What rules didn’t you follow about making it in the art world? Being a hypocrite, creating a sense of exclusivity, or having a superior knowledge. Thinking that your ideas are beyond the intelligence of the public is something that I never really believed in. The intelligence of art should be intelligent in its accessibility. There is a lot of art that is based on exclusivity, and this is something I don’t subscribe too. Good art is good for everybody. ■
Interview by Andrea Blanch
Photograph of Vik Muniz by Andrea Blanch All other photographs Courtesy of the Artist A major retrospective is currently on view at the museum Collection Lambert in Avignon, France. In December 2008 Muniz was the guest artist at the Museum of Modern Art exhibition series Artist’s Choice: Vik Muniz-Rebus. Other international solo exhibitions in recent years are: Vik Muniz at the House of Photography, The Beautiful Earth at Paço das Artes e Galeria Fortes Vilaça in São Paulo; Pictures of People at the
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in the UK; Muniz at the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporânea in Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Vik Muniz at Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro and Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo. In the US major solo exhibitions include: The Things Themselves: Pictures of Dirt at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; Vik Muniz at The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery in New York; Clayton Days at The Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh and Seeing is Believing at the International Center of Photography in New York.