Earth Hug

Since the middle of 1990’s, Ernesto Neto has been producing sculptures that explore the constructions of social space and the natural world transcending the boundaries between body and landscape. Tension, weight, and empty spaces are decisive elements in his installations, sculptures, and drawings, which call for physical interaction and sensory experience. He is best known for his monumental installations, such as the crocheted tree Gaia Mother Tree, which was exhibited in Zurich main station in 2018. As part of CULTURESCAPES 2021 Amazonia, Neto presents his newly commissioned installation Earth Hug in the sculpture park of Schönthal Abbey. It is a globe that visitors are supposed to move, roll around, and, above all, embrace. Neto describes the sculpture as an organism that appears to be full of life, constantly changing as the viewer moves around the piece. Earth Hug invites us to negotiate the boundaries between artwork and viewer, natural, spiritual, and social worlds.