Leon Leube

Every State Has a Hole, 2017 From the Karma of graphics cards to the Spratly Island disputes, to post-apocalyptic bohemias, extra-judicial killings, MMORPG’s, case-mods, absurd amounts of liquid nitrogen, and much more... The text explores the strange and unexpected relationships between tribal tattoos, graphic card technology, and folk belief in the Philippines. What connects them all is our collective skin, creepy feelings, and the overclocked bubbles that we live in. Written in part as a response to the wave of Instagram feeds containing tribal tattoo aesthetics, the publication integrates personal messages sent between the artist and the posters. While the text reads at times like an anthropological research paper, it also diverges into wild speculation and gives the impression of having more than a single voice. Link in bio Every State Has a Hole, 2017 Publication, with @sukultur Verlag Berlin and the @institutfurmodernekunst Nürnberg, ISBN: 9783955660727

NARITO, NAROON — @leonsmuk 🇵🇭 honored to be part of @artfairph 2026 ArtFairPH/Projects section alongside some of the Philippines’ significant contemporary and modern artists 🙏🏽 presenting some works by Filipino artists practicing in the diaspora - @leonsmuk @lizzamaydavid @augustineparedes @katierevilla with activations and performances by @arianalouisev of F4RM and @alvincollantesdance 💙 maraming salamat sa buong organizing team ng Art Fair Philippines sa paanyaya sa amin

Leon Leube is part of our presentation at Abu Dhabi Art 2025 ✨ @leonsmuk Kita-kits sa @abudhabiart 🩵 We are honored to be part of the Gateway Exhibition at Abu Dhabi Art 2025 alongside other artists Stolon Press, Leila Shirazi, Natalia Papaeva & BANG ON, Issam Kourbaj, Mohamed Majeed Al Mubarak, Betty Muffler, Nomadmetaforas, and Vincent Namatjira. The Gateway Exhibition this year is titled Seeds of Memory – Migration as Ceremony, Survival, and Renewal curated by Brook Andrew. Our presentation features works by @martinyambao , @pichapau , @augustineparedes , @leonsmuk , @jou_issance , @alexisconvento - with the latter 3 exhibiting in the UAE for the first time. A collaboration between Alexis and Jou will present a new Sa Tahanan Co. commission: a multi-sensory, research-based installation exploring the poetics of maternal relationship, love language, and ceremonial remembering. Maraming salamat to curator Brook Andrew and Abu Dhabi Art Director Dyala Zaki Nusseibeh for inviting us and commissioning us to be part of this show, and to Afra Ali Almutairi and team for all their support. Curation and concept: @annabernice_ and @augustineparedes with the guidance of Brook Andrew Project management support: @josemorns Food and catering support: IRDK Café

A deeper dive into the Tiwtiw Budots tee, designed by Leon Leube @leonsmuk , for the Nostalgic Futures collection. 2-3. Front graphic / sketches of tribal flames, taking the shape of budots dance moves 4-5. Back graphic / sketches of the triple venn diagram, connecting the similarities of budots, GPU rendering, and tribal tattoos— intersecting with AIR & SOUND 6. Nostalgic Futures Tiwtiw Budots tee 7. Photos of graphics cards provided by Leon 8. Overclocking competitions 9. Every State has a Hole (c. 2017) Order the shirt now on the Tropical Futures webstore ❤️‍🔥 Audio 🐣 Tiwtiw by DJ LOVE @djlove_sherwintuna #budots

𝟏𝟑𝟑𝟏𝟕 𝔈𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔢 ℌ𝔞𝔰 𝔄 ℌ𝔬𝔩𝔢 Leon Leube @leonsmuk From the Karma of graphics card and PC case mods, to the Spratly Island disputes in the South China Sea, to strategies of space colonization, the elements of air and water, extra-judicial killings, bikers, bootleg fashion, MMORPG's, truckers, case-mods, and absurd amounts of liquid nitrogen. What connects them all is our collective skin, and the overclocked bubbles that we live in. Filipino-German artist Leon Leube’s Every State Is A Hole is an infinite, generative text-to-speech play that recites non-linear ramblings, conversations, and feedback loops onto itself. At times anthropological research paper, and many times wild speculation with many voices, the algorithm bends, overclocks, circulates.  🔗 play.kakakompyutermoyan.com/every-state-has-a-hole 🔗 🎶 Launch the piece on a text-to-speech enabled browser and watch it play 🎶 𝓔⌗⋆ǂ๑ 𝓢ᯅ𓂅ᯅ⋆ ℋ𓂅𓍼 𝓐 ℋꕤ﹅⋆ Leon’s text originally published in 2017 with @sukultur Verlag Berlin and the @institutfurmodernekunst Nürnberg (seen in last two slides) was transformed into this mechanical, chaotic, self-overclocking infinite text-to-speech play. The stream-of-consciousness text, including images lifted from the zine, eventually folds back into itself, creating new permutations and ways of reading while stressing the machine in a symphony of voices and chaos. The work selects random chapters to read from, arranges them across a canvas, and stresses the machine. Programmed & designed for web by Chia Amisola @hotemogf

