Oriol Vilanova (1980, Spain) uses installations, performances and texts to explore not only the specific identity of culture, but also its paradoxes.The themes that interest him include the icons of the past, the rewriting of history and the museum as an outmoded exhibition space. He uses the images that he collects and documents to expose underlying mechanisms or constructions, which reveal that stories are not as straightforward as they seem. The title of the exhibition directly challenges the viewer to pause and to think about how you look at things.
Vilanova took his cue for At first sight from M’s context as a museum with its own art collection. He has created a series of installations using exhibition furniture and postcards, in which he sets out to uncover the mechanisms by which museums construct narratives. Is exhibiting simply a matter of showing? Or can it actually conceal something too?
