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29/9/2011

Danh Vo

Fridericianum, Kassel

With JULY, IV, MDCCLXXVI, Danh Vo shifts the focus of his artistic investigations to the concept of freedom. The title designates 4 July 1776, the date of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. The writing in Roman numerals is taken from the tablet that the figure of New York’s Statue of Liberty is holding in her left hand. Since 1886, Miss Liberty has symbolized the hope of a better life for refugees and immigrants arriving in New York. She is the most important emblem of freedom and independence, which Danh Vo absorbs. Based on the dimensions of the original and its copper weight of some 31 tons, Vo had a replica of the Statue of Liberty made which forms the main part of JULY, IV, MDCCLXXVI.

The confrontation with physical mass contrasts with a spatial openness in the ground floor, where Danh Vo steers attention to a striking found piece: the original typewriter on which Theodore Kaczynski wrote the Unabomber’s Manifesto. Kaczynski, a university professor and terrorist, who carried out bomb attacks in the USA for 18 years, offered to stop those attacks if the newspapers published his manifesto. Shortly after the text appeared in the New York Times and in the Washington Post, Kacyznski was found in a small cabin in the mountains of Montana and got arrested. Recently this cabin as well as its contents, including the typewriter, were auctioned by the FBI.

Exhibiting objects based on the ready-made principle is a characteristic artistic strategy of Danh Vo. The objects Vo selects are multilayered bearers of meaning which he uses to tell stories and disclose relationships. They always contain a complex political and poetic system with which the artist perceptively links art and life. The exhibition in Kassel also involves a widely branching narrative strand, which, starting from the concept of freedom, explores failed political, social and personal aims, takes up issues of self-determination and responsibility, and extends their definitions.

Edition Danh Vo
Exclusively accompanying JULY, IV, MDCCLXXVI, an edition under the title Season's Greetings by Danh Vo is being brought out which is closely tied to the exhibition. In an edition of 24 copies, the artist compiled found objects, each of which refers to a work in the Kassel exhibition. The hand-made wooden boxes each contain a first-edition copy of the book "Harvard and the Unabomber – The Education of an American Terrorist", a T-shirt from the Statue of Liberty souvenir shop in New York, a cup from the "George Bush Library and Museum", with a quote by Barbara Bush printed on it, as well as an index card on which the title of the show – the date of the American Declaration of Independence – was typed on the typewriter used by Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.

Wednesday 26 October, 6 p.m.
InsideOut Talk with Adam Szymczyk
The director of Kunsthalle Basel and curator of Danh Vo’s exhibition Where the Lions Are talks, against the backdrop of the current exhibition, about Vo's artistic strategies, his points of reference in the art context, and how he approaches exhibition projects. Free admission

Saturday 29 October, 7 p.m. and 9.30 p.m.
Kasseler Musiktage: String quartet concert at Kunsthalle Fridericianum
A renowned music festival, the "Kasseler Musiktage" (Kassel Music Days) will explore different dichotomies this year. Under the title "Im Atem der Zeit" (The Breath of the Times), modern works meet traditional pieces, and bold experiments engage with the masterly and exemplary. The ensemble Quartett PLUS 1 is using the occasion to explore its own identity: What is a string quartet today and what can it be? In the field of tension between early music, pop and contemporary composition, movement and improvisation, the musicians are searching for the sound of our age. As a reference to Danh Vo’s exhibition JULY, IV, MDCCLXXVI, Quartett PLUS 1 play “American Jesus Suite” (a commissioned piece by Stefan Wurz from 2011) and Benjamin Franklin’s “String Quartet”, dating back to 1778, thus opening up new perspectives for the audience’s eyes and ears.
Admission fee: 10 €/reduced 5 €. Tickets can be ordered by calling the ticket hotline (+49 561-3164500) or can be purchased at the following advance booking offices in Kassel:
- Kasseler Musiktage e.V., Heinrich-Schütz-Allee 35, email: vorverkauf@kasseler-musiktage.de
- HNA Kartenservice, Kurfürstengalerie, phone: 0561/203204
- Musikhaus Eichler, Ständeplatz 13, phone: 0561/9188861

Events October till December 2011
(selection)

Sun 2 October, 3 p.m.
Guided Tour by the Curator

Mon 3 October, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Kunsthalle Fridericianum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Wed 26 October, 6 p.m.
InsideOut Talk with Adam Szymczyk

Sat 29 October, 7 p.m. and 9.30 p.m.
Kasseler Musiktage: String quartet concert at Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Admission fee 10 €/reduced 5 €

Thu-Sat 10-12 November, as from 11 p.m.
DokfestForum

Wed 30 November, 6 p.m.
InsideOut Best of Kunsthalle Fridericianum 08-11

Mon 26 December, 3 p.m.
Guided Tour through the exhibition. Kunsthalle Fridericianum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Sat 31 December, 3 p.m.
Guided Tour by the Curator, Kunsthalle Fridericianum closes at 4 p.m.

The complete programme of events can be found on the website.

Press contact:
Friederike Siebert Tel. +49 561 7072786 Fax +49 561 7072775 Email press@fridericianum-kassel.de

You and your friends are cordially invited to attend the opening of the exhibition on Friday 30 September 2011 at 7 p.m.

Kunsthalle Fridericianum
Friedrichsplatz 18 D-34117 Kassel
Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Admission
normal: 5 €
reduced: 3 €
Groups: 3 € per person
children up to the age of 12 have free access
Free on Wednesdays

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