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Vik Muniz and the Found Object: The Path to Visual Literacy
Lauren Glazer
25 Annual Mint Museum Regional Art History Symposium
March 22nd, 2015
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Enter any gallery and watch the visitors move from one work of art to the next.
It’s structured and impersonal, leaving out room for engagement. Is this the product of
the museum’s layout, or a reluctance of the individual to engage with the objects they
came to see? Whatever the cause, Vik Muniz aims to redefine peoples’ experience and
encourage engagement with art. His use of ordinary objects in photographs is a means of
communicating his message, which aims to attract and engage viewers in a relationship
with art based on individual interpretation. His mission for improving visual literacy
extends beyond museums into our everyday lives. In order to improve global visual
literacy, Vik Muniz uses unconventional materials in his photographs to emphasize the
materiality of his work and engage the viewer in a relationship with his art.
Muniz’s interest in the visual world began in his youth when he spent many years
living under an oppressive government. From 1964 to 1985, the people of Brazil lived in
fear of the torture from the military regime. Citizens were arrested and tortured until they
were “proven innocent of a political crime” (Martin 11). People were subjected to
censorship and propaganda, leaving them unable to trust neither images nor words.
People found a way around the censorship through metaphors. Love songs and ballads
were popular during this era, and behind the crooning lyrics was the public’s true opinion
of its government (bu). One had to decipher the metaphor from the lyrics to understand
the truth.
Living most of his young life under military regime until he left Brazil for the
United States in 1984, Vik Muniz learned to embrace metaphors, which would later
influence his interest in visual literacy and impact his art (Benningsen 52). His interest in
literacy began as a child; he spent much time with his grandmother who taught him to
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read Braille and encouraged his love of reading (Martin 10). His grandmother taught
herself to read and wanted to encourage her grandson also (Martin 9). Although Muniz
excelled at this, he struggled with writing because he communicated better through
drawing (Martin 10). This ease in communicating through images was an unpredictable
beginning for his career as a visual artist and his interest in visual literacy. Although he
did learn to write like the other children in his school, it was not without a struggle.
Imagery came naturally.
His love of drawing did cause trouble for him in his early education. Instead of
working in his notebooks, he doodled in them (Martin 11). Instead of punishing him for
his inability to follow instructions, the principle of the school placed Muniz in an after
school art program, seeing that young Muniz needed a place to hone his skills and
express his creativity. He was always interested in art, but did not see it as a viable option
for a career until he was more stable financially. His reluctance to begin a career as an
artist after his schooling did not prevent him from pursuing his interest in optics
(Richards 231).
Although he thought he would study optometry or psychology at university, he
pursued a career in advertising. Growing up in a country filled with political propaganda,
Muniz was accustomed to encountering images that were meant to communicate a
message to him. When driving down the interstate one day, he noticed the poor
formatting of some billboard advertisements that could not be read from a distance or at
fast speeds, therefore undermining their purpose (bu). In hopes of beginning his career in
advertising, Muniz went to the companies whose billboards he thought were flawed, and
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made proposals to improve them himself, if the company would hire him. His career in
advertising was short lived, as it was not as fulfilling as he hoped it would be.
Vik Muniz. Ashanti Joystick. 1989
In 1989, Muniz premiered his first collection. Although he is known for his
photographs or “thick images,” he began his artistic career as a sculptor (Respini 20). His
first collection, “Relics”, featured artifacts that he recreated in a modern context. Ashanti
Joystick was an archaic relic that he transformed into a gaming joystick that had buttons
and a chord attached. A professional photographer documented the collection, but Muniz
was not impressed and so he rephotographed his own work (Martin 21). Surprisingly,
Muniz preferred the photographs of the sculptures to the sculptures themselves. This
discovery led him to make sculptures that he felt had “identity problems” because they
existed in a state between photography and sculpture (Richards 232). When he created
sculpture he worked from a specific point of view in his mind. The only way to complete
the work was to photograph it, therefore achieving the initial mental image. He struggled
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with the dimensionality and identity of sculpture for three years because he never felt “a
need to walk around sculptures: If an object is made to be looked at, there is always a
best side from which you can look at it. A photograph is just simplifying the process”
(Stainbach 62).
