Poems for Earthlings by Adrián Villar Rojas

If we are displayed or shown something over and over again – from childhood, for example, I think we as humans begin to normalize or moralize those things. Believing they are correct, like some sort of tradition. Poems for Earthlings make the viewer explore and re-think the foundation of what we actually know in today’s highly mediated era, and challenge how we got here. What if we could think of ourselves from an alien perspective? Nothing is certain and everything is questionable.

From now until the 26 April, the Oude Kerk presents Poems for Earthlings, a comprehensive and site-specific installation by the Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas (Rosario, 1980). The Argentinian artist composed eight hours of audiotape for the installation ‘Poems for Earthlings’ in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. Adrián took complete daylight out of the church, leaving only eery but peaceful candle lite fragments spread out through the church’s hallways. It is also the first time that the renowned artist can be seen solo in the Netherlands. Adrián creates deeply engaging environments that invite visitors to experience the work as explorers.

Adrián Villar Rojas, Poems for Earthlings, 2019, Oude Kerk. Image by: Jörg Baumann.