Itamar Gov’s monumental inflatable interrupts centuries old stone with myth and modernity.
A Colossal Intervention in Romanesque Space
Kunstmuseum Magdeburg is currently home to an unexpected inhabitant: a towering Northern White rhinoceros installed beneath its Romanesque arches. Created by Berlin based artist Itamar Gov, the 17 meter wide and 9 meter tall inflatable anchors his solo exhibition The Rhinoceros in the Room, on view through July 5.
Placed within the museum’s medieval nave, the massive sculpture transforms the architecture around it. The rigid geometry of stone columns and vaulted ceilings is visually softened by the animal’s curved back and inflated mass. Visitors are prompted to move differently through the space, tracing new sightlines and encountering the historic structure from unfamiliar angles.
Sound and Sculpture in Dialogue
The installation is accompanied by a multi channel sound composition developed with Bruno Delepaire, principal cellist of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Featuring eight cellos and a vocalist, the score shifts between gentle lullaby like passages and darker tonal movements. The music hovers above the sculpture, amplifying its emotional weight while deepening the atmosphere of the cavernous interior.
Monument, Myth and Fragility
Suspended between heaviness and air, the rhinoceros carries layered symbolism. In European history, the animal has represented power, dominion and exotic spectacle, yet it also embodies vulnerability. The Northern White rhinoceros in particular stands as a stark reminder of near extinction driven by human desire and captivity.
By inserting this inflated creature into a centuries old sacred structure, Gov creates a tension between past and present, permanence and impermanence. The work becomes both mythic and urgent, a contemporary gesture that asks viewers to reconsider history, architecture and the fragile weight of what we choose to preserve.