In the early 1990s he had a breakthrough. When looking at books of photographs
of famous sculptures in the New York Public Library, he realized that he was not looking
at the sculptures themselves, but at pictures of them (Martin 23). Not only
unconventional, but also unpopular, Muniz cast aside all stigmas and began pursuing
photography as documentation (Martin 23). The obscurity of this art form was appealing,
leaving him room to explore. He was interested in working in a form of photography that
was recognized as an art form, therefore peaking his interest in how his works would be
received by viewers.
He began his career in documentation photography by photographing a series of
remodeled plasticine (Martin 27). Though it was a multi-piece collection, all photographs
were one lump of plasticine. Here began his concept of photographing the temporary. He
would create a “sculpture” with the intention of photographing it, only to deconstruct the
physical object once he captured the work on film. Over the course of Muniz’s career, he
has worked with a wide variety of objects ranging from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
The combination of his youth under a military regime and his experience of
watching people in museums influenced the materiality of his work and set him on a
mission to improve visual literacy internationally. People are reluctant to believe in an
image based on their own perception specifically regarding art. Instead of interpreting
works on their own, they rely on words in the form of previous knowledge, audio guides,
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and labels. In the contemporary world, images in general are produced rapidly.
According to Muniz “the faster we can produce [images], the less time we have to really
see what they are” (Stainbach 56). It is common culturally to accept an image for what it
is without understanding it, and this impacts the way people experience art.
It is not an uncommon sight to see people wandering around museums, stopping
at the same “invisible” line at each work, and never engaging further with it. At that
“invisible” line, people move one way or another, but they get the same result. This
phenomenon is also the fault of the structure of the exhibition space (Degarrod 128). The
placing of works, and the formed habit of experiencing museums, has taught visitors to
position themselves in a specific location in order to have the “optimum” relationship
with the work (Leahy 164). If the work is iconic, people stand in front of it with their
cameras, seeing it only through the lens (“Mirrors” 13). Sadly “people want to be in front
of them, but don’t necessarily feel obligated to look at them. Their existence as objects
surpasses their actual value as images – it is enough to have been in their presence”
(Martin 111).
Muniz seeks to improve visual literacy through restoring the bond between the
viewer and his art by means of creating works that are highly material. The lack of
engagement with art may be the result of intimidation created by the assumption that high
intelligence and knowledge of art is required to understand and interpret it. Oil and
marble can be intimidating and prevent the viewer from engaging with the art. It is not
impossible to engage with oil and marble, but that was not the route Muniz wanted to
take to restore the bond between viewer and art. Instead, Muniz decided to turn to the
ordinary. He was not so much interested in the actual material, but in the ability of the
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viewer to recognize the material in the photograph (Stainbach 66). Viewers may even
question why a work made out of an ordinary object has any purpose hanging on the wall
of a museum. Muniz wants the viewer to question and interpret his works, not simply
understand them through the words provided in the exhibition.
Vik Muniz. Relaxation. 1995. Silver gelatin print
When using found and ordinary objects, Muniz’s intent is not to deceive the
viewer into thinking his work is something it is not. He challenges the viewer to resist the
illusion (Stainbach 61). If a visitor to a museum sees a work across the way, he wants
them to move closer because “pictures mean different things at different distances”
(Magill 104). Relaxation from Muniz’s “Pictures of Wire” series can be deceiving. From
afar it appears to be a drawing of a drink next to a cigarette in an ashtray. If that was truly
what it was, one might think it was rather unimpressive and maybe undeserving to hang
in a gallery or museum. Before making a final judgment, Muniz encourages the viewer to
take a closer look, meaning the viewer has to physically change his or her relationship
with the artwork because he wants people to “walk towards anything and it transforms.
