Installation view: “Cynthia Cruz: Time’s Up” at Bakehouse Art Complex. Photo: Diana Espin.
Time’s Up is a multi-media installation by Cynthia Cruz that utilizes film and sculpture in paying homage to the thematic and visual tropes of early sci-fi media. In her ode to classic sci-fi films and shows, like Star Trek or Red Dwarf, Cruz employs DIY-methods then-used for special effects, transforming an otherwise discarded shipping container into a void-like cave. Upon entering the cave, visitors are transported to an inter-galactic setting for viewing the film and sculptural works housed inside. Using industrial materials like expanding foam and plywood, the artist straddles the intersection between sci-fi films and art. At the same time, Cruz challenges hierarchies of art that are based in privileging some, often less accessible, materials over others. In doing so, Cruz references artists like Thomas Hirschhorn or Rachel Harrison, who similarly use expanding foam in their own considerations of how art is received and valued, often based on its materiality.
Inside Cruz’s cave, her short film follows the invasion – and eventual demise – of an alien race. Using retro-methods of special effects, the film chaotically visualizes overlaps in reality and fiction. In presenting visuals that are recognizable or “real” – like scenes of Miami traffic– alongside visuals of celestial objects moving through space, for example, Cruz invites us to reconsider what distinguishes our perception of reality from that of sci-fi. With jarring questions like “Are they coming?/When are they coming?” posed as the audio grows quicker and the visuals grow increasingly unsettling, the viewer is confronted with an unshakeable sense of impending doom. Ultimately, the film itself reflects the installation’s ability to straddle otherwise distinct forms of abstraction and realism.
Text by Krysten Ortega, Public Programs Assistant
About the Artist
Drawing from her experience as an artist of Dominican descent and fascination with technology, Cynthia Cruz creates fictional environments and characters using patterns and imagery influenced by animism, folklore, and science fiction.
Cynthia has presented work in solo and two-person exhibitions at Thames-Side Studios Gallery, 2019, London; and ACME Project Space, 2014. She has participated in multiple group shows and art fairs both regionally and internationally, including Elephant Studios and the Scalpel Building, both 2019, London; David Castillo Gallery, 2018, Art Basel Miami Beach; Fredric Snitzer Gallery, 2018, Miami, FL; ASC Gallery, 2017, London; Bass Museum of Art, 2015, Miami Beach; and Bas Fisher Invitational, 2011, Miami; among others. In addition to her artist practice, Cynthia is a curator and educator who has worked with ASC Gallery (2017) and Whitechapel Gallery (2016). She is a recipient of the ACME/Goldsmiths MFA Studio Award, 2014, London, and was shortlisted for the Griffin Art Prize in 2016. In 2021, Cynthia was selected to participate in the Bakehouse Art Complex Summer Open Residency, where she continues her work with AI and machine learning at the intersection of painting and sculpture.