In one of the courtyards of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Japan) there is a permanent installation by Leandro Erlich: a swimming pool framed by a limestone deck. When viewed from the deck, the pool appears to be filled with deep, shimmering water. In fact, however, a layer of water only some 10cm deep is suspended over transparent glass.
Below the glass is an empty space with aquamarine walls that viewers can enter. The work sets up an unfolding sequence of experiences, from our astonishment at peering down and finding people under the water to our gazing upward from the interior of the pool.
While undermining our everyday assumptions about what we think to be obvious, the work invites our active involvement in its spaces – once we catch on to its deception – and produces a sense of connection between people looking at each other.
Through artworks that undermine the human senses, Leandro Erlich explores the ways we understand phenomena, enter into relationships with spaces, and grasp reality. Erlich’s works investigate perception and cognition not with the rigor of scientific experimentation but with rich humor and wit, in a dimension of trompe-l’oeil.
Images courtesy of Leandro Erlich
Discover: www.kanazawa21.jp | www.leandroerlich.com.ar
