Abraham Cruzvillegas: Empty Lot

It’s only from the suspended bridge on the Turbine Hall that we can admire “Empty Lot”, the immersive and complex work by Abraham Cruzvillegas. A giant floating floor made by 240 triangular flower pots filled with soil. None of them are equal, they’re all different in consistency and origin, thus becoming a collection of unique voices and stories to tell. 

Cruzvillegas takes up the experiential challenge and surrounds the observer, even with an infinite number of looks it’s difficult to grasp the work in its entirety. Many are the details that nestle in every corner, in the materials used and in the choice of the overall arrangement and this is something that makes the installation look incomplete at least at a first glance. The peace and the grandeur of the location want to give a message of hope and awareness that the future generations will need to have towards life and its unpredictability.

Hyundai and Tate Modern have officially inaugurated the “Hyundai Commission”, an exhibition space in the heart of the prestigious contemporary and modern art London gallery: it’s a long term sponsorship project which will bring together in a joint partnership the South Korean company and the Gallery until 2025 with the intention of hosting several contemporary artists. It turns out to be the perfect location to feature Cruzvillegas’ installation. 

Thanks to the adaptability of the space which is designed to accommodate an exhibition that is in constant change, Empty Lot can be visited in its various stages while it transforms. Because every pot doesn’t just tell a story of diversity and paint a metaphor of our society, it also wants to deeply confront the theme of change in itself. What mostly frightens today’s society, and that Cruzvillegas represents in an excellent way in his work, is to lose control and not be aware of the bigger picture. So what’s left is the hope that we can trust our neighbours and that they will be part of the change that’s needed in order for us to build our own space in this world. In this almost forced coexistence that all the pots seems to have to endure daily, we can distinguish instead their need of being close to each other, in a geometric combination that almost gets lost in the eye of the observer.

Martha Pulina