since it was there that from 1968 to 1973 the peace accords were negotiated by the United States and Vietnam. Officially, the Vietnam war ended January 27 th, 1973 at the International Conference Center on avenue Kleber, formerly the Hotel Majestic. In a grand ballroom, the Paris Accords were signed by representatives of the United States, North Vietnam, South Vietnam and the Viet Cong. In 2009, the venue was closed for renovation, which allowed the artist to buy the three chandeliers that, emblematically, shed light on the event.
1

Javais une me de loup (I had the soul of a lion), E.M. Cioran, Histoire et Utopie, Gallimard, 1960, p. 14. The first chapter of this book, Sur deux types de socit. Lettre un ami lointain (On two types of society. Letter to a far away friend), was reproduced in the catalogue published for the exhibition Danh Vo Where the Lions Are, shown at the Basel Kunsthalle June 11 August 23, 2009, p. 3-18. 2 See the list of venues for We The People since 2011, in the first volume of this publication. 3 Quoted in Mirjam Varadinis, Shattered Freedom, Parkett n 90, 2012, p. 214. 4 E.M. Cioran, op. cit., p. 24.

 Mute witnesses to an event that was in fact not the end but the beginning of a tragedy that affected millions of lives 5 the war continued until Saigon capitulated on April 30th 1975 Danh Vo acquires the three chandeliers, giving them for title the precise date and time they were taken down. Together for the first time at the Paris Museum of Modern Art, they evoke a crucial moment in contemporary history and the ambiguous ties the United States have maintained with the rest of the world. This contradictory issue, where American ideals and a colonial heritage intermingle, is at the core of much of what the artist does, such as his work on the American flag, reproduced in gold leaf on cardboard boxes (Carton la feuille dor, 2011), or his Collection de lettres de Henry Kissinger Leonard Lyons, 2008, fourteen type-written, signed letters sent during the 1970s and referring to the secret bombing campaign against Cambodia. Western mythology and what it hides of discrimination and destruction directly inspire installations using objects that have punctuated his familys story. For instance Oma Totem, 2009, a work composed of a refrigerator, a washing machine, a television, a casino pass and a crucifix given to his grandmother on her arrival in Germany in the 1970s, or Das Beste oder Nichts, 2010, the motor of a Mercedes-Benz that belonged to his father. Lastly, the Paris exhibition reveals the artists interest in the Foreign Missions, and more particularly in Theophane Vnard. Several pieces were devoted to this missionary figure in Tonkin, sentenced to death and decapitated in Vietnam pour proselytism during a wave of antiChristian violence in 1861. At the center of the artists repertoire, this missionary often figures in his exhibitions, giving rise to various installations including a singular work by his father, who copies by hand, without understanding or reading French and as often as necessary, Thophane Vnards last letter to his family before his martyrdom. The total count of these multiples depends on the number of orders placed, and cannot be determined as long as the artists father is still alive. Through his art, which draws both on his personal past and on collective history, Danh Vo places the essential questions of identity, origins, culture, gender and value in a field of multiple interpretations. A cross of intuition, spell-breaking and dialectic, his work twists accepted patterns and interpretations with extreme subtlety. Without giving preference to any particular view, he overlaps eclectic, unequal and potentially antagonistic identities. The ambivalence of his own origins and emigrant status prompts a constant renegotiation that privileges encounters, or a third space.6 Objects in Vos work are never static: they move, transmute, perform and are performed. 7 His installations combine contexts that are constantly engaged in tests of resistance and opposition. They aim, in the final count, toward a form of decolonization of thought processes, privileging the idea that no culture is pure, or suffices unto itself. I was raised to share my fears, my sorrows and love8 As ruthless as his angles of attack are, Danh Vos work evokes a conviviality to be reconquered, a cultural community that renders closed, rigid and reified forms of identity negligible.
* Good Morning, Madame .

5 6

Quoted in Luigi Fassi, Terra Incognita on the art of Danh Vo, Artforum n 2, February 2010, p. 54. Homi Bhabha, Le Tiers Espace. Entretien avec Jonathan Rutherford, Multitudes no. 26, Fall 2006 (http://multitudes.samizdat.net/Le-Tiers-espace-Entretien-avec). 7 Luigi Fassi, op. cit., p. 157. 8 Quoted in Adam Carr, Artists at Work : Danh Vo, Afterall Online, August 2007, (http://www.afterall.org/online/artists.at.work.danh.vo).

