ART CITIES:Paris-Vik Muniz
Vik Muniz uses unlikely materials as: copper wire, chocolate, caviar, ketchup, dust, toys, diamonds, and trash, to construct images that are part of our collective visual memory. These images are then photographed, in order to create distance between themselves from the originals items, and to bring us face to face with the illusions of representation.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Xippas Gallery Archive
Continuing his research on recycling images, he created the series “Album” and “Postcards from Nowhere”. Exploiting the plethora of family photo albums he has collected over the years, the artist recreates a common album. The creative process consists of tearing up black and white photographs and using fragments of them to form images that are found in all albums (snapshots from weddings, school, and family vacations). These intimate moments gain a universal dimension. Starting with this notion of individual memory, Vik Muniz continues his reflection on the collective memory. In “Postcards from Nowhere”, the artist reconstructs the most stereotypical representation of a certain place using hundreds of fragments of postcards depicting this specific place. Rich with symbols and information concerning the reconstructed place, these fragments function similarly to hypertext and allow the viewer to weave his own narrative. Imbued with nostalgia, “Albums” and “Postcards from Nowhere” evoke the fragmentation of contemporary visual experience all the while highlighting the materiality of photography. The democratization of digital photography has created a rarefaction of postcards in the same way that it did away with the uniqueness of negatives. Muniz created “Colonies” with artist and MIT researcher Tal Danino. This series, never before shown in France, illustrates the potential malleability of our cells. Intrigued by the complex and diverse forms that these organisms undergo during the course of their development, the artist creates patterns in bacteria and virus cultures. He intervenes using sticky surfaces, like collagen, as a supportive structure for the bacteria and cells to adhere to as they multiply, enabling them to recreate a pattern. This process allows for the concrete visualization of the infinitely small, alive inside us and therefore alters our relationship with bacteria and viruses. These organisms, which originally frighten us, evoke abstract and fascinating
Info: Xippas Gallery, 108, Rue Vieille Du Temple, Paris, Duration: 10/6-1/8/15, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri: 10:00-13:00 & 14:00-19:00, Sat: 10:00-19:00, www.xippas.net
