Lizzie Zelter

Transformation Pavilion

Estación Tijuana Libertad

Tijuana, MX

Curated by Omar Pimienta

July 1, 2023

The pop-up show Pallet was born from a cross-border commercial phenomenon. It attempts to create a creative dynamic for the analysis of objects, their value, their functionality and their aesthetics. Merchandise pallets daily cross the border from San Diego to Tijuana, are dismantled, and their contents are resold piecemeal. When a merchant purchases a pallet, they frequently don't have a clear-cut idea of what it contains. The pallet's packaging obfuscates its contents. No itemized list of contents is included with the pallet's bill of sale. Instead, a pallet is created with discarded merchandise from large commercial chains. Consumers have returned goods for myriad reasons-they disliked their purchases, items malfunctioned or were missing parts. But, one person's disposable or defective purchases are another's artistic raw materials.

Ten artists from both sides of the border were invited to unpack the pallet and select merchandise to make work. One month later, this pop-up show exhibited the ten installations in Omar Pimienta’s studio, Estación Tijuana Libertad.