List of works
1. Untitled, 2013 Wall drawing by Aaron Sharp Goodstone, individual letters and text written by Phung Vo, photogravures Dimensions variable 2. Always, 2013 Gold, Cardboard 158 g 3. Frdric-August Bartholdis No. 2 ruler, date unknown Wood 100 x 5 x 0.5 cm Muse Bartholdi, Colmar 4. Ring containing Marie-Antoinette and the princess of Lamballes hair, date unknown Gold, pearls, hair, glass Gift of Jean Rainaud, 1926 to the Muse Carnavalet, Paris Nine works included in this exhibition were produced from lots acquired from the October 23, 2012 Sothebys auction: The White House Years of Robert S. McNamara. On the front page of the New York Times, July 7, 2009, McNamara, the US Secretary of Defense from 1961-68, during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, was eulogized as The Architect of a Futile War. He left his post abruptly in 68 as protest against the war increased and became President of the World Bank. Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, New York 5. Lot 100. Six Small Middle-Eastern Antiquities, 2013 Wood, velvet, metal 33.34 x 29.21 x 6.35 cm A gift of archaeological finds to McNamara from Moshe Dayan, Israeli Defense Minister in February 1968. Dayan became a military hero in Israel after the Six Day War in 1967, when Dayan extended Israels borders of 1948 into Palestinian, Egyptian, and Lebanese territory, using what is referred to as the Green Line, the mark he drew on the map marking Israels new territory. McNamara consulted Dayan early in 68 in regard to escalation of the war in Vietnam. There is a brass plaque on the side of the box: To Robert S. MacNamara [sic] | with admiration | Moshe Dayan | February 1968 Provenance: Robert S. McNamara, 1968 Danh Vo and Marian Goodman, 2012 Private Collection, courtesy of Segalot, 2013 6. Lot 89. Adams, Ansel, 2013 Silver gelatin print, framed and matted 76.83 x 61.59 cm Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California (1944), printed 1978. Provenance: Robert S. McNamara Danh Vo and Marian Goodman, 2012 Sheldon Inwentash and Lynn Factor, Toronto, Canada 2013 7. Lot 1. Annotated Carbon Copy of McNamara's Letter of Condition of Accepting Position of the Secretary of Defense, 2013 Ink, paper 26.67 x 18.1 cm Contains handwritten inscription: 2:30pm 12/13/60 | Met with Senator Kennedy at his

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house 3307 N. St. handed ltr to him; he read it, agreed with its terms, & handed it to Bob K who also read it and placed it on a table in the room. Provenance: Robert S. McNamara, 1960 Danh Vo and Marian Goodman, 2012 Sheldon Inwentash and Lynn Factor, Toronto, Canada 2013

8. Lot 20. Two Kennedy Administration Cabinet Room Chairs*, 2013 Leather 259.08 x 73.66 x 43.18 cm Provenance: John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy Robert S. McNamara, 1963 Danh Vo and Marian Goodman, 2012 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Purchased with funds contributed by the International Directors Council, 2013

9. Lot 11. Vietnam Photo Album, 1962, 2013 A hinged black lacquer case, the upper cover decorated with a stand of bamboo and birds perched on a blossoming branch inlaid with mother of pearl. Contains: 54 black-and-white snapshots of McNamara reviewing troop exercises, meeting Vietnamese officials, military officers, local townspeople, and American officers, and larger glossy black-and-white photographs of aerial views of towns visited, mounted with typed captions on black construction-type paper and separated by tissue guards decorated with spiders and spider webs, hand-lettered presentation leaf in yellow and white ink. 29.97 x 39.37 x 5.08 cm Contains inscription: "US. Secretary of State for Defense | McNamara | To visit the Republic of Viet-Nam | (From May 9 to May 11, 1962) | with the compliments | of the Armed Forces of the | Republic of Vietnam". Provenance: Robert S. McNamara, 1962 Danh Vo et Marian Goodman 2012 Sheldon Inwentash and Lynn Factor, Toronto, Canada 2013

The Paris Peace Accords that were supposed to end the war between the US and Vietnam were signed on 27 January 1973 in the grand ballroom of the former Hotel Majestic, Avenue Klber, Paris, which served as the temporary meeting place for the Centre de confrences internationales. The ballroom contained three grand chandeliers that were sold off by the State when the building was restored in 2009. Each works title refers to the moment in which the artist removed them from the ceiling. This exhibition marks the first reunion of all three chandeliers in one space.

