The way we structure our knowledge of the world as well as the way we choose to represent the world is a historical and ideological phenomenon. Arguably, the most widely accepted incarnation of this phenomenon is the museum. The museum is collecting and preserving but it is also selecting, interpreting and displaying knowledge thus reflecting the value system of the place and the time we inhabit.
Oriol Vilanova is engaging with the museum as precisely such kind of a sign of our time and world outlook. He is focusing mostly on museums of art and history. However, the artist has shifted his attention away from the value of the museum items themselves (as we know, the museum is often the main factor determining or confirming the value of a given object). Instead he has allowed himself to be “distracted” by the peripheral or plain utilitarian elements of the museum system for display and distribution.