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Metamorphosis happens with proximity and distance” (Richards 231). At a close
proximity, Relaxation is a photograph of wire formed into the image that looked like a
drawing from afar. Wire is ordinary and therefore relatable. No external information is
needed to understand what the photograph is about. The discovery of the true nature of
the work may spark intrigue and cause the viewer to stand in front of it a little longer
instead of passing it by.
Vik Muniz. Dürer’s Praying Hands. 1993
By focusing on materiality in his “Pictures of Wire” series, he aims to make
people aware of their engagement with the art (Martin 40). In his “Equivalents” series he
photographed cotton in different ways, leaving the final interpretation to the viewer. In
Dürer’s Praying Hands, the title informs the viewer of one interpretation, but there are
many others including the obvious, it is a picture of cotton. The act of seeing more than
one image in the cotton was inspired by the act of doing the same thing with clouds. The
viewer is free to find whatever he or she wants to in the image, and the act of finding
what they want is part of the engagement (Martin 40). The viewer completes the work.
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Muniz believes that the “artist only does half the work; the viewer has to come up with
the rest – it is empowering the viewer that achieves its miraculous force” (Martin 17).
According to Muniz, not only does the viewer have the power to complete the
work, but also to determine its meaning. Meaning is created by the interaction of the
viewer and the art object (Degarrod 136). Anyone has the ability to interpret art; it only
requires common sense and attention to detail (Howells 13). The ability to see something
in art is not a reflection of intelligence or having a broad knowledge of art history. There
is a science to seeing that influences the semantic memory. When an image or the
representation of an image is recognized, it is because the “depicted image looks like
something one has already seen, learned or experienced” (“The Unbearable Likeness”
17). Muniz uses semantic memory to his advantage because when he makes a work, his
aim is to meet “the viewer halfway by betting on the assumption that the viewer will
already have a preconception of what I am about to show him or her” (Galassi 95).
Vik Muniz. The Birth of Venus after Botticelli. 2008. Digital C-Print
Muniz uses both ordinary materials and recognizable images to build the viewers
confidence when looking at his art. The Birth of Venus, after Botticelli is part of the
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“Pictures of Junk” series done in Rio made of a variety of discarded items, similar in
concept to his “Pictures of Garbage” series. Junk is normally hidden away and is an
unflattering part of society. By recreating recognizable images with ordinary materials,
specifically objects such as bottle caps, cans, broken electronics and other items, Muniz
challenges the viewer to trust what he or she sees and interact with the art to discover
why these iconic and esteemed images are made out of junk. The viewer sees recreations
of famous images that were originally crafted in oil, something intimidating. Now they
exist as photographs of junk, something that the average viewer can understand. The
image is no longer intimidating, instead approaching and enticing to interact with. Using
semantic memory the viewer confidently can approach the art because he or she
recognizes both the subject and the material. The viewer may even attempt to interpret
the artwork without the help of outside sources.
Semantic memory, combined with common sense and attention to detail, is key to
understanding art. Relying on museum labels is unnecessary, though they can be helpful.
Often, viewers rely on labels to interpret works, but the text cannot replace the experience
of viewing an object (Ting 190). Labels can be helpful in developing the viewer’s
understanding or interpretation of art, but they also risk ending “the viewer’s need for
their observation” (Martin 111). Visual literacy is not merely about reading the image
alone; text is part of creating meaning. Muniz worries about the text because “the
moment the caption is read, the viewer immediately locates the image within a context,”
and “text desensitizes the image as it ‘completes’ it” (Martin 111).
By using recognizable and relatable materials, Muniz hopes to steer people away
from their reliance on text and begin to rely on their ability to decipher works on their
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own. Creating art with materials that will engage the viewer is part of his contribution to
restoring peoples’ relationships with images and improving their visual literacy. He wants
people to have control of their experience and not let it be dictated by the museum layout
and labels, and so he advises people to “go to a museum, walk toward an image,” because
“it is a very important decision. You are in control – it is your choice, and you are going
to face it and think about it. This is the beginning of you polishing your relationship with
the world of images” (Bennigsen 59). People need to become fluent in visual literacy
because the world today is saturated with images that people encounter on a daily basis.