10. 8:43, 26.05, 2009 Late 19th century chandelier Dimensions variable Provenance: Centre de confrences internationales, Hotel Majestic, Paris Danh Vo and Isabella Bortolozzi, 2009 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the Contemporary Arts Council of the Museum of Modern Art and the Fund for the Twenty-first Century, 2010 11. She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene, 2009 Mixed media 96.5 x 54.5 cm 1) Bugle, brass construction, silver finished mouthpiece, Boston makers mark and 10 controls. 2) Cap, black felt with gold trip, black velvet band, SIDA badge, black bill and leather sweatband. Chicago makers mark on inside. 3) Spike bayonet sheath, with NJ plate on the

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hanger. 4) Field radio, wood case with leather fittings, crank and speaker. 5) Percussionist sash, multiple colors, with three pairs of sticks. 6) Purple sash, 103 long, with tassels at the ends. 7) Fife, 14 1/2 long, with brass ends and 7 holes. 8) American sword belt, leather with gold bullion, gilt and silver plated buckle, and a matching set of hangers. 9) American flag, 38 long and 21 1/2 wide, with 13 stars and stripes, showing wear and material loss. Collection Chantal Crousel, Paris 12. Lot 20. Two Kennedy Administration Cabinet Room Chairs*, 2013 Mahogany, metal 102.87 x 66.04 x 65.41 cm Provenance: John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy Robert S. McNamara, 1963 Danh Vo and Marian Goodman, 2012 Collection of Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner, 2013 13. 08:03, 28.05, 2009 Late 19th century chandelier Dimensions variable Provenance: Centre de confrences internationales, Hotel Majestic, Paris Danh Vo and Isabella Bortolozzi, 2009 Statens Museum for Kunst, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2011 Danh Vos cardboard shipping boxes start in the recycling piles after a product has completed its economic arc. Collected and flattened, they are sent to Thailand where gold leaf is applied following the pattern of the exteriors logo. They return reborn and revalued by their surface rather than their contents. The gold is a visa signaling a new mobility, and an empty container previously filled with Evian or Budweiser, for instance, gets recharged. (Adapted from a text by artist Jason Simon) 14. Pantoffel (detail), 2013 Gold, carbon copy paper, cardboard 97 x 177 cm Aschenputtel, Grimm Brothers (Edition of 1812) written by Phung Vo 15. , 2013 Gold, cardboard 400 g Private Collection

16. 16:32, 26.05, 2009 Late 19th century chandelier Dimensions variable Provenance: Centre de confrences internationales, Hotel Majestic, Paris Danh Vo and Galerie Buchholz, 2009 Collection of Thea Weistreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner

17. If you were to climb the Himalayas tomorrow, 2005 Rolex watch, Dupont lighter, American military class ring 53 x 63 x 45 cm Vitrine containing the original artifacts purchased by Phung Vo upon his arrival in Denmark. Courtesy Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi 18. Corona, 2013 Gold, Cardboard 378 g

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19. Smirnoff, 2013 Gold, cardboard 402 g

20. Coca Cola, 2011 Gold, cardboard 315 g 21. Sweet Oblivion, 2013 Gold, cardboard, ink Writing by Phung Vo 374.2 g 22. Whisky Soda, 2013 Gold, cardboard 1010 g Private Asian Collection

