JUAN MUÑOZ

Early Years

Juan Muñoz was born in Madrid but fled fascist Spain for London in 1970. In the English capital, he studied at the Central School of Art and Design and Croydon College of Design and Technology. During this period, he studied printmaking and his work was performance-based—however, he became interested in artists including Richard Deacon and Bill Woodrow, who were moving beyond ideas of traditional sculpture. He moved to New York City (with a Fulbright Fellowship) and studied at Pratt Graphic Center in 1981. Returning to Spain in the early 1980s, he spent a year as a curator before moving fully into art. Muñoz, who died suddenly aged only 47, was represented for many years by Marian Goodman; his estate is represented by David Zwirner. In 2000, he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas by the Spanish government.

Select Public Commissions by Juan Muñoz

• Double Bind (2001) Turbine Hall, Tate Modern (later reconstructed in Milan, 2015 and in Santander, 2017)—this major installation opened to the public in 2001 and featured lift cabins and two floors, where human figures were illuminated by shafts of light, asking the viewer to consider what they were doing.

Artworks

Illusion and trickery are at the heart of Muñoz’s works, asking the viewer to change their traditional perspective on looking at art. The balcony and the watchtower are key elements of Muñoz’s pieces, demonstrating his focus on the dynamics of looking. From a balcony, the viewer will see life below—Muñoz inverted this to show empty viewing platforms. His concentration on position of the viewer is inspired by Renaissance and Baroque artists, and he was also interested in ideas of spatial distortion in architecture and the creation of illusion in painting. He placed human figures into unexpected environments, causing the viewer to question their own role in the artwork.

• Viewers walking into the theatrical installation Thirteen Laughing at Each Other (2001) suddenly realise they have become the centre of the piece: the sculptural figures sitting on sports-stadium seats surrounding them are laughing hysterically.
• In Many Times (1999), 50 grey resin figures appear to be in groups, conversing. But are they? Their hands are odd; their feet are missing. Are viewers walking through the sculptures witnessing Munoz’s recordings of real-life interaction, or are they actually observing the figures from afar?
• The Prompter (1988) initially looks like an empty stage: a flat, raised surface covered in a geometric pattern. Inside a theatrical prompt box is a dwarf figure, facing the empty stage and therefore unable to communicate with the viewers.

Juan Muñoz: Exhibitions

Select Solo Exhibitions

• Juan Muñoz. Stories of Art, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (2025–2026)
• Juan Muñoz, The Stories We Do Not Tell, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2024)
• Juan Muñoz: At the Violet Hour, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid (2023)
• Juan Muñoz. Drawings 1982–2000, Centro Botín, Santander (2022)
• Juan Munoz: Sculptures, Skarstedt Gallery, New York City (2019)
• Juan Muñoz, Double Bind & Around, HangarBicocca, Milan (2015)
• Juan Muñoz, Marion Goodman (2014–2015)
• Juan Muñoz: A Retrospective, Tate Modern (2008)
• Juan Muñoz, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (2001–2002)
• Juan Muñoz: monólogos y diálogos, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (1996)
• A Place Called Abroad, Dia Center for the Arts, NYC (1996)
• Juan Muñoz: Sculptures de 1985 à 1987, CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux (1987)

Select Group Exhibitions

• Venice Biennale (1986, 1993, 1997)
• documenta (1992, 2002)

Further reading

• David Zwirner’s artist profile page for Juan Muñoz
• Notes from Double Bind & Around at HangarBicocca in Milan in 2015
• The Restless Storyteller, a 2008 Tate conversation with Munoz collaborator James Lingwood
• Muñoz’s obituary from the New York Times (behind a paywall)

Juan Muñoz FAQs

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