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The Unilever Series: Juan Muņoz

Introduction |
Biography |
Statement |
More Photos
Juan Muñoz was born in 1953 in Madrid, and died unexpectedly
in August 2001, aged forty-eight.
He studied at Central School of Art in London and the Pratt Centre
in New York. He is one of a generation of European artists to have
emerged over the last twenty years whose work has significantly
extended the language of sculpture. His work has been included in
numerous solo and group exhibitions, including A Place Called
Abroad, Dia Centre for the Arts, New York (1996), Venice Biennale
(1997), Doubletake, Hayward Gallery, London (1993), Documenta
9, Kassel (1992) and Possible Worlds, ICA, London (1990).
A major touring retrospective of his work will open in Washington
DC in October 2001.
Juan Muñoz won the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas
Prize in 2000, Spain's most prestigious art prize.
Biography
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1953
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Born 17 June in Madrid.
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1976 - 77
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Attends Central School of Art and Design, London.
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1978 - 80
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Receives British Council scholarship and attends Croydon
School of Art,
London, and completes coursework in Advanced Printmaking.
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1981 - 82
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Attends Pratt Graphic Center, New York; receives Fullbright
Fellowship
through North American Spanish Committee.
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1984
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First solo exhibition, Juan Muñoz: Últimos
trabajos, at Galería Fernando
Vijande, Madrid.
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1986
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Exhibits sculpture El norte de la tormenta in Aperto
86, XLII Biennale di
Venezia along with a 45 rpm recording of the same title, with
Spanish
composer Alberto Iglesias.
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1987
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First solo museum exhibition, Juan Muñoz: Sculptures
de 1985 à 1987 at CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain,
Bordeaux.
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1989
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A Room For A Doctor of Pain, a project with Paul Robbrecht
(Belgian
architect), Galería Marga Paz, Madrid.
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1990
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First solo museum exhibition in the United States at the
Renaissance Society, University of Chicago and first solo
exhibition in a public institution in the UK, Vertical
Balcony Too, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol.
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1992
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For the exhibition Doubletake at the Hayward Gallery,
London, Muñoz is commissioned to make an outdoor sculpture
, Untitled Monument (London), placed on a river path
on the South Bank.
Muñoz is commissioned (along with other artists including
James Turrell, Rebecca Horn and Janis Kounellis) by Gloria
Moure and the city of Barcelona to create an outdoor sculpture
in the Port Vell (Old Port) of Barcelona. Muñoz's piece
is Una habitación donde siempre llueve (A Room Where
it Always Rains) located at Plaça del Mar, Barcelona.
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1993
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Makes soundtape Building for Music (with Alberto Iglesias)
for radio
broadcast during 1993 exhibition Sonsbeek 93, Arnhem, Netherlands.
Makes soundtape Third Ear (with critic Adrian Searle) for
radio broadcast by BBC.
Invited by BBC to participate in the television series Building
Sites Europe, a series devoted to contemporary architecture
in Europe (selects Jose Rafael Moneo's Museo Nacional de Arte
Romano in Merida).
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1994
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Solo exhibition at Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, features
Conversation Piece, the artist's largest outdoor sculpture
(twenty-two figures). The museum publishes in 1996 Silence
please! Stories After the Works of Juan Muñoz with
short stories by John Berger, William Forsythe, Dave Hickey,
Patrick McCabe, Alexandre Melo, Vik Muniz, Quico Rivas, Luc
Sante, Adrian Searle, Lynn Tillman, and Marina Warner.
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1995
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Residency at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
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1996
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Two major exhibitions: Juan Muñoz: Monologues and
Dialogues curated by James Lingwood, opens at Palacio
Velázquez, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia,
Madrid and travels to Museum für Gegenswartskunst, Zurich.
A Place Called Abroad, Dia Center for the Arts, New
York (travels in 1997 to SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico as Street
Wise).
Directs Will it be a Likeness? written and performed
by John Berger,
Theater am Turm, Frankfurt. Broadcast on Hessicher Rundfunk
and other German radio stations (wins Hörspiel des Jahres
1996 for the best radio program in Germany) and the BBC.
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1997
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A Man in a Room, Gambling with The Gavin Bryars Ensemble,
commissioned by Artangel, BBC Radio, Studio One, London. Broadcast
on public radio stations in Great Britain, Canada, and Australia
(released as a compact disc with music by composer Gavin Bryars
in 1997).
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1998
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Collaborates with John Berger, A Correspondence About
Space, a lecture and performance at the Geheimnisse der
Raumproduktion, Hamburg, May 1998.
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1999
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Will it be a Likeness? performed at Thik Theatre im
Kornhaus, Baden,
Switzerland, November.
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2000
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Awarded the 'Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas',
Spain.
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2001
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Unexpected death from a stomach haemorrhage on Tuesday 28
August 2001.
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