The work known as “Hole Piece” (1972) embodies this approach, standing out as one of his first explorations of cutting and opening space. Presented at 112 Greene Street Gallery in New York, this intervention involved cutting a circular hole into the gallery floor, creating a physical and conceptual void that challenged the integrity of the exhibition space and its supposed neutrality. The piece operated on two levels: as a material, violent, direct act upon architecture, and as a metaphor for absence, for what lies beneath the surface, unseen and unsaid. The hole exposed the structural layers, inviting the viewer not to gaze at the walls where art typically hangs, but downward, into the understructure, into absence. This simple gesture shifted attention from the art object to the building itself as a medium, prefiguring his later practice of cutting into abandoned houses. “Hole Piece” questioned not only the gallery’s limits as a white cube but also the role of the spectator, forced to move, to circle, to negotiate with emptiness. By cutting the floor, Matta-Clark disrupted the trust between architecture and user, showing that space is not fixed but vulnerable, editable, perforable. In conclusion, this inaugural work anticipates his critical exploration of architecture as a field of power, suggesting that true sculpture may be a strategic absence—a deliberate void that compels us to rethink place, body, and gaze.
