Oscar Murillo’s Participatory Vision Unfolds in New Publication

Six years of investigation into the nature of perception have culminated in a remarkable publication that sits at the intersection of art, collective practice and the possibility of transformed seeing. Oscar Murillo’s Social Cataracts series, developed across this period, asks essential questions about how uncertainty can become a portal to understanding, and how the worlds we inhabit are shaped not by passive observation but by the active work of interpretation.

The new publication, Social Cataracts / Ceguera Social, issued by Bom Dia Books, surveys Murillo’s practice with particular attention to bodies of work created between 2019 and the present. Yet this is no conventional artist’s monograph. In keeping with Murillo’s commitment to participatory practice, the publication becomes a collaborative object from the moment one opens it. The artist invited studio colleagues, contributors to the publication itself, and previous collaborators from his social mapping project in Berlin to draw upon the opening pages in graphite. These marks range from meticulous illustration to abstract gesture, each hand introducing its own language, its own way of making meaning. The result is that no two copies are identical; each becomes a singular object, shaped by the convergence of multiple artistic voices.

This approach speaks to something fundamental about Murillo’s methodology. His work has never existed in isolation. Through his ongoing participatory projects around the world, he has consistently sought to expand the boundaries of artistic practice, to create spaces where observation becomes collective thinking and individual moments of uncertainty transform into shared insight. The publication embodies this philosophy: it is simultaneously a document of six years of artistic enquiry and an acknowledgement that understanding is never solitary.

To mark the publication’s arrival, Murillo will be present at a series of November events across Europe, engaging directly with readers and viewers as they encounter the work. Simultaneously, his exhibition at David Zwirner’s Paris gallery continues through December, presenting new paintings and video installations that extend the conversations begun in the Social Cataracts series. These works on canvas and screen investigate the same fundamental questions about vision and perception that animate the publication, yet approached through the differing languages of painting and moving image.

The catalogue accompanying the Paris exhibition remains available for acquisition, both at the gallery and online, extending the possibility of deeper engagement with Murillo’s evolving practice. Together, these works in multiple forms and formats form a comprehensive vision of an artist committed to exploring how moments of not knowing can open pathways to genuine seeing, and how collective participation might reshape the ways we understand and inhabit the world around us.

Imagery courtesy of David Zwirner (@davidzwirner).