And, Apollo: A Laboratory, a work in progress by artist and Vera List Center Fellow Dean Erdmann, combines experimental documentary, video, and sculptures to connect autobiography to historical pasts that have produced current moments of social and political crisis. The narrative of And, Apollo is anchored in the Mojave Desert, the place where the artist grew up and the background for their exploration of Americana, the body, and queerness.

Together the works on view become a multifaceted reflection of the artist’s intimate knowledge of the desert’s physical force, its potential for radical openings and different forms of being, as well as its geopolitical complexities. In the desert landscapes of And, Apollo, Erdmann discovers materialities and their transformation, queer fragmentation, and cosmic exploration.

This illustrated catalogue brings together notes by the artist with essays by Eriola Pira and Marisa Prefer, along with forewords by Carin Kuoni and Christiane Paul.