Garden Commission: Danh Vo

Vietnamese-born Danish artist Danh Vo presents a series of compelling new sculptures as part of his first outdoor installation in Singapore. Vo’s work often draws upon personal experience to explore broader historical, social or political themes, particularly those relating to the history of Vietnam at the close of the 20th century. A continuation of his existing practice, this installation explores issues of cross-cultural identity and the definition of cultural values.

Award-winning conceptual artist Danh Vo’s largest installation in Asia to date launched at the National Gallery Singapore’s Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Gallery today. It also marks the inaugural showcase of the Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission series.

By taking art installations out of typical gallery spaces and into public areas, this installation is one of the Gallery’s initiatives in engaging visitors with more differentiated and dynamic art experiences. Visitors are invited to sit on the wooden forms and appreciate the space the artist has created; to consider the potentials in the interlocking shapes presented and to observe the architecture of the surrounding skyline.

Here, the shapes of the buildings around the gallery disappear into the reflective copper surface. Yet, under the tropical Singapore weather, the artwork’s copper floor will also oxidise and darken over the exhibition period, encouraging visitors to come back and reexamine the changing landscape.

Created as a response to the Gallery’s Southeast Asia exhibitions, the artist’s sculpture garden features scaled-up wooden toy puzzles of varying sizes placed alongside a classical Roman marble sculpture on a copper floor, and will sit at the roof of the old City Hall building.

The combination of wood, marble and copper, the play with scale and the multiple intersecting lines show an interest in form and composition that is seldom discussed in relation to Vo’s work.