23. Lot 39. A Group of 4 Presidential Signing Pens, 2013 Metal, ink 3.17 x .63 x .15 cm each In his memoirs, McNamara observed that in a memorandum dated 2 March 1964, the Joint Chiefs of Staff "reaffirmed their view of 'the overriding importance to the security interests of the United States of preventing the loss of South Vietnam.'" To achieve this objective they urged the destruction of military and industrial targets in North Vietnam, mining its harbors, and establishing a naval blockade (In Retrospect, p. 111). To this end, President Johnson signed a bill on 20 March 1964 authorizing appropriations for defense procurement and for research and development. In a public statement released that day, Johnson declared "The bill ... is the largest separate fund authorization ever enacted by Congress. It provides almost $17 billion for the activities of the Defense Department. This bill authorizes over 2,700 aircraft, 35,000 missiles, 53 new ships, and 7 ship conversions." Provenance: Robert S. McNamara 1964 Danh Vo and Marian Goodman 2012 24. Lot 20. Two Kennedy Administration Cabinet Room Chairs*, 2013 Mahogany, metal 102.87 x 66.04 x 65.41 cm Provenance: John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy Robert S. McNamara 1963 Danh Vo and Marian Goodman 2012

25. Lot 20. Two Kennedy Administration Cabinet Room Chairs*, 2013 Muslin, nails 214.63 x 40.64 x 14.61 cm Provenance: John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy Robert S. McNamara 1963 Danh Vo and Marian Goodman 2012 *2 Chippendale-style black leather upholstered mahogany open armchairs, silvered nailhead trim, one with the label of the W. H. Gunlocke Chair Co., Wayland, New York, 40 1/2 in. high, each with a brass plaque affixed to the back. A gift from Jacqueline Kennedy with a letter inscribed: Saturday November 30 1963

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Dear Bob I wanted so much to give you something special of Jacks that would mean something to you and that he would have wanted you to have. But I have been going through his things they are all such little personal things so few at any value and I dont think anyone but me could possibly decipher what they were So I decided that this chair was what he would want you to have.You are the only member of this Cabinet who will have the chair he sat in during Jacks administration. When you go to the White House Monday morning you will have a new chair. With all my deepest love and the deepest thanks at my heart for all you did to help Jacks name shine so brightly.Jackie The White House Years of Robert S. McNamara: Sothebys, 2012.

26. Grand Canyon, 2013 Gold, cardboard, wood, glass Dimensions variable

27. We The People (detail), 2011-13 Copper Dimensions variable The Statue of Liberty was conceived in Paris by Frederic-August Bartholdi as a gift from the French people to commemorate the 1776 American Declaration of Independence. Danh Vo first envisioned We The People (2011-13) in 2010 after hearing that the Statue of Libertys skin, its thin, hammered copper facade, is only 2.5 mm thick. It was this disjuncture between the statues monumentality as both a colossal sculpture and quasi-universal symbol and its apparent fragility that initiated the process to recreate the skin (without the inner scaffolding). The artist followed the traditional repouss technique to replicate thirty-one tons of copper piecesdown to the millimeter. The fragments are destined for exhibition and circulation through different venues, both private and public, around the world. Courtesy Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris Kadist Art Foundation, Paris Private Collection Collection of Adam Lindemann Collection Kand

28. David Wojnarowicz Untitled (Buffalos), 1988-89 Silver gelatin print 60.96 x 76.2 cm (framed) Memorial Edition 10/12, July 1992 Collection of Danh Vo The Missions trangres de Paris Missions trangres de Paris began in the second half of the 17 th century and developed in France under the influence of St. Paul. In the 19th century, under the patronage of the kings of Spain and Portugal, they joined in activities in the Occident which had until then been done by religious orders, such as the Jesuits. During the course of the 19th century, 88 missionaries died violently while performing their apostolic activities. Pope John Paul II canonized 10 of these martyrs, including Thophane Vnard, on 19 June 1988. Today, the Society of the Missions Etrangres has 240 members who continue the work of the church the Society founded. The paintings included in this exhibition were produced in Tonkin, each by a different, unknown artist during a time of religious persecution. Missionaries ordered these paintings at the time of the events they depicted, with the intention that they would be sent back to Paris to complete the written testimonies being sent from missionaries close to the martyrs in Tonkin; such documentation only exists from this particular region.

