Projects 93: Dinh Q. Lê
June 30, 2010-January 24, 2011
Contemporary Galleries and The Yoshiko and Akio Morita Media Gallery, second floor

This exhibition will be on view during the press preview for Contemporary Art from the Collection: Tuesday, June 29, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. RSVP (212) 708-9401 or pressoffice@moma.org

NEW YORK, June 22, 2010—The Museum of Modern Art presents Projects 93: Dinh Q. Lê, the installation of Dinh Q. Lê's (Vietnamese American, b. 1968) recently acquired work The Farmers and The Helicopters (2006), on view June 30, 2010, through January 24, 2011. The first Vietnamese artist to have a solo exhibition at MoMA, Lê creates work that frequently refers to the Vietnam War—known as the American War in his native country—and presents both sides of the conflict, informed by his own personal history. The installation, in two adjacent galleries, comprises a three-channel video and a helicopter that was constructed by hand from scrap parts by two Vietnamese men: Le Van Danh, a farmer, and Tran Quoc Hai, a self-taught mechanic. The video, made in collaboration with artists Phu-Nam Thuc Ha and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, interlaces interviews and personal recollections of the war by Vietnamese men and women with clips from American blockbuster films and documentaries made during the war.  Projects 93: Dinh Q. Lê is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator at Large, The Museum of Modern Art, and Director, MoMA PS1, and Cara Starke, Assistant Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, The Museum of Modern Art. The Elaine Dannheisser Projects series is coordinated by Kathy Halbreich, Associate Director, The Museum of Modern Art.
     The helicopter played an important military role during the war and has become a resonant object for many Vietnamese. While many of the interviewees in the installation's video relay childhood memories of the horrors associated with helicopters during the war, the helicopter-makers share their vision of this machine as a means to make a better life for the Vietnamese people and bring strength to their community. The collaboration between Lê and the other participants is an important part of The Farmers and The Helicopters, providing the work's multilayered insight into the country's complex associations with this charged object.

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