leandro erlich sets up playful, large-scale ball parade in buenos aires to celebrate olympism

to mark the first-ever olympism in action forum and upcoming youth olympic games buenos aires 2018, leandro erlich presents ball game, an ensemble of five giant hyper-realistic balls typically used in the popular sport games of football, basketball, tennis, volleyball and golf. the large-scale installation is created to celebrate the notion of coming together, encouraging the audience to participate in an extraordinary experience, embedded with the argentinian conceptual artist’s humor and imagination.

images © IOC/ d. thompson

commissioned by the international olympic committee, leandro erlich‘s monumental objects constitute a game of their own, inviting participants to collaborate and move forward together. on view between october 5 and 18, the work was first displayed outside of the exhibition and convention centre in the recoleta neighbourhood, while on october 7, spectators were invited to move erlich’s ensemble together through the city’s public space to the parque tres de febrero at the planetarium galileo galilei in the palermo neighbourhood through a performative, collective effort.

‘the sport balls are a simple visual expression of the unifying spirit of friendship, excellence, and respect…. faced with the challenge of moving these monumental objects, collaboration and fraternity become our natural response,’ explains erlich,’this game invites us to move forward together, inspired by the olympic values.’ while the commission is fully funded by the IOC, the city worked in close collaboration with the artist’s team on the permitting for public space needed to accommodate the project.