Experience Oscar Murillo: Social Mapping at BLMK Cottbus

Oscar Murillo: Social Mapping at Diesel Power Plant Cottbus – a participatory art experience

With Social Mapping, the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art brings a participatory art project to the city that connects drawing, language, and collective trace securing. Visitors collaboratively create a large-format canvas and thus become part of an open artistic process understood as a social act. The project is related to Murillo's current exhibition in Potsdam and can be experienced in Cottbus from May 12 to May 30, 2026. ([cottbus.de](https://cottbus.de/veranstaltungen/oscar-murillo-social-mapping-4/))

A space for collective markings

Murillo's approach transforms the exhibition into a lively resonance space. It is not the finished object that is in focus, but the movement of the hand, the layering of lines, words, and colors. Thus, a contemplation of the work unfolds less as quiet distance and more as immediate aesthetic experience. The large-format canvas grows through contributions from many people and becomes a multifaceted cartography of shared presence. ([cottbus.de](https://cottbus.de/veranstaltungen/oscar-murillo-social-mapping-4/))

Art between painting, installation, and social process

Oscar Murillo, born in 1986 in Colombia and raised in London, works across media with painting, performance, drawing, sculpture, sound, and collaborative formats. His practice reflects experiences of dislocation, migration, and globalization. Institutions such as Kettle’s Yard describe his work as a multi-layered process in which materials and traces are processed multiple times in the studio before entering the exhibition space. ([kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk](https://www.kettlesyard.cam.ac.uk/bio/oscar-murillo/))

BLMK as a place of cultural education

The Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art, with its locations in Cottbus and Frankfurt (Oder), has one of the most extensive museum collections of art from the GDR and its subsequent traditions. At the Cottbus location, the museum is housed in the former diesel power plant; all exhibition spaces are accessible by elevator. This makes visiting them organizationally pleasant and strengthens the character of the house as a place of cultural education and open participation. ([blmk.de](https://www.blmk.de/))

Why a visit is worthwhile

Social Mapping connects contemporary art, community, and active participation in a convincing way. Those looking for an art experience that is not only observed but wants to be co-created will find an exhibition here that has social energy and high relevance. The work invites participants to leave their own traces and experience modern art as a lively exchange. A visit to BLMK Cottbus is definitely worthwhile – for everyone who wants to not just see art but think along and shape it. ([cottbus.de](https://cottbus.de/veranstaltungen/oscar-murillo-social-mapping-4/))

Official channels of Oscar Murillo:

• Instagram: no official profile found
• Facebook: no official profile found
• YouTube: no official profile found
• Website: no official profile found

Sources:

• City of Cottbus/Chóśebuz - Oscar Murillo. Social Mapping
• BLMK - Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art
• BLMK - Museum and Collection
• Kettle’s Yard - Oscar Murillo
• Gagosian - Oscar Murillo