Danny Devos

Danny Devos (born 20 September 1959), also known as DDV, is a Belgian artist whose work involves body art and performance art and a fascination with true crime.

Since 1979 he has done 176 performances and made several sculptural installations depicting violence, crime and murder. Since 1987 he has been corresponding with serial killers like Freddy Horion and Michel Bellen in Belgium and John Wayne Gacy in the USA.

In 1981 he founded the artist initiative Club Moral with Anne-Mie van Kerckhoven.

From 1998 until 2004 he was Social Commissioner and chairman of the NICC, the first association of Visual Artists in Belgium, where he was in charge of the Social Statute of the Artist.

In 2005 he moved to Beijing in China to develop and manage Art Farm for colleague artist Wim Delvoye.

From 2005 until recently he performed his piece 'Diggin' for Gordon', inspired by Gordon Matta-Clark, at a secret location and could only be seen by the audience through a webcam.

Since 2021 his works are based on artificial intelligence text-to-image model renderings that are then used to produce 3D printing or CNC machined relief objects. In 2025 he created 650 images from a 1974 exhibition catalogue of works from J. M. W. Turner, using the titles as prompts in a text-to-image model.

Unique in the field of Performance art is his artistic documenting of iconic performances by making them into 3D scale models. Another mode of documenting exists in the recreation of images by AI Machine Learning Models to generate images of performances whereof scarce or no photographic documentation exists.

Club Moral is also a pioneer noise music band.

Apart from solo sound concerts, he also performs with Bum Collar, an improvisational noise band with Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven on electronics, Mauro Pawlowski on guitar, and Paul Mennes engineering and browntones.

Solo exhibitions In Memory of Ed Gein (Ruimte Morguen) 1987 Belgium's Most Bizarre Artist (Ruimte Morguen) 1989 De Moorden in Ruimte Morguen (Ruimte Morguen) 1991 True Crime Art (Galerie Transit) 1991 The Red Spider of Katowice (Galeria Potocka, Kraków) 1993 De Wurger / The Strangler (Galerie Annette De Keyser) 1994 De Vampier van Muizen 1994 Daders van Dodingen / Perpetrators of Death (Galerie Annette De Keyser) 2000 Thai Boy Slim (Galerie Annette De Keyser) 2000 A Study for the Happiest Man Alive (Annie Gentils Gallery) 2012 Picnic at Hanssenspark (De Bond) 2014 Lily & Rudy (Annie Gentils Gallery) 2016 La Révolte des Machines ou La Pensée Déchaînée de Frans Masereel 2023

Group exhibitions (selection) Untitled (Ruimte Z) 1979 1980 (ICC) 1980 Van Drang tot Dwang (Club Moral) 1983 De Dood (K4) 1984 Automobiënnale (Middelheim) 1985 Antichambres 1986 Het Onding Kunst (Stalker) 1988 Wahrheit und Dichtung (Galerie Maerz) 1989 Prime Time (w139) 1989 Woord en Beeld ( MuHKA) 1992 Wunschmaschinen (WUK/Wolkersdorf) 1993 Transfer (Gent/Recklinghausen/Charleroi) 1994 De Rode Poort (SMAK) 1996 Beeldberichten (KMSKA) 1996 Alter Ego (Silpakorn University) 1999 The Divine Comedy (Fort Asperen) 1999 Pauvre Nous (Factor 44) 2004 Dear ICC (MuHKA) 2004 Voorbij Goed & Kwaad (Museum Dr. Guislain) 2006 The Moss Gathering Tumbleweed Experience (NICC) 2007 All That is Solid Melts into Air (De Maakbare Mens) (Stadsvisioenen) 2009 The State of Things (National Art Museum of Beijing) 2010 Hidden – Conflict (CIAP) 2013 Crime in Art (Museum of Contemporary Art in Kraków) 2014