A spiral structure stretches out toward the far end of the room. It's an arresting sight — strange and yet somehow also familiar. What is it? Then, you suddenly remember. You've seen it before, from the top floor of a building maybe: it's a staircase — turned on its side.
"Staircase" (2005) is one of the 17 artworks shown in "Leandro Erlich — The Ordinary?," Erlich's first solo show in Japan, organized to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. The museum already permanently houses Erlich's "The Swimming Pool" (2004), also known as "Leandro's Pool," which, installed in the courtyard, is an integral part of the building's SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa) designed architecture.
" 'The Swimming Pool' has been the most popular piece of our museum since it opened. It's an immersive work that the elderly as well as children can enjoy and experience, says Yuji Akimoto, the museum's director. "Although they are accessible because he uses ordinary images, Erlich's conceptual artworks boldly intervene in our everyday lives because they are thoroughly thought over and carefully planned to play with our perception, which drills a hole through our rigid reality."