by Adela Lovric // June 23, 2026
In ‘Collective Osmosis,’ presented at DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam, Oscar Murillo extends his long-standing interest in circulation, collectivity, visibility and the political implications of artistic work across borders and barriers. The exhibition takes the scientific idea of osmosis—exchange across permeable membranes seeking equilibrium—as a metaphor for interactions between different social spaces and contexts. Rather than framing these through the familiar rhetoric of “opening up” or “breaking down walls,” Murillo proposes a more continuous model of seepage, reciprocity and mutual transformation.
Within this structure, new paintings from the artist’s series ‘Surge,’ ‘Scarred Spirits’ and ‘Disrupted Frequencies’ sit alongside works by Claude Monet, whose presence becomes active material within the same field of circulation. These unlikely encounters are framed through proximity and resonance, where disparate pictorial languages generate moments of overlap.
Marking the first collaboration between the two institutions, the exhibition also features an intervention at the Museum Barberini, drawing on Murillo’s interest in how artistic systems move across spaces, audiences and contexts. In one of the museum’s rooms, his large-scale triptych ‘surge (social cataracts)’ is placed alongside Monet’s series of works referencing his later-life cataracts, where the artist’s deteriorating vision and “blind spots” became embedded in the act of painting.
Beyond the gallery spaces, Murillo invites visitors into processes of collective production: on DAS MINSK’s outdoor terrace, participants contribute to a collaborative work that evolves throughout the exhibition period. Meanwhile, a nationwide “social mapping” initiative sends large-format canvases to communities across Germany, which are then returned to the museum, accumulating dispersed gestures into a shared archive.
In our interview, Murillo discusses the metaphors underpinning ‘Collective Osmosis,’ the unlikely pairing with key impressionist works that positions historical visibility and cultural familiarity as tools for expanding collective address, and how even the introduction of AI-generated elements contributes a cohesive layer in the exhibition’s evolving system of exchange.
‘Oscar Murillo. Collective Osmosis,’ exhibition view, DAS MINSK, 2026 // Photo: Tim Bowditch
Adela Lovric: The concept of osmosis is central to the exhibition. I was struck by how obvious this metaphor for exchange between institutions and communities feels, yet I’ve never heard it used before in that context. It has a very different tone from the more common language of “breaking down institutional walls,” for example. Could you elaborate on this concept and how the scientific idea of permeability and equilibrium became a metaphor in your work?
Oscar Murillo: In the arc of the things that I’ve done—the different gestures and proposals in terms of shows or events or performances—you start thinking about where we are right now as societies in different parts of the world, but also, here in Germany. And I thought, how can I propose something whereby everything and everyone can be in conversation or can be involved? It’s not about right or wrong, but how can we witness or how can this show be a kind of tool to experience the richness of an aesthetic thinking as an artist, but also through that, really make the gesture of involving society in its widest possibility. So it’s not really about participation in the museum. For me, it’s a lot more than that, because I am thinking about the simple gesture of inviting absolutely anyone possible, and getting all these canvases out there. And I’m thinking, what would people write? Is it going to be something very trivial, or is it going to be political? What type of political? Is it going to be a statement? Is it going to be a character or a drawing? It’s about all these different things coming together, as a kind of spirit that goes out, that comes in. But in my head, it sits as a kind of metaphor that I am attempting to seep into the consciousness of this society. Everybody becomes a witness.
‘Oscar Murillo. Collective Osmosis,’ exhibition view, DAS MINSK, 2026 // Photo: Tim Bowditch
AL: In your artistic dialogue with Claude Monet, what possibilities did his position as a canonical artist and the dominant narratives surrounding his work open up for the exhibition?
