2019_03_22_vik-muniz

The Brazilian artist Vik Muniz has visited the University Museum of Navarra, where he is working on a new project, and has given a masterclass to about 300 people.

Muniz, who reuses everyday materials for the creation of his works, has shared with the public his professional career and the way of facing creation since, as he has defended, "art is not a thing, but a process. And that process is the most interesting thing". In this sense, he recalled some concepts that he shares with his students, whom he reminds that "the artist must live, leave his studio, travel, talk to people". He also vindicated humor to build a story, as it is "a very strong tool to work on deeper ideas".

Throughout his intervention, the artist explained his process of work in some of his most iconic works, in which he resorts to everyday materials such as cotton, wires, chocolate, a plate of spaghetti and even waste. These works offer the viewer a multitude of readings, making the contemplation of the art piece very enriching. "I started making images that have multiple meanings, a tradition in the history of art. For example, I made wire sculptures that looked like pencil drawings."

Among the works he has projected, he has shown one made with cotton, in which, as he has indicated, you can see a person sailing in a kayak, a cloud or the material itself. "Not only do you see something, but you think about how an artistic image differs from a normal one." He has also recalled the social role of art and explained a project he carried out with adults and children who worked collecting waste in landfills in Brazil. He photographed them and then recreated emblematic paintings on a large scale. This project was recounted in the documentary Waste Land (2010).

He also pointed out the crisis we are currently witnessing, "with the political and economic reality" and pointed to "the trivialization of the image, which only the Education will be able to solve". In the question and answer session, the artist answered about what creativity is for him, although he clarified that there is no single concept, but different types: "It is the ability to create things that do not exist. True creativity is a negotiation between what you know and what you ignore. You can't make art with an absolute knowledge ".