Allora & Calzadilla present a new installation created specifically for the south ramp of the Pista 500.

Thousands of blossoms from a roble amarillo tree (Tabebuia Chrysantha, an oak species native to the Caribbean), appear as though suspended in a moment in time. The horticultural term ‘graft’ refers to the practice of joining different plant parts and even different species. For the Pinacoteca Agnelli, recycled polyvinyl castings of this Caribbean flower are grafted into the iconic helix ramp of the Lingotto building. Divorced from their usual context, these flowers seem to bear the question of their lost origins.

Systemic depletion of the Caribbean flora and fauna is one of the primary legacies of colonial destruction. Yet, in defiance of this history, it remains one of thirty-five biodiversity hotspots worldwide, areas that amount to just 2.4% of the earth’s land surface but support nearly 60% of the world’s plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species. Graft’s phantom tree*, devoid of leaves, branches, or trunk, emblematizes the fragile and, at times, paradoxical beauty of post-colonial life forms and allows us to trace certain key links in the ongoing transformation of global ecosystems.