A spiral structure stretches out toward the far end of the room. It¡¯s an arresting sight ¡ª 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 ¡ª turned on its side.
¡°Staircase¡± (2005) is one of the 17 artworks shown in ¡°Leandro Erlich ¡ª 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.¡±
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