Vanguard Gallery is pleased to present “Being Far/Being Close” on April 27th, a solo exhibition featuring the renowned Spanish conceptual artist Muntadas. The exhibition will showcase eight artworks, including Muntadas’ works spanning the last four decades, offering audiences insight into Muntadas’ integration of art and social science research.

Born in Barcelona in 1942, Muntadas moved to New York in 1971. He has been instrumental in advancing video art within contemporary discourse and is also a pioneer in multimedia installations and urban interventions. His works incorporate interdisciplinary investigations and research from linguistics, history, anthropology, sociology, and beyond. By initiating collaborative research projects in various regions, he has further loosened the constraints imposed by singular geographical contexts on the creation of art, transforming viewers from “passive observers” to “active participants” through diverse mediums and methods.

After relocating to the United States, Antoni Muntadas has taught in numerous countries across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Moving between different cultural environments and social systems, the distinctions in culture, language, and shared understandings among regions become evident in the process of exchange and dialogue. Drawing upon these cultural dissonance experiences, the “On Translation” series explores the mechanisms of transcription, interpretation, and translation, highlighting differences in reception and interpretation due to varying structures. From language to code, from subjective to objective, from private to public, the artist invites viewers to step into and experience the multicultural ecosystem of the “in-between” binary structures as connections and transitions.

The production of the “City Sentences” series follows Muntadas’ travel trajectory over years, with each piece including a phrase or saying that identifies its country of origin. Mass media, as a crucial medium influencing social, economic, and political communication and shaping perceptions in a region, is central to Muntadas’ creation. These images and textual statements are selected from different media landscapes, closely associated with identity and local stereotypes, leading viewers to reflect on the impact of mass propaganda on the construction of self/national identity. In the Chinese context, differences in language and cultural systems have led to ideological differences between China and the outside world. In the exhibition “Being Far/Being Close”, Vanguard Gallery invites viewers to explore a path shaped by their personal encounters, by engaging with the artworks through their senses, visitors are encouraged to discover connections and shared experiences between themselves and Antoni Muntadas’ practices.