Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty

June 22, 2026 – June 25, 2027

NEW YORK, June 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Vilcek Foundation presents Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty, an exhibition centered on works from Vietnamese-born Danish artist Danh Võ's acclaimed We The People series (2011–2016), alongside Live Free or Die (2026), a newly commissioned sculptural installation created for the exhibition. Opening on June 22, 2026, the exhibition coincides with the 250th anniversary of American independence and the 25th anniversary of the Vilcek Foundation.

Uniting fragmented forms of the Statue of Liberty and reconfigured versions of the American flag, the exhibition examines how national symbols accumulate and transform across time, geography, and political history. Through sculpture and installation, Võ explores questions of migration, democracy, identity, and belonging that continue to shape contemporary American life.

The exhibition centers on three pieces from Võ's We The People series, a monumental project in which the artist reproduced the Statue of Liberty at full scale using traditional repoussé techniques. Similar to Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's original, 19th-century sculpture, Liberty Enlightening the World, thin sheets of copper were hammered from the reverse side to create raised surfaces before being assembled into more than 300 separate fragments.

Unlike the original Statue of Liberty, however, Võ's work was never intended to exist as a complete monument. Conceived in Germany and fabricated in Shanghai, We The People was distributed across museums, institutions, and public sites worldwide. Through fragmentation and dispersal, Võ morphs one of the most recognizable symbols of freedom into an unstable and incomplete form open to reinterpretation.

Included in the exhibition are We The People (detail) #DVW211.C8.1, a large fragment from the Statue of Liberty's drapery near the base of the monument; We The People (detail) #DVW211.O9, which preserves recognizable features from the statue's face, including the eye and surrounding contours; and We The People (detail) #DVW211.F9, a sweeping section of drapery from the center of the figure below the tablet-bearing arm. Presented independently, these pieces shift between abstraction and figuration while drawing attention to seams, welds, assembly numbers, and traces of manual labor often concealed within the monument's larger structure.

The exhibition also premieres Live Free or Die (2026), a newly commissioned sculptural installation composed of stacked American ash logs and 13 steel stars arranged in the form of the American flag. Conceived specifically for Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty, the work extends Võ's longstanding investigation into nationalism, migration, and political symbolism.

Also on view is a small-scale version of Liberty Enlightening the World. Presented alongside Võ's fragmented works, the sculpture offers viewers a point of reference for the intact monument and foregrounds the transformation enacted through Võ's reimagining of the iconic form.

"The Statue of Liberty and the American flag are symbols most of us think we already know," says Rick Kinsel, President of the Vilcek Foundation. "Danh Võ gives us a chance to look at them differently, not as fixed icons but as objects shaped by history, migration, memory, and lived experience."

Born in Vietnam and raised in Denmark after his family fled the country following the Vietnam War, Võ examines migration, colonial histories, and national identity through his work. Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty continues the Vilcek Foundation's commitment to supporting immigrant artists and fostering dialogue around migration, cultural exchange, and selfhood. Founded in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, immigrants from the former Czechoslovakia, the foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions to the arts, sciences, and culture in the United States.

Exhibition Information
Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty
June 22, 2026 – June 25, 2027
Vilcek Foundation
21 East 70th Street
New York, NY 10021

Admission is free with advance registration. Visitors can reserve timed entry through the Vilcek Foundation website. A complimentary digital audio guide for the exhibition will also be available through Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.

Press Preview
The press preview will take place on Monday, June 22, at 1:00 p.m. Interested journalists can register via [email protected]. Participation is exclusively for accredited media and is confirmed by the press department.

For additional information, please contact:
[email protected]

About Danh Võ
Danh Võ was born in Vũng Tàu, Vietnam, in 1975 and raised in Denmark after his family fled Vietnam following the Vietnam War. Working across sculpture, installation, photography, and found objects, Võ examines how personal histories intersect with larger political and historical narratives. His work often explores migration, colonialism, national identity, and the circulation of cultural symbols across global contexts. Võ has exhibited internationally at institutions including the Venice Biennale, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation for the arts and sciences more broadly. Since it was established in 2000 by Jan and Marica Vilcek, the foundation has awarded over $17 million in prizes and grants in support of this mission.

The Vilcek Foundation is a private operating foundation, a federally tax-exempt nonprofit organization under IRC Section 501(c)(3). To learn more, please visit vilcek.org.

Contact
Eana Kim
The Vilcek Foundation
212-472-2500
[email protected]

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SOURCE The Vilcek Foundation