[INTERVIEW] Leandro Erlich's questioning of our perception of reality carries new meaning in pandemic

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

Mon, October 2, 2023 | 10:55

Theater & Others

INTERVIEWLeandro Erlich's questioning of our perception of reality carries new meaning in pandemic

Posted : 2022-08-08 16:44

Updated : 2022-08-08 21:44

Internationally acclaimed conceptual artist Leandro Erlich's exhibition, "Batiment," has landed in Seoul for the first time on Nodeul Island in the Han River this summer. His iconic installations utilize visual paradoxes and trompe l'oeil to push viewers critically to question their own perceptions of everyday reality in an entertaining way. Courtesy of Ms. Jackson

'Batiment' meets Seoul audience for first time

By Park Han-sol

The image of the exterior of a four-story Haussmann apartment building in the middle of the Han River's Nodeul Island has turned into an unexpected playground for daring Seoul citizens. Some attempt to claw their way up the steep structure, while others enjoy their time precariously hanging off a wrought iron balcony.

No, none of them have suddenly become masters at defying the law of gravity. They've instead chosen to be a part of Argentine conceptual artist Leandro Erlich's mammoth installation, "Batiment."

Argentine conceptual artist Leandro Erlich / Courtesy of Ms. Jackson

The piece, which consists of a replica of a building facade lying flat on the ground and an enormous mirror placed at a 45-degree angle to offer a zero-gravity illusion, has finally landed in Seoul after touring 20 cities around the world since 2004 for an exhibition of the same title.

Since his 1999 "Swimming Pool" ― an illusory pool that invites fully dressed individuals to float and walk around while "submerged" in water ― Erlich's name has been synonymous with trompe l'oeil and visual paradoxes that purposely skew our perception of everyday reality.

"Perception remains a key element for our understanding of reality … Yet, sometimes, our perception misleads (us about) the real nature of things. What we see doesn't necessarily mean what things are," he told The Korea Times in a recent Zoom interview.

By confounding the audience with visual tricks and manipulation of reflections ― an infinite maze of changing rooms, an impossibly twisted escalator, a ghostly classroom and an entire house suspended mid-air ― his works disorient viewers and push them to question what they have long perceived to be "real" and accepted as given.

Photographs of Leandro Erlich's "Swimming Pool" (1999), left, and "Pulled by the Roots" (2015) / Courtesy of Ms. Jackson

"For example, we believe that a tall building is as real as the Han River, because we can see them (with our eyes) and they both have a strong physical presence," Erlich noted.

But such human construction exists only because someone imagined it in the first place and we, as a society, have reached a consensus to accept it as real, he continued.

In the end, his visual subversion of such constructed everyday spaces and architecture provokes the audience into critically interpreting reality as an organically built system ― the one that is based on a complex set of human knowledge and their changing understanding of the surrounding world, instead of as something immutable.

Another distinctive feature of his globe-trotting oeuvre is the active audience participation that transcends geographical borders and cultures.

Leandro Erlich's "The Classroom" (2017) / Courtesy of Ms. Jackson

Such participatory characteristics, coupled with his artistic encouragement to question reality, have taken on a new meaning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Now that the exhibitions are starting to happen not only here, but in the United States and in Europe, I can see how significant it is to bring this kind of (interactive) artistic experience as a way to recover from the time of lockdowns," he said.

As people are once again attempting to gather in the same place and interact physically with others in the name of "audience participation," his works of art have become one celebratory way of recovering from the collective trauma induced by the pandemic with a sense of humor.

The pieces themselves, produced long before the spread of the coronavirus, are now perceived differently as well based on their subject matter and usage of illusion.

His 2017 "The Classroom," which turns participants into semi-transparent apparitions stuck in a study hall, has become a vivid reminder of the COVID-19 school closures and the frantic shift to the new realm of remote learning.

"Art is always permeable to the input, the luggage we bring into the world. But what is especially new now is that we all have had the kind of a similar trauma and experience," he said.

"Many works get a new potential interpretation. I would say everything gets filtered and transformed because of what we have experienced in the pandemic."

In other words, because we have confronted the pandemic almost simultaneously in the nearly same way, our collective perception and understanding of reality have indeed influenced his own art, imbuing the exhibition with a new set of layered meanings.

"Batiment" runs through Dec. 28 on Nodeul Island.

Leandro Erlich's "Lost Garden" (2009) / Courtesy of Ms. Jackson

hansolp@koreatimes.co.kr