Antoni Muntadas, Marshall Reese, and Bill Horrigan in Conversation

Through his works Antoni Muntadas addresses social, political, and communications issues; the relationship between public and private space within social frameworks; and investigations of information channels and the ways they may be used to censor or promulgate ideas. He works on projects in different media such as photography, video, print publications, the Internet, and multimedia installations.

Since 1995, Muntadas has grouped together a set of works and projects titled On Translation. Their content, dimensions, and materials are highly diverse, and they all focus on the author’s personal experience and artistic activity in numerous countries over a period of 30 years. By grouping such works together under this epigraph, Muntadas places them within a body of experience and concrete concerns regarding communication, the culture of our times, and the role of the artist and art in contemporary society.

Marshall Reese is a Brooklyn-based artist working in various media including video, sculpture, databases and information networks, custom hardware and software, and temporary public art events. Since the mid-1980s he has collaborated with Nora Ligorano as LigoranoReese. Their work is an ongoing investigation into the impact of technology on society and the rhetoric of politics on visual culture in the media. In 2008, LigoranoReese began an ongoing series of public artworks focusing on climate and political issues called Melted Away, which they have presented in eight different cities during the US presidential conventions. Their latest public artwork, The School of Good Citizenship, concentrated on voting rights. The school involved over 200 artists, photographers, musicians, and filmmakers in prominent cultural and educational organizations in Charlotte, NC, from June through October 2020.

Bill Horrigan has been with the Wexner Center since its opening in 1989. He was founding director of the Wex’s film/video program, and in 2010 he was appointed curator at large. Among the artists with whom he’s developed projects are Mark Dion, Josiah McElheny, Todd Haynes and Christine Vachon, Phil Collins, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Julia Scher, Paper Tiger Television, Robert Buck, and Shirin Neshat. Horrigan has also worked with French filmmaker Chris Marker on several projects, including the artist’s first installation for an American institution, Silent Movie (1995), and Staring Back (2007), both of which toured internationally.

After completing his doctorate in film from Northwestern University, Horrigan worked at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. His freelance media projects include 1989’s Video Against AIDS touring program, cocurated for the Video Data Bank, and he’s a frequent contributor to art- and media-related publications.