Order-of-Importance-Miami-Beach-Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2019
City of Miami Beach to Unveil A Monumental Temporary Sand-based
Installation by Argentinian Artist Leandro Erlich
Commissioned by the City of Miami Beach, Leandro Erlich’s new work, Order of
Importance, will recast the 21st century traffic jam as 66 life-size sand sculptures on the
ocean front at Lincoln Road from December 1 – 15, 2019
Rendering of Order of Importance, 2019. Courtesy Leandro Erlich Studio.
Miami Beach, FL – During Miami Art Week 2019, the City of Miami Beach will unveil
Order of Importance, a monumental site-specific installation by Argentinean conceptual
artist Leandro Erlich. The installation will be on view to the public from December 1–15,
2019.
Order of Importance will be a temporary installation located directly on the ocean front in
South Beach at Lincoln Road, and will be comprised of 66 life-size sand replicas of cars
and trucks. The forms will be left to slowly degrade throughout the duration of the 15-day
exhibition.
We are committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work and play in our vibrant, tropical,
historic community.
By recasting the 21st century traffic jam in sand, Erlich alludes to time in both a
representational and material sense. The sand replicas of vehicles frozen in time
symbolize a harsh and rigid modernity that is at odds with natural and porous material of
which they are made.
Throughout his career, Erlich has combined elements of sculpture, architecture, and
theater to create surreal environments that disrupt the audience’s natural view of the
world. He is internationally renowned for representing Argentina at the 49th Venice
Biennale where he exhibited Swimming Pool (1999), a landmark piece that is now part of
the permanent collection at the 21st Century Museum of Art of Kanazawa (Japan) and
participated at the Whitney Biennial in 2000 with the work Rain (1999). Earlier this year
Erlich became the first non-Chinese artist to occupy the entire exhibition space at the
CAFAM (Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing), China’s leading museum, with the show
The Confines of The Great Void.
Order of Importance is the City’s first temporary public art commission and adds to Miami
Beach’s legacy as a vanguard for public art. Miami Beach recently completed a $7 million
public art investment at the Miami Beach Convention Center, which represents the largest
single commission by a municipal percent-for-art program in the United States, including
works by Franz Ackermann, Elmgreen & Dragset, Ellen Harvey, Joseph Kosuth, Joep van
Lieshout and Sarah Morris.
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About Leandro Erlich
Leandro Erlich (born in Argentina, 1973), lives and works in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
Over the past two decades, his work has been shown internationally and featured in the
permanent collections of major museums and private collectors. He enjoys particular
renown in Asia, and his most recent exhibitions at the MORI Art Museum (Tokyo, 2017)
and the HOW Art Museum (Shanghai, 2018) have attracted hundreds of thousands of
visitors. On July 4, 2019 he opened LIMINAL, a major anthological exhibition at MALBA
(Buenos Aires) and one week later on July 10th, 2019, he became the first non-Chinese
artist to occupy the entire exhibition space at the CAFAM (Central Academy of Fine Arts,
Beijing), China’s premiere museum, with the show The Confines of The Great Void.
About City of Miami Beach Tourism and Culture Department
The Miami Beach Tourism and Culture Department (TCD) supports, maintains and
develops quality programs which enhance Miami Beach’s cultural institutions and
infrastructure, as well as attracts and maintains exceptional cultural and tourist businesses
and organizations, while striving to support and curate year-round programming that
enriches the quality of life of our residents, and continues to place Miami Beach on the
international cultural stage.
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