Justin Lieberman x Manifesta 16 Ruhr
During a residency at the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory, Justin Lieberman (*1977, Florida) developed the ceramic series An Engine (2026), now on view at Manifesta 16 Ruhr. Held every two years in a different host city, the European Nomadic Biennial of Contemporary Art addresses the social, political, and ecological questions of our time.
At the heart of An Engine are ceramic turtle shells. Rather than faithful reproductions of their natural counterparts, they are sculptural forms that evoke questions of protection, vulnerability, and transformation. Clay and glaze lend them an archaic presence, making them appear as vessels of time and experience. Oscillating between sculpture and metaphor, the works offer a poetic reflection on the tension between visibility and retreat.
The artist on the work:
"During the period of time I spent building “An Engine, 2026”, I listened to a program which described the evolutionary origins of the camel in what is now the high Canadian Arctic. My mind seized on this story, and I imagined the fossilized shell of an ancient tortoise, one which inhabited the supercontinent of Pangea, hundreds of millions of years ago. Due to the contiguity of the land mass and the hardiness of the animal, it was able to inhabit a range that covered the whole of the continent’s longitudinal span. The scutes of its shell were domed, cactus-like formations that reflected the desert environs, and the blue and white coloration was a development of its habitation in the polar regions. How did such a rare and perfectly preserved specimen come to be used as a decorative fountain? This could only be the doing of some Ludwig-like figure, whose long shadow loomed large over the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufacture where I was working. The fossil had been recovered by an expedition after it had been revealed by glacial melt. The Ludwig figure claimed it upon the return of the expedition, and incorporated it into a “water feature” which he generously donated to the church, who accepted it rather out of obligation than preference."
Lieberman's multidisciplinary practice encompasses painting, collage, assemblage, and ceramics. By appropriating and transforming imagery drawn from the media, advertising, and popular culture, he examines the mechanisms of visual culture while combining artisanal precision with humour, ambiguity, and critical reflection. He lives and works in Munich.
