Material Migration is a window installation by visual artist Cristal De La Cruz, presented in collaboration with TENT Rotterdam. The work is part of Areíto: Memoria de Ritos, where Cristal explores how language, rituals, and ancestral knowledge travel across time and space.
Through this installation, Cristal offers a glimpse into her research practice. The work centres on Taíno culture, the Indigenous people of the Caribbean who lived strongly connected to the sea. Cristal imagines futures rooted in Taíno knowledge and values.
The white circular ring serves as a canvas for material research and experimentation. The textures and materials attached to the circle are like traces of Cristal’s ongoing exploration. On the window, words and meanings from the Taíno language are handwritten, like a living, shifting archive of material research.
Through sound and sculpture, Cristal reflects how tradition survives displacement and takes on new forms.