The Karma of Graphics Cards, 2024 The earliest navigator was not the hero we hear about in colonial stories of discovery, but a nameless person who carried the knowledge of their home islands tattooed on their skin and had to pass this data on to others. Graphics cards tell us stories like the navigator’s tattoos once did, reproducing point by point the smallest particles like dust that accumulate to form a larger image. This endless calculation and recalibration is translated into ceramic sculpture, in a way that slows down exploitative acceleration and transforms it into a bodily experience, the first port of call we all share. The Karma of Graphics Cards, 2024 Installation, Greenhouse Berlin Hand-poked inlay ceramics, aluminium, mixed media ©Leon Leube

World’s First Tourist, 2024 Enrique de Malacca was the interpreter and slave of Ferdinand Magellan during the first circumnavigation of the globe. One theory claims that Enrique was originally from the Philippines and returned there with the Magellan expedition, thus becoming the first person to fully circumnavigate the earth. This is believed to be true because as they arrived in Cebu, Enrique could speak the local language. Perhaps Enrique used a form of ancestral guidance or embodied knowledge, something that can also be called autopilot. This is because he was not just on a voyage of discovery, but because he was going home. World’s First Tourist, 2024 Sculpture, Greenhouse Berlin Sawdust, glue, aluminium, laser cut keychains, 190x110x2cm ©Leon Leube

420, 2018 This project is a continuation of the installation Hoarder-Gatherers, first exhibited at Kunstpalais Erlangen. Here it is re-staged in response to the production spaces operated in tandem by Tesla as they were struggling to finish cars and satisfy shareholders. The Alien Dreadnought – Tesla’s state-of-the-art automotive factory, and The Stone Age of Auto Manufacturing – the improvised tent built in their parking lot. The installation structures this state-within-a-state as a spatial pathological emergency. Floating above both is the $420 share price ready to catch fire. 420, 2018 Installation, AdBK Nürnberg HDV 7:42 min. with sound, synthetic rubber, transparent film, spliffs, pine needles, wind, Greek Orthodox chanting ©Leon Leube

Hoarder-Gatherers, 2018 The project explores two different ways of moving through space and time – one bodily the other mechanic. Two trips were taken in order to understand this question – one a (more or less) straight walk on foot from the artist studios to the Kunstpalais in Erlangen – the other a preconfigured autopilot test drive in a Tesla model X. By studying the gap as a physical place between the various institutions this project attempts to navigate in a way that is less destructive, instrumental, and extractive, and which begins once technology is part of the body itself. Collaboration with @skiibiickii Hoarder-Gatherers, 2018 Installation, Kunstpalais Erlangen HDV 5:00 min. with sound, wood, batteries, synthetic rubber, wax ©Leon Leube

Inexcusable Heat, 2016 Known for his deadly war on drugs, Rodrigo Duterte’s Presidential election victory was the very first succesful case of political manipulation by the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The Philippines, the country with the most active internet users worldwide, was the perfect test site. When asked for his solution to faster, cheaper internet, (the country has some of the slowest speeds in the world) Duterte replied; “What if I topple your towers in the countryside?’’. Cue laughter and applause. Take that infrastructure! Inexcusable Heat , 2016 Installation, Pavillon 27 AdBK Nürnberg Video projection on steel, plexiglass, HDV 7:45 Min. with sound, heat transfer printed T-Shirt, dried mangoes, rusted steel, WiFi router, plexiglass ©Leon Leube

Lube up!, 2017 The Spratly Islands are where future geopolitics are being built in overdrive. This future begins with the benefits that already lie beneath the Sea such as natural gas and other potential undiscovered resources. It extends to the present actions at sea level with reclamation and the building of artificial islands. The construction of airstrips integrates these issues further. Often we want global events to unfold like literary narrative, for most this simply does not happen. In the disputed territory of the Spratlys this sense of tension is clear, the lack of any real timeline or a fixed single event becomes a culture and a way of life. Extended over a longer period of time this state becomes crisis. Lube Up!, 2017 Installation, Pavillon 27, AdBK Nürnberg Printed tarpaulins, steel cage, plexilgass, HDV 6:52 Min. with sound ©Leon Leube

Duty Tourism Tarpaulins, 2017 YOU DONT BUILD LONG AIRSTRIPS AND RADAR AND THEN NOT SEND AIRCRAFT THERE The Spratly Islands are where future geopolitics are being built in overdrive. This future begins with the benefits that already lie beneath the Sea such as natural gas and other potential undiscovered resources. It extends to the present actions at sea level with reclamation and the building of artificial islands. The construction of airstrips integrates these issues further. Often we want global events to unfold like literary narrative, for most this simply does not happen. In the disputed territory of the Spratlys this sense of tension is clear, the lack of any real timeline or a fixed single event becomes a culture and a way of life. Extended over a longer period of time this state becomes crisis. Duty Tourism Tarpaulins, 2017 Installation, Akademie Galerie Nürnberg Printed tarpaulin, steel, dried seaweed, plexiglass ©Leon Leube