Vik Muniz e a representação da tragédia dos naufrágios de emigrantes

A instalação do artista Vik Muniz ao largo de Veneza, prevista para a Bienal deste Verão, um barco forrado de notícias sobre as mortes dos emigrantes que tentam alcançar a Europa pelo Mediterrâneo, é objecto de análise pelo jornal britânico The Guardian.

The drowned victims of modern barbarity will not be forgotten at this summer’s event. Artist Vik Muniz is to unveil a floating installation called Lampedusa, a giant paper boat. A seaworthy wooden substructure constructed by Venetian craftsmen will be covered with a scaled-up newspaper article about the deaths of migrants off the Italian island Lampedusa.

Will it be a powerful or in any way adequate artistic response to this vile betrayal of common humanity? An interview with Muniz onlinesuggests not. This may be the fault of the interviewer, who uses the kind of inane artspeak that gets contemporary art a bad name. The article blandly describes migration as “a very hot topic”.

But unless Muniz made some severe criticisms of the art journalist’s tone that are not published in the piece, his own words are equally lacking in the kind of fury this subject might seem to demand. Here he is, waffling on: “The project is a metaphor for a vessel, something that saves you, takes you from one place to another. It’s not a criticism; it’s a platform. Once you’ve seen it and you’ve thought about it, you might have the need to discuss it … "

O texto completo, em A giant paper boat? Art’s response to migrant drownings should be way more aggressive