Leandro Erlich
Order of Importance
Miami Beach, FL2019
During Miami Art Week 2019, a cultural takeover commissioned by the city of Miami Beach was rolled out: Order of Importance, a site-sensitive provocation from Argentine artist Leandro Erlich that will recast the 21st century traffic jam as 66 life-size sculptures.
Erlich is internationally renowned for his playful and surreal installations, which combine elements of sculpture, architecture and theater to disrupt the audience’s natural view of the world.
Apart from its surreal beauty, resembling an image from a contemporary Pompei or a future relic, Order of Importance also alludes to our fragile position in the large universal canvas.
Erlich is internationally renowned for his playful and surreal installations, which combine elements of sculpture, architecture and theater to disrupt the audience’s natural view of the world.
Apart from its surreal beauty, resembling an image from a contemporary Pompei or a future relic, Order of Importance also alludes to our fragile position in the large universal canvas.
The artist’s strikingly life-like replicas of cars and trucks, which appear frozen in time, symbolizes a harsh and rigid modernity that is at odds with the natural and porous material of which they are made.
In the next phase, we will cast the same traffic jam into marine grade concrete. It will be submerged near the shore of Miami Beach, creating a spectacular artificial coral reef that will restore marine life, attract curious snorkelers and provide storm surge protection.
In the next phase, we will cast the same traffic jam into marine grade concrete. It will be submerged near the shore of Miami Beach, creating a spectacular artificial coral reef that will restore marine life, attract curious snorkelers and provide storm surge protection.
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Climate change and its consequences are no longer a matter of perspective or opinion. The climate crisis has become an objective problem that requires immediate solutions. As an artist, I am in a constant struggle to make people aware of the idea that we cannot shrink away from our responsibilities to protect the planet.”
Leandro Erlich