Rachel Whiteread a sculptor from Britain is well known for work that involves casts of empty space by pouring concrete, resin, plaster, or rubber into objects around objects, inside of rooms, and covering architecture.  The ambiguity of the negative space of objects she works with becomes positive space.  An impression of time and the past of the object chosen is revealed and left behind embedded into the medium or material chosen.  The work Embankment, 2005 was created through casting the negative space within cardboard boxes with polyurethane, consisting of 14000 casts filling the Turbine Hall.  Rachel Whiteread's work heavily deals with the incarnation of memory.  Through Embankment the preoccupation of the past is embedded into your mind as you view the positive casts of the interiors of the boxes.  The manifestation of memory is held within the faces of these cubes through the transformation of the negative space of the box into positive space.  Embankment conveys that memories and time are fleeting, memories are something to hold onto and to be acknowledged.  Memories are the wisdom of being able to remember the past.

      Entering Turbine Hall Embankment guides one down and through passageways that are defined by the readymades that she has organized for the experience.  The material of the cast boxes is polyurethane leaving an ephemeral, light, hollow, and translucent feeling to them.  The forms are cast from the negative spaces within found cardboard boxes to form a positive transclucent space for viewing.  The surfaces of the cubes of the installation to create a second generation life of the original box.  The interiors of each box are reflected onto the polyurethane surfaces of the cubes, including the seems, dents, crevices, handle openings, and folding flaps holding the traces of what the box once contained.  Conveying the original cardboard boxes content leaves a chance for the viewer to see its former contents and derive memories associated with the once existing contents of the boxes.   The use of the material of cardboard boxes continues to link together ideas of memory.  The material cardboard is malleable and holds things such as smell, color, retains shape, the boxes absorb history that Whiteread then casts and displays.  Also what do we do with boxes?  We store things in boxes; filling them with things of ourselves or other people and we sometimes store them away to hold our physical memories until the future.  Whiteread’s desire to cast the interior of cardboard boxes came from the death of her mother.  When cleaning out her mother's home she became overwhelmed with memories.  She describes sifting through the belongings as  “everything looked like a still from a film, a film of my life. And I felt I was going mad.” (Burn, 74).  Going through this process repeating memories is the intimacy she intended to achieve through the imprints left behind on the surfaces of the polyurethane boxes.  As the bricoleur of her project she observes aspects of life that are hidden and makes use of them and gives them meaning;   “You seek out things that are hidden, draw them out of the environment. I do that, but I also scratch around with the residue of cities.” (Cole 39).  Whiteread explored the city scavenging for items and researching the used qualities of the boxes and items found. The dents, used, and occupied characteristics of the boxes allow the viewer to form these ideas about past experiences.  Rachel Whiteread was fascinated by memory and the idea of the spaces within the boxes being once occupied by memories.    Embankment  was created as a temporary memorial to memory.  Viewers are to be left with the impression that time and memory are precious and that we should honor our own memories.   

Works Cited

Burn, Gordon, Catherine Wood, and Rachel Whiteread. “Interview with Rachel Whiteread.” Embankment. Vol. 6. London: Tate, 2005. 73-82. Print.

Cole, Ina. "Mapping Traces A Conversation With Rachel Whiteread." Sculpture 23.3 (2004): 36-41. Print.