According to Muniz, “as images become increasing more eloquent than the text that
accompanies them, visual literacy becomes as important as reading itself” (Stainbach 812). Visual literacy is not only crucial for art, but the imagery that fills our lives. As the
importance of images increases each day, a grammar for images needs to be established
(Bennigsen 54). Muniz’s mission to engage viewers with art is an attempt to make people
aware of the visual world they live in and encourage them to be active participants in
interpreting what they see. When he makes art, his first motivation is “this negotiation
with the viewer about the way we perceive the visual world” (Martin 17). His art is an
attempt to restore viewers as active participants in experiencing images, and change the
cultural experience of viewing art from passive to active.
In conclusion, Vik Muniz’s use of materiality in his photographs engages viewers
in a relationship with his art, allowing them the opportunity to form their own
interpretations, independent of museum texts. The confidence built through repeated
engagement with relatable art is a crucial tool in restoring visual literacy internationally
in a world overflowing with images we need to understand.
Vik Muniz and the Found Object
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List of Images
Muniz, Vik. Ashanti Joystick. 1989.
Muniz, Vik. Relaxation. 1995. Silver gelatin print.
Muniz, Vik. Dürer’s Praying Hands. 1993.
Muniz, Vik. The Birth of Venus after Botticelli. 2008. Digital C-Print.
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Works Cited
Bennigsen, Silvia Von, Irene Gludowacz, and Susanne Van Hagen, eds. Global Art.
Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2009. Print.
bu. “Contemporary Perspectives Lecture: Vik Muniz of ‘Waste Land.’” YouTube.
YouTube. 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KaCfTpQ-o
Degarrod, Lydia Nakashima. “When Ethnographics Enter Art Galleries.” Museum
Materialists: Objects, Engagements, Interpretations. Ed. Sandra H. Dudley.
Abingdon: Routledge, 2010. 128, 136. Print.
Howells, Richard and Joaquim Negreiros. Visual Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2012.
Print.
Leahy, Helen Rees. “Watch your step: Embodiment and encounter at Tate Modern.”
Museum Materialists: Objects, Engagements, Interpretations. Ed. Sandra H.
Dudley. Abingdon: Routledge, 2010. 162-6. Print.
Martin, Lesley A, ed. Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer. New York: Aperture Foundation,
2005. Print.
Muniz, Vik. “A Dialogue: Vik Muniz and Charles Stainbach.” Interviewed by Charles
Stainbach. Natura Pictrix: Interviews and Essays on Photography. New York:
Edgewise Press, 2003. 48-82. Print.
Muniz, Vik. “An Interview with Vik Muniz by Mark Magill.” Interviewed by Mark
Magill. Natura Pictrix: Interviews and Essays on Photography. New York:
Edgewise Press, 2003. 104. Print.
Muniz, Vik. “Conversation: Vik Muniz and Eva Respini.” Interviewed by Eva Respini.
Vik Muniz and the Found Object
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Verso. Milano: Edizioni Charta, 2009. 17-21. Print.
Muniz, Vik. “Mirrors; or, ‘How to Steal a Masterpiece’.” Natura Pictrix: Interviews and
Essays on Photography. New York: Edgewise Press, 2003. 13-15. Print.
Muniz, Vik. “Natura Pictrix: Vik Muniz with Peter Galassi.” Interviewed by Peter
Galassi. Natura Pictrix: Interviews and Essays on Photography. New York:
Edgewise Press, 2003. 93-95. Print.
Muniz, Vik. “The Unberarable Likeness of Being.” Natura Pictrix: Interviews and
Essays on Photography. New York: Edgewise, Press, 2003. 17. Print.
Richards, Judith Olch. ed. Inside the Studio: Two Decades of Talks with Artists in New
York. New York: Independent Curators International, 2004. Print.
Ting, Wing Yan Vivian. “Dancing Pot and Pregnant Jar? On ceramics, metaphors and
creative labels.” Museum Materialists: Objects, Engagements, Interpretations.
Ed. Sandra H. Dudley. Abingdon: Routledge, 2010. 190. Print.