WOLFSBURG.- The world is topsy-turvy at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. The Moon is on the Earth, a house hangs at a lofty height, and visitors seem to float in the weightlessness of a spaceship. The famous Argentinean artist Leandro Erlich (b. 1973) transforms the exhibition hall into a fantastically surreal cosmos, thus playing with our notions of perspective and gravity. His installations seem to suspend the laws of physics, opening up new perspectives on the multiple connections between science, technology, space travel, and migration. Weightless, the artist’s first solo exhibition in Germany, was conceived specifically for the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, as were most of the works on view.
A weightless journey through outer space
Leandro Erlich transforms the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg into a black box that reverses familiar perspectives and invites visitors to dream and imagine. The spectacular large-scale sculpture Moon (2024) rises above the museum floor as a half sphere, almost twenty meters in diameter and about twelve meters high. Visitors can enter the interior of the sculpture and experience a projection of various stellar constellations, as well as brightly lit cities and their street networks at night. Accompanied by ethereal sounds, the multimedia installation condenses into an immersive 360° panorama. Visitors can also climb a staircase to the lunar surface and view the entire exhibition space from this elevated position.
Next to the sculpture Moon in the exhibition hall, a spaceship is ready for take-off. Visitors can enter the approximately thirteen-meter-high sculpture Spaceship (2024) and, through several mirrors, succumb to the illusion of floating like astronauts in the weightlessness of outer space. But here, too, nothing is as it seems at first glance. Instead of the starry night sky, the tip of the spaceship points to a 36 × 36 meter digitally generated fictional landscape (Soprattutto, 2024), such as those we know from cartography or satellite images. High above the visitors’ heads, the image is stretched across the entire ceiling of the museum, like a world turned upside down. With its fields, roads, and structures, it illustrates how the topography of the Earth’s surface has been shaped by humans.
The coexistence of humans and nature
Below Soprattutto, another large sculpture floats at a lofty height: Pulled by the Roots (2015/24). As an allegory of, home and homelessness, the uprooted house is a reminder of the current refugee and migration movements and the millions of people who have lost their homes due to wars, political conflicts, inhumane living conditions, or the worsening climate catastrophe. At the same time, the floating house with its imposing root system makes it clear that human-made architecture is an integral part of the anthropogenic environment and in turn has far-reaching consequences for nature—from the consumption of natural resources to the emission of climate-damaging substances during processing.
In his art, Leandro Erlich offers viewers multiple roles: that of the spectator, that of the protagonist within the work, and that of the interpreter. In this way, he succeeds in inspiring the audience with his illusionistic art on very different levels. His impressive installations—often confusing, surreal, and playful at first glance—reveal numerous references to current social phenomena and challenges upon closer inspection. In the face of fake news and deepfakes, Erlich’s art raises awareness of the possibilities of manipulation through artificially generated images and the distinction between fact and fiction.
Curators: Andreas Beitin, Dino Steinhof / Curatorial Assistant: Carla Wiggering.
