A Proximate Past

Abstract In a stinging critique of the work of Danh Vo, Claire Bishop argues that he reduces moments of historical significance to pretexts for ornamental displays. In stressing the need for sustained engagement with historical trauma, she aligns herself with Theodor Adorno and others who have identified a waning historical consciousness in modern society and culture. Writers descended from Adorno have put forward models for an art of remembrance, including ‘memory sculpture’ (Andreas Huyssen) and the ‘counter-monument’ (James Young). A closer examination of Vo’s work suggests that he borrows elements of both of these models in works that display powerful but contrasting investments in the past. Bishop’s analysis is harsh. The ornamental motifs that dismayed her are crucial to a practice in which the continuing relevance of the past is established through the conflict between different attitudes to the objects it leaves behind.