The Vik Muniz Saves the World tour continues with his new film, “This is Not a Ball,” whose title is a play on René Magritte’s painting “The Treachery of Images” (whose text reads, “this is not a pipe,” above an image of a pipe), but shares none of the original work’s theoretical sense of humor. Instead, what we have is a film about Muniz, made by Muniz, whose main objective seems to be to let people know that Muniz helps people. Oh yeah, and he thinks soccer is very important.
On that last point, he’s correct. Soccer is important to many people on a global level, and the reasons why would certainly be an interesting subject of a deeply researched essay or film. But that’s not what this is. “This is Not a Ball” is the behind-the-scenes document of Muniz’s project to create an image with 20,000 soccer balls in the Azteca Stadium in Mexico, interspersed with musings on the importance of sports and the nature of the ball itself in people’s daily lives, with a globe-hopping Muniz as our narrator.
The soccer-ball project is in line with much of Muniz’s work, which places an emphasis on the process of making art in a social context. In Lucy Walker’s 2010 film “Waste Land,” Muniz traveled back to Brazil, where he was born, to create a series of works in collaboration with people who spend their time in and around Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest garbage dump, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Previously, he was known for his large-scale portraits (typically photographed from above) made out of sugar and syrup.
The problems that existed in “Waste Land” are relevant, even more so, in “This is Not a Ball.” Muniz seems incapable of understanding the power dynamics between himself, a famous artist, and people who are struggling to survive. Much of Muniz’s recent work is said to address social issues, and here is no different — the film follows his travels around the world and wants to make connections between the symbol of the ball, “the center of everything,” as he says in the film, and a global unified culture. The ball, used in a public work of art, Muniz supposes, is a tool for change. People from the lowest rungs of society can move up the societal ladder. The power of art can save the world.
That’s a skewed view of upward mobility and class rigidity, of course, and the film is tone deaf on the particularities of the subject. While Muniz might not be making money directly from this project, everything he does is part of a larger branding of his image as an important and socially-conscious artist, which will only lead to him getting more high-profile, and high-paying, work. I’m sure Muniz’s intentions are pure in his own mind, but the sight of him in a designer leather jacket visiting what appears to be sweatshops where soccer balls are sewn together made me cringe. Without addressing what is clearly the elephant in the room, Muniz’s film, and his work in general, will continue to be conflicted in its aims and flawed in its results.
“This is Not a Ball” opens June 6 in New York and will premiere on Netflix on June 13.