29. The Seizing of Ke-Bang, the village of M.Thinh, P. Ngan and J. Nghi, 1842-43 Painting on rice paper 72,5 x 98,5 cm

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This painting depicts the Mandarin blockade of the village of Ke-Bang on 30 May 1840. It lays out the successive events that took place in this Christian village, where many indigenous priests and European missionaries took refuge. In the outer periphery, you can see figures hiding behind reeds in anticipation of the attack. Outside of this circle, there is a group of people suspected to be complicit with the Christians of village; their heads are placed in vices. Within the circle, in the village (which occupies most of the painting), three Annanite priests have been arrested, and the soldiers houses and fish ponds have been ransacked. The three main apprehended priests: Father Nghi, his vicar, Father Ngan, and Father P. Thinh are seen at the top of the painting, outside the village perimeter. At the very top, inside the citadel, the martyrs are depicted behind the Mandarins, inside their prison cells, at their trials, and being subjected to torture.

30. Thophane Vnard, letter dated 9 January 1861 16 x 20 cm Letter to Joseph Simon Theurel, who became a priest alongside Vnard on 6 May 1852, and left with him in the same boat bound eastward on 19 September. Theurel, at the time of the letter, was the Bishop of Acanthe, which is why Vnard addresses the letter: Dear Senior. Vnard wrote this letter from prison, unaware that he would be executed one month later. Although he made a good impression on his judge, he was not released by his captors. They did allow him to write and have regular contact with three clandestine Christians, including Theurel, who made connections with his colleagues.

31. Heliogravure depicting Jean-Thophane Vnard, G. Coulon, Joseph Marie Perrier, Jacques Lavigne, and Joseph Simon Theurel in Paris on September 19th 1852. Somerset white satin 300g 64 x 51.5 cm

32. Painting of the torture of Jean Charles Cornay, first French martyr in Tonkin (1809-37), 1839 Oil on canvas, replica of the original, done on paper (date unknown) 121 x 166 cm In September 1837, Cornay was found guilty of leading a sect of religious rebels and was condemned to death by dismemberment, followed by beheading. The inner execution scene is magnified, situated within the compositions circle of soldiers. The mounted general has an amplification device to his mouth, ostensibly making a declaration. Two officers of the court hold Cornays sentence in their hands. In a small act of clemency, they decided to behead him first and then dismember his corpse. The executioner stands holding Cornays head by his hair and licking a bloody sword; the neighboring figure is about to eat Cornays kidney. Cornays story, told through relics brought back to France, had a profound influence on several subsequent generations of missionaries. Born in 1829, Vnard was so influenced by this story that he went to Tonkin in 1854 as a missionary. As Christian persecution continued, Vnard was arrested in the village of Ke-Beo on 30 November 1860 and locked in a cell. He was sent to Hanoi where he was put on trial, and on 2 February 1861, he was beheaded. Provenance: all four items are on loan from the Missions trangres de Paris. The artist, his father, and the museum extend a special thanks to the Missions for loaning these special objects specifically for this exhibition.

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Cultural activities
Adults / Students
Guided tours A guide will be present to discuss the works and the artist and answer your questions: Tuesdays, 2 - 6 pm. Guided tours every Saturday and Sunday at 12:30 pm Duration: 90 minutes. Free on presentation of exhibition entry. No booking required. Group tours Guided tours in French and English,or unaccompanied tours. Duration: 90 minutes Booking required: 01 53 67 40 80 Admission: rates provided on reservation.

Children
Visit-activities The Tom Thumb of liberty The children will follow the fragments of the Statue of Liberty that Danh Vo reproduces in real-life size. Each piece will be an occasion to question the statue and to tell the story of the artist: the departure from his country, Vietnam during war, and the dream of a new start. During the workshop they will reproduce their own Statue of Liberty. Duration: 1h30. Advance booking required (01 53 67 40 83). Wednesday and Saturday + school holidays at 11 am. Price: 3,80 . Ages 4-6 / Wednesday and Saturday: June 12, 15, 22; July 3, 6 st Ages 4-6 / School holidays: July 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 30, 31; August 1 , 2, 3, 13, 14, 16, 17

Workshops End to end Danh Vos family fled Vietnam in 1979 on a boat built by his father in the hope of reaching the United States. Turned away from their original destination, the family settled in Denmark, where they have lived ever since. His personal story, the Vietnams history, the incidental link which led him towards Denmark, so as the question of the identity are at the heart of his work. The children collect by drawing and sketching key elements of the Vietnams history and of the artists life by walking through the exhibition. Duration: 2h. Advance booking required (01 53 67 40 83). Wednesday and Saturday + school holidays at 2 pm. Price: 6,50 . st Ages 7-9: June 12, 15; July 16, 17, 18, 30, 31; August 1 , 13 and 14 Ages 10-12: June 22; July 3, 6, 19, 20; August 2, 3, 16 and 17

