Oscar Murillo and the biennial-scale Collective Osmosis in Potsdam
Published on 08/28/2026 at 14:56 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Oscar Murillo anchors the Potsdam art summer with the dual-venue exhibition Collective Osmosis. As DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam confirms, the project runs at DAS MINSK and Museum Barberini from March 14 to August 9, 2026, linking Murillo’s abstractions with Claude Monet in a cross-institutional collaboration. DAS MINSK exhibition page
The dual-venue exhibition in Potsdam
Collective Osmosis transforms both DAS MINSK and Museum Barberini into a continuous field of Murillo’s painting, installation and participatory work over the nearly five-month run. DAS MINSK describes the project as a celebration of mark-making that creates exchanges between his canvases, installations and Monet’s Impressionist works across the Hasso Plattner Foundation’s two museums. e-flux announcement
New abstract paintings from Murillo’s Surge, Scarred Spirits and Disrupted Frequencies series form the core of the presentation in Potsdam. DAS MINSK’s material notes emphasize layered canvases, stitched grounds and dense surfaces that extend his long-term interest in travel, labor and migration into a visually compressed field of marks.
Biennial-scale participation and social mapping
The Potsdam project explicitly invites visitors to contribute to a large-format open-air painting on DAS MINSK’s terrace, with daily collective painting sessions scheduled except Tuesdays between 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM. DAS MINSK frames this as part of Murillo’s broader participatory practice, connecting individual gestures to shared canvases that evolve through repeated public use.
In addition, Murillo launches a nationwide social mapping initiative in Germany tied to Collective Osmosis. Communities across the country are invited to draw on large-format canvases, which are then sent back to DAS MINSK and re-enter the exhibition, effectively extending the institutional show into a distributed, quasi-biennial network of contributions.
All news and background on Oscar Murillo
Further reporting at AD HOC NEWS follows Murillo’s exhibitions, auction results and institutional collaborations in Europe and beyond.
The practice behind Collective Osmosis
Murillo’s Potsdam exhibition grows out of a decade of research into collective mark-making, travel routes and geopolitical displacement. E-flux and other reports stress how his installations often combine canvases, found materials and video to situate painting within wider social and economic structures, rather than treating it as a purely studio-bound activity.
In Collective Osmosis, the dialogue with Monet’s paintings at Museum Barberini underscores Murillo’s interest in how historical landscape and light studies intersect with contemporary questions of movement, labor and visibility. The curators Anna Schneider and Daniel Milnes emphasize this temporal tension as central to the exhibition’s conceptual frame.
Where the artist stands now
Against this backdrop, Oscar Murillo’s practice stands in an institutionally embedded phase, with Collective Osmosis completed at DAS MINSK and Museum Barberini in August 2026 and no new public date officially announced within the immediate 30-day window.
Key facts on Oscar Murillo
- Artist: Oscar Murillo
- Medium / Genre: Painting and installation (participatory, socially engaged)
- Born: 1986, La Paila, Colombia
- Place(s) of practice: Studio activity between London and Colombia, with frequent institutional projects across Europe
- Active since: mid-2000s, with wider international visibility from early 2010s
- Key work groups: Surge, Disrupted Frequencies, Scarred Spirits, long-running participatory social mapping canvases
- Current/last exhibition: Collective Osmosis, DAS MINSK Kunsthaus and Museum Barberini, Potsdam, March 14, 2026 – August 9, 2026
- Major collections: Public collections include institutional holdings in Europe and the Americas, among them Museum collections associated with the Hasso Plattner Foundation in Potsdam
- Awards: Turner Prize 2019 (as part of the joint award to the four shortlisted artists)
- Next date: no officially announced new exhibition or fair date within the immediate 30-day window
Frequently asked questions about Oscar Murillo
Where was Oscar Murillo’s Collective Osmosis exhibition on view?
The exhibition Collective Osmosis by Oscar Murillo was presented at DAS MINSK Kunsthaus and Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany, running from March 14 to August 9, 2026, as confirmed by DAS MINSK’s exhibition information.
How does Collective Osmosis involve visitors in the work?
DAS MINSK describes daily terrace sessions where visitors paint on large canvases using drawings from Murillo’s social mapping project, contributing to an evolving collaborative painting that remains part of the exhibition.
What role does Claude Monet play in Murillo’s Potsdam project?
According to DAS MINSK and the e-flux announcement, Murillo’s works are installed in dialogue with Monet’s Impressionist paintings at Museum Barberini, highlighting exchanges between historical landscape painting and Murillo’s contemporary abstraction and social practice.
This article was produced with a.i. support and editorially reviewed. All statements without guarantee; auction results, exhibition dates and awards may change at short notice.
