Antoni Muntadas
Jose Lebrero Stals
Enric Franch
ValentÃn Roma
Rosa Pera
Ricardo Iglesias
On Translation: Museum. Begun in Helsinki in 1995, this group of twenty-seven works analyses the concept of 'translation' from a wide-ranging perspective, which tackles linguistic, economic, political and cultural issues. In this project, Muntadas approaches the concept of translation as an internal debate with the museum-institution itself, focusing on the way it represents and interprets a work which is located in quite different situations and contexts.
On Translation is a series
of works that explore
questions of transcription,
interpretation and translation.
From language to codes
From silence to technology
From subjectivity to objectivity
From agreement to wars
From private to public
From semiology to cryptography
The role of translation /
translators as a fact,
visible / invisible
Muntadas, project notes
On Translation: Museum is the most recent project in the seriesdeveloped by Antoni Muntadas under the generic title On Translation. Begun in Helsinki in 1995, this group of twenty-seven works analyses the concept of ‘translation’ from a wide-ranging perspective, which tackles linguistic, economic, political and cultural issues. In On Translation: Museum, Muntadas approaches the concept of translation as an internal debate with the museum-institution itself, focusing on the way it represents and interprets a work which is located in quite different situations and contexts. The result of
this model of association between the artist and MACBA has taken the form of a project with six complementary parts:On Translation: Museum - Interpretation; On Translation: Museum - Presentation; On Translation: La imatge; On Translation: Web; On Translation: The Publication; On Translation. Public Space.
http://muntadas.macba.es
The artistic activities of Muntadas (Barcelona, 1942) have been defined by
a critical analysis of the role of the media in the symbolic construction
of contemporary social reality. From the mid-1970s onwards his attention
has focused on the environment created by what he calls the "media
landscape": political propaganda, advertising, economic and ideological
power groupings, and culture criticism.
On Translation: Museum is an exhibition in which the artist’s projects
from the On Translation series are reinterpreted. This project includes a
group of works and installations arranged in various series, series in
which Muntadas addresses the notion of translation in contemporary society
and its influence on social rituals, economic negotiations and
inter-communicative strategies.
Since the realization of the first scheme, On Translation: The Pavilion,
in Helsinki in 1995, more than twenty versions of the series have been
produced: On Translation: The Games, La mesa de negociación, The Internet
Project, The Audience, The Monuments, El aplauso, The Transmission, etc.
This exhibition at the MACBA, which also brings together a number of
earlier works and can be seen inside the museum as well as in different
places in Barcelona and on the Internet, covers four essential aspects of
Muntadas’ work: architecture, the media, the city and the museum; an urban
project realized especially for this occasion called On Translation: The
Image, an on-line project sited in the projects section at
http://www.macba.es; and an in-depth publication on the project called
Muntadas. On Translation (Barcelona: MACBA / Actar, 2002).
Curator:
José Lebrero Stals, in collaboration with Enric Franch, ValentÃn Roma,
Rosa Pera and Ricardo Iglesias
Exhibition produced by: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona MACBA
Placa dels Àngels, 1 Barcelona, Spain