For more information and reservation: www.mam.paris.fr, <CULTURAL SERVICE> Tel. : +33 1 53 67 40 80

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Practical information
Muse dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris 11, avenue du Prsident Wilson 75116 Paris Tl : +33 1 53 67 40 00 www.mam.paris.fr Follow the museum on / Transports Subway : Alma-Marceau or Ina RER : Pont de lAlma (ligne C) Bus : 32/42/63/72/80/92 Vlib' station : 3 av. Montaigne or 2 rue Marceau Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm - ticket office closes at 5.15 pm Open late on Thursdays until 10 pm (exhibitions only) - ticket office closes at 9.15 pm Closed on Mondays and public holidays The exhibition is partly accessible for people with restricted mobility Admission to the exhibition Danh Vo, Go Mo Ni Ma Da Full rate: 6 Concession: 4,50 (over 60, teachers,the unemployed, large families) Half price: 3 (young people 14-26 +people on the minimum wage) Free for under-14s Online tickets: Book online or www.mam.paris.fr

The museum is also presenting:

Keith Haring, The Political Line 19 April 18 August 2013 Aparts 2013 18 May 13 October 2013 In the museum permanent collection Decorum 11 October 2013 9 February 2014 (ARC) Zeng Fanzhi 18 October 2013 16 February 2014 Serge Poliakoff 18 October 2013 23 February 2014

Press contact Marine Le Bris Tel. : +33 1 53 67 40 50 E-mail : marine.lebris@paris.fr

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The Galeries Lafayette group, patron of the exhibition Danh Vo, Go Mo Ni Ma Da at the Muse dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris
The Galeries Lafayette group is proud to confirm its support to the Muse dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris. Following its partnership with the expositions of Mathieu Mercier, Didier Marcel, Ryan Trecatin/Lizzie Fitch and Roman Ondak, the Group enabled the exhibition devoted to Danh Vo. Born in 1975 in Vietnam, Danh Vo spent his childhood in Denmark after his family was forced into exile. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and at the Stdelschule in Frankfurt. The Group was struck by this artists work, based on a global reflection on humankind and its values. The question of identity and the circulation of values are at the core of his art. The work of Danh Vo has been exhibited in some of the most prestigious international institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Denmark, the MoMA New York, etc. Winner of the Hugo Boss Prize in 2012, Danh Vo will also take part in the 2013 Biennale di Venizia. Promoting creation is a key corporate value of the Galeries Lafayette group, an integral part of its history and reflected in its operations, its corporate patronage commitments, and in the passion and beliefs of the family that has been a shareholder for five generations. With the democratization of fashion and art as a core identity of the company, the Galeries Lafayette became an ideal intermediary between creation and a wide audience. In order to pursue and reinforce the partnership with the Muse dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Galeries Lafayette group gives the institution carte blanche as part of the event Vitrines sur lart. The th st flagship on boulevard Haussmann echoes the capitals cultural programming from July 8 to 31 . The commitment of the Muse dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris toward international contemporary artists, well-known designers or emerging talents, echoes the actions of the Galeries Lafayette group toward the diffusion of the arts of its time.

About Galeries Lafayette group: Galeries Lafayette group is a private, independent and family-run group, which has inherited nearly 120 years of history in the retail and fashion trades, based around the idea of making the Good and the Beautiful accessible to all. With sales of 3.7 billion euros in 2012, the Group currently enjoys international recognition, centered on its brands Galeries Lafayette, BHV, Royal Quartz-Louis Pion and Didier Guerin. For more information: www.groupegalerieslafayette.fr Contacts : MARIE-HELENE PLAINFOSSE Vice President Talent Communication and CSR mhplainfosse@galerieslafayette.com +33 1 42 82 86 87 FLORENCE BRACHET Head of Archives and Heritage, in charge of Patronage and Sponsorship fbrachet@galerieslafayette.com +33 1 42 82 37 79

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