Mike Nelson's 'Humpty Dumpty' exhibition at Fruitmarket explores construction, destruction, and social housing erasure.

Mike Nelson's exhibition titled 'Humpty Dumpty' at the Fruitmarket gallery in Edinburgh presents two significant pieces focused on themes of construction and destruction. Among them is 'a transient history of Mardin earthworks and low rise', created between 2010 and 2014. This work features a map of Mardin, Turkey, from the 2012 Mardin Biennial, accompanied by images of stalled construction projects. In 'Low rise', large photographs of a derelict housing estate are showcased in sculptural frames, highlighting deteriorating reconstructed flats. This initiative stemmed from a canceled 2014 Artangel commission at the Heygate Estate, which was abandoned due to resident pushback. The exhibition aligns with the planned demolition of two tower blocks in Glasgow's Gorbals on 29 June 2025, reflecting a wider trend in social housing decline. Critiques of Nelson's work include Hannah Proctor's examination of the erasure of social housing.