Memory Without Conclusions
On the work of Xavi Muñoz
On the other hand, there is Michel Foucault’s approach. He views history as an inevitably subjective construct, as the view of a man from another time that can only offer an interpretation, not the truth.
The second viewpoint resonates with me more. I do not deny history's value, but I doubt its objectiveness and the purity of historical data. But there is an approach where neutral research through documentation plays the main role.
Catalan artist Xavi Muñoz works with history, but doesn’t evaluate it. He doesn’t build a narrative and doesn’t try to recreate the past. He is a guardian. A gatherer. A collector in love who searches passionately for and finds the artifacts, transforming them into his artistic practice. Xavi doesn’t impose conclusions. He creates an aesthetic framework of his personal attitude as an artist, and he shares that with the viewer. Aesthetic in art is always a fine line. It can easily turn into an interior decoration, into a bright visual that distracts from the artwork’s meaning, idea, and core. But Xavi manages this balance. His visual language is reserved, delicate, it has inner tension, it is sophisticated and elegant, but it doesn’t repel with its beauty. In his works, the aesthetics doesn’t replace the research, but becomes its form exclusively.