During my last few hours in Venice I managed to see the immaculately installed exhibition, Slip of the Tongue, a unique project developed by Danh Vo (born in Vietnam in 1975) in collaboration with Caroline Bourgeois, presented at Punta della Dogana from April 12 to December 31. It is the first time an artist has been invited to take the Pinault Collection as a starting point for a reflection on its pieces of art and for conceiving a new exhibition, specifically for Punta della Dogana. This immaculately installed exhibition follows a path that suggests a dialogue between his own works and a selection of works from the Pinault Collection, completed by other ancient or contemporary pieces. It is a remarkable, thought provoking show, housed in a spectacular space, and was considered by many to be the best exhibition in Venice this year, with it’s minimal installation in stark contrast to the Biennale, as Adrian Searle comment in his review in the Guardian on the 12.05.15, “ Slip of the Tongue proceeds as a series of dramatic conversations and confrontations. Compared to the biennale, where it’s one damn thing after another, everything is given the space it needs. All biennales suffer from their own excess, and the Venice Biennale is the mother of them all, the most excessive. I have never seen one that doesn’t run out of steam. Slip of the Tongue, on the other hand, never misses a beat. Wherever we find ourselves we seek the exceptional, the singular voice. Vo lets the objects speak and I left speechless.”
Danh Vo, 08:03, 28.05, 2009. Late 19th century chandelier from the ballroom of the former Hotel Majestic, Avenue Kléber, Paris.
(The Majestic hotel functioned as the headquarters for the German Military administration during the occupation
of France in World War II. It then hosted unEsCo before becoming the french Ministry of foreign affairs and the site
of the signing ceremony known as the Paris Peace accords, and subsequently the nine-point plan aimed at guaranteeing lasting peace in Vietnam in 1973. The building also hosted peace negotiations over Kosovo, the Ivory Coast, and a list of other international conflicts. The hotel was sold and is now the first Peninsula hotel in Europe; it opened in 2014. )
Installation view with Danh Vo, 08:03, 28.05, 2009. Late 19th century chandelier from the ballroom of the former Hotel Majestic, Avenue Kléber, Paris. and Jean-Luc Moulene, Tronche / Moon Face (Paris, May 2014), 2014. Polished concrete, blue blanket, 26 × 18 × 22 cm.
Jean-Luc Moulene, Tronche / Moon Face (Paris, May 2014), 2014. Polished concrete, blue blanket, 26 × 18 × 22 cm.
David Hammons Untitled, 2007, Plastic, 325.1 × 226.1 cm
Installation view with David Hammons Untitled, 2007, Plastic, 325.1 × 226.1 cm and Peter Hujar, Draped Male Nude (i), 1979, Gelatin silver print, 50.8 × 40.6 cm
Peter Hujar, Draped Male Nude (i), 1979, Gelatin silver print, 50.8 × 40.6 cm
Jean-Luc Moulene, La Toupie, 2015. Concrete, 147 × 93 × 67 cm
Danh Vo, Bye Bye, 2015. Heliogravure on paper, 65 × 52 cm
Elmgreen & Dragset, Powerless structures, fig. 13, 1997-2014, Mdf, slide-proof rubber, aluminium, glass, 73.3 × 56 × 230 cm
Hubert Duprat, Tribulum (Detail), 2013, Polyurethane foam, flint, dimensions variable
Hubert Duprat, Caddis Worms Building Their Case, 1980-2015. Gold dust, pearls in tank with water, Each cocoon is 2.5 cm long
Sigmar Polke, Objekt kartoffelhaus, (Detail) 1967-1990, Wood, metal and potatoes, 252 × 200 × 200 cm.
Jean-Luc Moulene, Tête-à-Cul (Paris, spring 2014), 2014. Bone (boar, doe), balloon, epoxy resin, 42 × 30 × 20 cm.
David Hammons, Central Park West, 1990. Bicycle, clothing, street sign, portable cassette player. dimensions variable
Danh Vo, We The People (detail), 2011-2013. Copper, dimensions variable
During my last few hours in Venice I managed to see the immaculately installed exhibition, Slip of the Tongue, a unique project developed by Danh Vo (born in Vietnam in 1975) in collaboration with Caroline Bourgeois, presented at Punta della Dogana from April 12 to December 31. It is the first time an artist has been invited to take the Pinault Collection as a starting point for a reflection on its pieces of art and for conceiving a new exhibition, specifically for Punta della Dogana. This immaculately installed exhibition follows a path that suggests a dialogue between his own works and a selection of works from the Pinault Collection, completed by other ancient or contemporary pieces. It is a remarkable, thought provoking show, housed in a spectacular space, and was considered by many to be the best exhibition in Venice this year, with it’s minimal installation in stark contrast to the Biennale, as Adrian Searle comment in his review in Guardian on the 12.05.15, “ Slip of the Tongue proceeds as a series of dramatic conversations and confrontations. Compared to the biennale, where it’s one damn thing after another, everything is given the space it needs. All biennales suffer from their own excess, and the Venice Biennale is the mother of them all, the most excessive. I have never seen one that doesn’t run out of steam. Slip of the Tongue, on the other hand, never misses a beat. Wherever we find ourselves we seek the exceptional, the singular voice. Vo lets the objects speak and I left speechless.”
