Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2018
Lead Designer / CollaboratorDahn Vo Opening Invitation
For Danh Vo: Take My Breath Away — the Guggenheim’s first comprehensive survey of Danh Vo’s work in the United States — I approached the invitation as a condensed narrative object reflecting the exhibition’s layered engagement with personal history, cultural fragments, and material presence.
Working with the artist’s involvement and approval, I conceived the invitation as a mini-poster housed in a custom envelope. The thin, dual-surface paper, played on notions of archive, fragility, and discovery, while the visible seams and material contrasts echoed Vo’s practice of deconstructing found forms. The invitation was intended to feel like an artifact , not just an announcement, in dialogue with the artist’s own interest in memory and material narratives.
The invitation itself was printed on an extremely thin C1S stock, glossy on one side and matte on the other, chosen to evoke the delicacy of an old magazine page. The exhibition image was printed on the glossy side, with the invitation details on the matte reverse. The piece was folded twice so that seams remained visible, reinforcing the idea of a found, preserved fragment. The envelope was designed and converted from bright white uncoated cover stock and blind-embossed with one of the artist’s signature forms. Opening vertically, it revealed only a sliver of the folded image—creating a moment of restraint and discovery. The final object balanced fragility and precision, aligning closely with the exhibition’s themes of history, intimacy, and material presence.
For several exhibitions, invitations evolved into collectible objects and conceptual extensions of the artists’ own practices. In the Danh Vo project, the design was developed with the artist’s direct involvement and approval, reflecting his engagement with narrative, material, and historical resonance.
