More Miami: Vik Muniz lecture

Vik Muniz spoke to a full house that spilled into an overflow room on December 8th at Art Basel. He spoke with a great sense of humor and poise about the progressions of his career, and what is work means to him. Muniz began creating sculpture, but eventually became far more interested in photographer. He was fascinated by the photo shoots that took place to document the objects in galleries; the light, the photographer and all the assistants; Muniz said the procedure made it seem as if the "object was made to be photographed". The irony is that if a viewer only sees the photograph, he only see's the object from the photographers way of looking, and sometimes the photograph even makes the subject look better than it really is. "As we grow old, we lose the ability to rotate objects in our minds" said Muiz.

These were the beginings of Muniz's reason for photography as means of distribution (his sculptures are never exhibited in person); he also uses the theory of photography to his advanteage. "I rely on the photograph to create that critical distance...it's my pixie dust." Munix feels the photograph seperates the viewer from the process. He spoke about watching people look at paintings in a gallery, how they walk up to a certain point in front of the canvas and then lean in, step back and repeat. He wants to find that exact moment when the viewer crosses the boundary, that moving out to see the image versus moving in to see the process. Muniz tries to "extend that tranformation" because "magic is where art meets science."

Vik then spoke with a morbid sense of humor about the state of the photo industry: ave something depressing to say......"Photography is useless. Being a photographer today is like being a painter when photography was invented."

The moderator asked Muniz to talk about his materials (ketchup, ciggerate ashes, chocolate syrup, wire, thread, etc). Muniz said that he "mistcasts all of his actors". Elaborating, he explained "It's just material. It's just stuff, it's what you make of it. People in the renessaince use mummy powder. I've never used dead people!"