Now, in Rome, the exhibition “Editions: 1971 – 2024” at Studio Piero Varroni – EOS Libri retraces Antoni Muntadas’ production of artists’ books, a medium cultivated in parallel with installations and exhibitions, which are also conceived as artistic devices. Conceptual artist Muntadas is internationally recognised for his interdisciplinary and multimedia work, which addresses social and political issues using every available medium (television, internet, installations, photography and publications). He pays particular attention to how images, together with the power of their channels of circulation, shape and strengthen such issues.
As announced in the press release, a large anthology of material documenting the main themes addressed by Antoni Muntadas throughout his long artistic career will be presented. This represents a cross-section of his creative journey from the early 1970s to the present day.
Muntadas views the practice of art as a form of knowledge, critical experience and engagement. Over the years, he has consistently engaged in a critical investigation of the phenomena produced by various forms of globalisation, navigating between different disciplines and intermediate fields – between art, social sciences and communication systems – in what he refers to as the ‘media landscape’, by which he means the continuous expansion of mass media into both public space and private life.
For Muntadas, perception requires involvement: “Perceiving is digesting, responding to the idea that the gaze is the beginning of perception, which must not only be connected to the senses but also to personal, political and social involvement.” He conceives of reality as ‘translation’ – not only visual translation but also that relating to language, culture and the media.
An artist’s book was specially produced for the exhibition, in the form of a leporello, available in 24 copies, together with a new issue of RivistaFoglio (no. 8), a monograph on Muntadas with edited texts by Laura Cherubini, Modesta Di Paola, Cecilia Guida, Beatriz Herràez, Roberto Pinto and previously unpublished texts by Giovanni Fontana and Daniela Vasta.
Muntadas / Edizioni 1971 – 2024 Studio Varroni – Eos Libri d’Artista, Rome, Via Saturnia, 55, Rome
Opening: November 22, 2024, until February 22, 2025 (Mon-Fri by appointment)