OM: Those positions are important. The position as a canonical artist is vital. The dominant narrative surrounding his work is aesthetics and beauty. Monet is effectively like a vessel, a kind of a chamber which you go into. Everybody knows about Monet. So, it’s important that he’s not the most obscure figure. He is the archetypal artist that championed and dominated aesthetics and, one could say that he is the first contemporary artist. All those things are key to expand on this idea of osmosis through him—an artist that everybody knows, that’s critically respected, that a taxi driver somewhere around the world could know, that can be a kind of an ally—and to really make this an inclusive conversation where everyone can join in.
AL: On the other hand, the aspect of creating artworks collectively that marks your practice directly challenges the notion of a singular genius artist that he represents.
OM: That clicked for me when I learned that he had cataracts, that he was struggling with his vision and that it was a little blurry. I put the two together and I thought, this is interesting, here’s somebody who is so visual and so respected and celebrated precisely because of his vision, and he’s actually going blind. And then I thought, well, that’s interesting, that this man was actually suffering. I just kind of married these two ideas in my head, and started thinking about this idea of social cataracts, or this idea of surge—when the field gets inundated and it’s overwhelming—and, inevitably, of the masses. So that’s how I bridged these two almost impossible situations.
Oscar Murillo: ‘surge (social cataracts),’ 2025, installation view in ‘Oscar Murillo. Collective Osmosis,’ Museum Barberini, 2026 // Photo: Tim Bowditch
AL: How does relinquishing authorial control influence your understanding of painting? Does it destabilize traditional notions of painting for you?
OM: No, it doesn’t destabilize it. It informs it. Ultimately, those Monet paintings are here in this building. Those histories are brought into proximity with the contemporary context. It challenges it or informs it. It makes it richer because the history is there, it’s not going to go away. It’s just another sedimentation or layer.
AL: There is also the idea of blind spots, both literal and metaphorical, that runs through the show. Can blind spots be productive?
OM: A blind spot, in the context of cataracts, is violent. You don’t have your bearings, you can’t see. I think it’s important not to have a judgment. But what is important is to be alert and be able to stand back and be a witness, at least in the context of what a blind spot means for me, or in relation to the show. That’s what that means, or that’s how I perceive it. And I think that’s why I presented the show the way I did, particularly downstairs, with this overwhelming display of material and the idea that there’s all this energy in there. The video becomes a kind of fleeting witness that allows you to have a window, to see what’s in there. So I think, ironically, the video becomes quite an important document that allows you to witness and to see all this stuff, all this energy. I was thinking about the amphitheater, or the cinema, or the football stadium—all these places where there’s mass gathering of people. But ultimately, you don’t know who you’re sitting next to, or what this person is thinking. I’m interested in what happens to the individual in the collective context.
‘Oscar Murillo. Collective Osmosis,’ exhibition view, DAS MINSK, 2026 // Photo: Tim Bowditch
AL: One of the videos in the exhibition was created with the assistance of AI, which feels like an unexpected choice within your practice. What interested you about bringing AI into this show?
OM: It’s basically using AI to play with a kind of surrealist idea of morphing things into each other from different parts of the ‘Frequencies’ archive that comes together from different countries. I’m not interested in AI. For me, it’s a space of speculation. ‘Frequencies’ is something that goes into schools from the age of 10 to 16, sometimes 18. We also produce ‘Frequencies’ here in different schools in Potsdam. So, what happens if a 10-year-old or a 12-year-old took part in it? I was thinking about them in relation to communication, media, social platforms. They don’t really write anymore. I wanted to speculate about AI as a means to ask: what does it mean as a seed into the future of how we interact with each other? What does AI do? I think we’re beginning to find out in relation to war, and in relation to how we live our daily life.
Exhibition Info
Das Minsk
Oscar Murillo: ‘Collective Osmosis’
Exhibition: Mar. 14–Aug. 9, 2026
dasminsk.de
Max-Planck-Straße 17, 14473 Potsdam, click here for map
Museum Barberini
Oscar Murillo: ‘Collective Osmosis’
Exhibition: Mar. 14–Aug. 9, 2026
museum-barberini.de
Humboldtstraße 5–6, 14467 Potsdam, click here for map
