Cross-reading. Monotony is nice

Oriol Vilanova is a Brussels-based Spanish artist whose conceptual practice revolves around systems of collecting and display, often articulated through large constellations of vintage postcards and overlooked cultural artefacts. His work examines how objects are framed, remembered, and circulated, questioning what shapes visibility, memory, and value. Through thousands of marginal images and objects, he constructs narratives that consider taste, power, and the staging of history. During his residency at the Walter & Nicole Leblanc Foundation in autumn 2025, Vilanova immersed himself in the foundation’s collection and archive. This research led him to a pivotal moment in Leblanc’s trajectory: his participation in _Serielle Formationen_, the pioneering exhibition organised by Paul Maenz and Peter Roehr in May 1967 at the Studio Gallery in Frankfurt. The exhibition foregrounded seriality across Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Pop Art, Op Art, and ZERO. Taking the archive as his point of departure, Vilanova proposes to bring together three of the artists who originally took part in _Serielle Formationen_: Charlotte Posenenske, Peter Roehr, and Walter Leblanc. Echoing Leblanc’s investigations into repetition, light, and structure, Vilanova reflects on the exhibition format itself, on how images are curated, displayed, transmitted, and how these gestures shape collective imagination. Collecting becomes a performative, critical, and poetic gesture. This new intervention stages a shared dialogue on repetition, monotony, and seriality, resonating with the affinities and friendships that once connected these artists. The exhibition extends the Foundation’s curatorial mission of reactivating Walter Leblanc’s legacy through contemporary perspectives. This exhibition also anticipates Vilanova’s participation in the Spanish Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026. Curated by María Inés Rodríguez.