VITORIA-GASTEIZ.- Artium, Basque Centre-Museum of Modern Arts, presents the exhibition Muntadas. Elkarrekiko loturak, interconexiones, interconnessioni [Muntadas. Interconnections], (North Gallery, from 5 October 2019 to 12 January 2020). The exhibition offers an analytical and transversal look at the work of Antoni Muntadas from the 1970s to the present, featuring projects in which the reflection on the mechanisms of power and control, the relationship between public space and private sphere, and the intervention of the media in the mediatisation of information are recurrent aspects. Twenty works, including photographic series, videos, installations and video installations, make up the exhibition, which also has a space in the Museum Library with information on his last three major projects. Additionally, Antoni Muntadas has updated his work On translation: Warning, which, in the form of a giant banner, occupies the east façade of the Museum. Muntadas Elkarrekiko loturak, interconexiones, interconnessioni is curated by Cecilia Guida and Arturo / fito Rodríguez and it is a joint production by the Artium Museum and the MAMbo Museum of Bologna.
Muntadas. Elkarrekiko loturak, interconexiones, interconnessioni is the first exhibition in the Basque Country dedicated to the work of Antoni Muntadas (Barcelona 1942). Winner of the National Plastic Arts Award in 2005 and Velázquez Prize in 2009, Muntadas has participated in all major international contemporary art events and was one of the artists representing the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2005. At the same time, he has also performed intensive teaching work at such emblematic centres as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California in San Diego, National Superior School of Fine Arts in Paris and University of Architecture in Venice (IUAV).
The title of the exhibition, Muntadas. Elkarrekiko loturak, interconexiones, interconnessioni, is taken from a phrase by Mark Wigley that defines the artist as “more of a city than a person, a network of spaces of exchange operation over long periods of time rather than an individual”. It also refers to the role of nomadic traveller and tireless networker played by Muntadas throughout his extensive artistic career.
Muntadas’ work has been crying out for attention since the 1970s, as well as taking a stand on issues such as globalisation, transnational capitalism, the microphysics of power, the construction of fear, control devices, public-private relations, the processes that manipulate communication and information production. Muntadas reveals internal connective mechanisms that require commitment and “critical subjectivity” on the part of a participative public interested in learning about the contradictions of our society at micro- and macro-political levels.
The exhibition Muntadas. Elkarrekiko loturak, interconexiones, interconnessioni therefore is not so much a retrospective overview of the artist’s work as an analytical, transversal approach, stretching from the early 1970s to the present day. In this way, the exhibition establishes connections between recurrent subjects in his interdisciplinary research by selecting ad hoc some of his most outstanding works.
The exhibition opens with Projecte / Proyecto / Project (2007), which serves as the key to unlock the show. A set of questions referring to the methodology of the artistic project and the way the art system itself functions. It continues with a series of works entitled Subsensory Experiences: acciones y actividades (1971-1973) and also Proyectos / Propuestas (1971-1980), providing us with a more in-depth look into his early works concerning the physical exploration of bodies and materials, relationship contexts and the artist’s conceptual work (plans, sketches, etc.).
La Televisión (1980) is followed by a brief journey into what the artist has dubbed a “mediascape”, which is completed by Media Stadium (1989-2004) and a series of works along similar lines: On Translation: Celebracions (2009), On Translation Himnes (2009) and Stadia / Furniture / Audience (1990), in order to arrive at On Translation: El Aplauso (1999). This work forms part of the Artium Collection and is a referential exercise on the alienation and passivity of TV audiences who continue to celebrate their status as spectators.
The presentation of On Translation: Go Round (2013), On Translation: Listening (2005) and On Translation: On View (2004) involves reuniting three pieces belonging to the Asian Protocols project, which are complemented in Artium with On Translation: Stand by II (2006). This series of works relates to a global order marked by the contradictory relationships established within contemporary society.
Architektur / Räume / Gesten II (1988 - 2017) reflects on political gestures, decision-making spaces and architectural structures, while Palabras, Palabras... (2017) comprises a series of large canvas prints that reflect how the meaning of specific terms is eroded within the vocabulary of today’s political communication. Mirar Ver Percibir (2009) digs deeper into this cry for a stand from the interlocutor-receiver of the show.
The exhibition is completed by a documentation space (opposite the Museum’s library) that brings together information about three of the latest major projects completed by Muntadas: Asian Protocols (2011-2018), About Academia (2011 y 2017) and La construcción del miedo (2008-2013).
The exhibition also includes a new site-specific work produced by the artist for this occasion that bears the caption (in basque): “Erne: hautemateak parte-hartzea behar du / Warning: perception requires participation”, a 100-m2 banner installed outside the Museum. This On Translation: Warning (1999-...) intervention has been reproduced in several languages, contexts and locations throughout the world, establishing a link between inside and outside the museum and drawing attention to our commitment and participation both in and out of it.
The exhibition project, curated by Cecilia Guida and Arturo “Fito” Rodríguez, has been produced in collaboration with MAMbo-Villa delle Rose in Bologna and is accompanied by a publication in Spanish, Italian, English and Basque, containing critical essays by Beatriz Herráez, Lorenzo Balbi, Cecilia Guida, Arturo “Fito” Rodríguez, Gabriel Villota and Roberto Pinto.
