In 1993, Orozco was invited to the Venice Biennale to exhibit in the Central Pavilion and decided to exhibit an empty shoebox. In an interview, Orozco mentions that: “I couldn’t say if the whale (Mobile Matrix) is more monumental than the Empty Shoe Box.” In this sense, the shoebox continues the artist’s interest in provoking situations of surprise or, in his words, disappointment, generating new reflections on what an art object is and how the conception of contemporary art can be expanded.