OSCAR MURILLO: FREQUENCIES

The young Colombian artist Oscar Murillo has made a name for himself with his large-format paintings and his diverse practice, which includes performance, sculpture, installation and video. In 2019, his work was honoured with the prestigious Turner Prize. His artistic practice is characterised by a deep interest in community and family, while taking a global approach to his art. Murillo asks some of the most pressing questions of our time: How do communities define themselves? And how can an individual artist foster communication between these communities and the larger world?

The Frequencies project: a global collaboration

An outstanding example of Murillo's commitment and collaborative approach is the Frequencies project, initiated in 2013. This long-term project was developed in collaboration with members of his family, his studio team and various co-operation partners worldwide. The aim of Frequencies is to find answers to the questions of how communities define themselves and how artists can promote communication between them.

Global art actions: Murillo's Frequencies in schools worldwide

For Frequencies, Murillo sent canvases to selected schools in over twenty countries. These canvases were glued to desks and painted, written on and illustrated by the pupils. The canvases remained on the desks for a year and were then collected by the artist. The children from different countries began to draw, paint, write and communicate, creating documents of their social and educational experiences.

The catalogue: Documentation of a global art project

The Frequencies catalogue documents the first year of this project. It contains photographs of the participants and the various (organisational) steps of the project - from the arrival of the canvases in the schools, to the process of attaching the canvases to the desks, to the pupils at work and the finished products. The elaborately designed catalogue, supplied in a high-quality slipcase, was created in close collaboration with the artist and contains over six hundred pages of detailed illustrations. It is not only a compilation of the materials collected in the archive, but also an extension of the project itself - an ongoing catalogue documenting the creation of artworks as a collaborative and global endeavour.

Exhibition at the Tate Modern: Murillo's Painting Garden

From 20 July to 26 August, Oscar Murillo will transform the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern into an impressive painting garden. Visitors are invited to become part of this large-scale work of art by using paintbrushes to create a giant canvas together. Aesthetically, this project is inspired by Claude Monet's garden paintings from Giverny and Murillo's own Surge series. The aim is to create a collective work of art by working together. Murillo, known for painting over words and sketches in his studio, invites visitors to also paint over drawings and words contributed by people worldwide and local community groups. This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to experience and actively participate in the unifying power of art.