Leandro Erlich: Swimming Pool @ P.S. 1 (Michelle)

P.S.1

Leandro Erlich: Swimming Pool, (2008)

“Erlich is known for installations that seem to defy the basic laws of physics, and befuddle the viewer with jarring environments that momentarily threaten a sense of balance or space” (P.S.1 Newspaper, Fall/Winter 2008).
Leandro Erlich’s Swimming Pool installation at P.S.1 transforms the Contemporary Art Center’s gallery space into a unique swimming hole… but don’t expect to get your feet wet! Tempting, as it may be to dip an extremity into the Swimming Pool, viewers won’t get anything as much as an inch in if they tried. Erlich’s pool is set into the gallery floor about twelve feet deep, but has an impenetrable glass surface overlaid with streams of water that mimic the rippling from a pool filtration system. The Swimming Pool is in fact not a real pool at all, but an uncanny reproduction. Viewers are confronted with this reality when they observe other gallery visitors at the bottom of the pool. Indirectly all viewers become active participants in Erlich’s work; disorienting each other’s perceptions and ideas of space and environment.
I was immediately drawn to Erlich’s piece when I saw the stained woodwork of a sauna-like structure and the reflection of blue from the pool’s lights. His ability to manipulate a space where viewers become apart of his work mesmerized me. Walking within the pool I had the inquisitiveness of a child, looking above, below and around me taking in the whole space. My overall reaction or sensation was of wonderment. I admired Erlich’s ability to transform a familiar environment into one that questioned reality and flirted with the concept of simulacra. Most importantly, I found that Erlich’s belief that “illusions transform the ordinary into the extraordinary” was a key component to why his work was intriguing. Erlich goes on to say, “They [illusions] act as a trigger for the viewer’s interaction. They are placed in the work not to deceive but to engage, to be discovered, and to be revealed. It is important to restore our capacity for surprise and to keep always in life a certain level of awareness. Reality itself is not made of one truth” (P.S.1 Newsletter p. 3). His other works such as Bâtiment or The Staircase also create experiences in which viewers are able to navigate throughout various spaces that appear to be familiar but contain warped plays on perspective and physics. The Staircase for example places the viewer looking straight ahead at a stairwell that seems to be spiraling downward. This manipulation of space and perspective achieves the same sense of feeling The Swimming Pool creates- by positioning the viewer in a seemingly surreal and unrealistic situation/environment. Bâtiment utilizes mirrors and fantastic viewer participation to create impossible situations upon building facades. This work also possesses the same awareness of space and provocation of contemplation. Erlich’s Swimming Pool showed me how tangible one can make his or her ideas. Art can assume many forms and be successfully carried out- Leandro Erlich’s Swimming Pool demonstrates this.

For future reference:

King Ortler and Little Siberia

Elizabeth Mackie

(Ryan Weber and Katharine Straut)

Kate's Exhibit Review

Visit to Seldon’s Hunter College Studio: Though I am not planning on furthering my education in art after graduating from TCNJ, the visit to Seldon’s studio was still very informative. For one thing, Seldon did not move straight from his BA to his MFA, but rather waited several years. That made me realize that I might change my mind eventually, and so I paid attention to all of his insights. Though his description of grad school was a little bleak, I appreciated his honesty. He made it clear that for some, it is essential, while others consider it a waste of time. The biggest surprise was that in his own work he was clearly continuing to explore, rather than honing in on one focus.

PS1: Robert Boyd’s piece, Conspiracy Theory, a video collage set to pumping disco music, was at once disturbing and seductive. As passersby browsed through the adjacent galleries, the words, “I believe in you,” pumped faintly to a catchy beat, and drew them to the darkened room. They fumbled into the room and sank to the floor, mesmerized by the glowing video and overwhelmingly upbeat music. Boyd spliced snippets of video from every source imaginable, regardless of quality. The clips were sorted into two separate channels simultaneously shown on two walls that intersected in a corner. He included scenes from sci-fi B movies depicting aliens and reptilian beings peeling off their human masks, grainy shots of impassioned lecturers providing evidence for their conspiracy theories, interviews with matter-of-fact people describing how aliens had abducted them, and documentation of rallies, with crowds brandishing signs declaring that 9/11 was an inside job, or that AIDS is a government conspiracy. Yet Boyd’s work is not a mere collection of clips; it is more than the sum of the results of a YouTube search of the phrase conspiracy theories. The juxtaposition of these images with the disco music conjures up a teeming dance floor, a seemingly innocuous version of a mob.
I found myself becoming transfixed by the various theories. I have always been able to suspend my disbelief long enough to entertain them, and in turn, they would entertain me. But as I watched Robert Boyd’s piece, I was struck with the absolute conviction that these people possessed. Though I was not swept away by them, for a moment, they succeeded in planting a shadow of a doubt in my mind.
Because Robert Boyd gave an artist talk at TCNJ that included a screening of his other video series, Xanadu, I came to Conspiracy Theories already knowing his motivation. Though Xanadu was pretty much the same format (hodgepodge of video clips set to disco), its theme was apocalyptic imagery. I found the subject of conspiracy theories a better fit to the music choice, actually, and if I did not know which piece came first, I might be tempted to think that Xanadu was the second piece, the result of a formula Boyd had premiered in Conspiracy Theories and only resorted to in Xanadu for the sake of uniformity.