Ernesto Neto’s treatment of spaces and surfaces transforms them into something that can be but need not be art. That sounds ambivalent, perhaps even ironic. But the artist is skeptical vis-à-vis the concept of an autonomous artwork. He constructs aesthetic realities that cannot be fully experienced until the moment of encounter. One must inspect and recognize the material subtleties of a membrane, or traverse the expansive proportions of their biomorphic components before being able to fully appreciate his works. This also holds true for the medium of scent, otherwise rare in the visual arts, as exemplified by exotic spice mixtures from cloves to cardamom.

The atmosphere, special for its sculptural and olfactory qualities, enthralls the viewer. At his most recent solo exhibition in Berlin’s Osram courtyards in 2007, Neto’s fragile/stable installations made the enormous hall feel more like an experience- oriented and intimate multisensory space than a vast exhibition gallery for innovative sculpture. Broad surfaces shifted the perspectives. It was as if a living organism, grown out of geometric abstractions, had buttressed itself horizontally and vertically in the room. The results included formal references to Brancusi and Serra as well as associations to the body-oriented experiments of Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark.

Here, an updated version of this interactive installation recalls the inherently ephemeral quality of last year’s work.

Ernesto Neto was born in 1964 in Rio de Janeiro, where he still lives. He has undisputedly become one of the Brazilian art scene’s leading figures.