Written for Ina Contemporary Art
Damián Ortega is a Mexican artist born in Mexico City in 1967. He has lived between Berlin and Mexico since 2006 and currently presents his installations internationally. He is known for the quality and originality of his installations, such as Cosmic Thing presented for the first time at the 50th Venice Biennial in 2002.
To Cosmic Thing followed works such as Miracolo Italiano from 2005, Project for social housing from 2007, Melting Point from 2011, and The Rocket and the Abyss presented in 2015 in the exhibition of the Crystal Palace of the Retiro Park at The Reina Sofia Museum located in Madrid. In Mexico, he is represented by the gallery kurimanzutto.
Ortega expressed a special sensitivity to art from a very early age. He was born in a family of intellectuals and artists. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father was a university actor. He was able to access very unorthodox pedagogical methods in his early years of education, where he participated in experimental group workshops. It was when he interrupted his high school studies at the age of 16 that he began his artistic career as a political cartoonist.
The political cartoonist

Damián Ortega – Miracolo Italiano 2005. Photo: flickr.com
In 1985, Ortega lived through one of the most difficult times in Mexican society due to the terrible earthquake that took place in the country on Thursday, September 19, 1985. This affected Mexico City in particular, and it was the most damaging in the history of this country. Due to the lack of action protocols, the situation experienced during the days following the earthquake was one of chaos. Civil society itself was able to alleviate this situation when it began to self-organize in the rescue and assistance of the victims.
Although he had no formal art education, during that time Ortega began to work in magazines and newspapers satirizing the government of that time in Mexico. The politicized work of muralists such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros of the 1920s was a great influence on him. At the same time, he began to create his first artistic works, installations, and video sculptures. In 1987 Ortega met the influential artist Gabriel Orozco, who was leading an experimental art course in Mexico City. He and other artists in his circle began attending the art school installed in Orozco’s home, which they called the Friday Workshop and in which he participated until 1992.
Cosmic Thing

In 1998 he began his international career with his first individual and collective exhibitions. During 2002 she presented the work that brought her international recognition at the 50th Venice Biennale, The Cosmic Thing. This original work presented the “people’s car” developed for the first time in Nazi Germany and which in those years was mass-produced in his native Mexico.
The work presented the worldly and famous model Beetle of the Volkswagen brand, model 1989, in gray color, disassembled and suspended by cables from the ceiling piece by piece, representing a fragmented object and a new way of seeing this famous car model. The Cosmic Thing from 2002 is part of a trilogy composed by Beetle 83 also from 2002 and Moby Dick from 2004.
In this work Ortega seems to show a fascination for the relationship between order and chaos. Cosmic Thing allows us to see under the shell of the machine and present the true story to the observer. It is a work that suggests the relationship between repressive authoritarian systems and capitalism, and at the same time is an emblem of political ideology.
Ortega carried out this work taking into account that the Beetle model (called Volcho in Mexico) was one of the most popular cars of the 20th century, for being an accessible model that presented the possibility of having a car for millions of people. His aim with this work was to show the relationship between the interior and exterior of a car, expanding the common vision of this mundane object and giving it artistic characteristics.
The art of everyday things

In general, Ortega’s work is inspired by a wide range of everyday objects such as bricks, wastebaskets, or tortillas. His creative process has been described as a playful process of transformation and dysfunction. His work is intertwined with critiques of bureaucracy, poverty, capitalism, and megalomania. To do this Ortega uses references from the history of mass production and consumerism. In doing so he also demystifies the complexity of political and social systems.
From an early age, Ortega was influenced by the concept of readymade and the methodology of conceptual art because of his fascination with the work of Marcel Duchamp. Because of this, he employs for his works various common materials such as tools, bricks, golf balls, car parts, placing them carefully in the gallery space.
Her fascination with Duchamp’s art was expressed with great intensity in her work America Letrina of 1997. This work was part of the art movement that characterized part of a generation in the 1990s, whose intention was to go beyond the traditional codes of sculpture and bring humor to the object. Here Ortega launches a socio-political commentary on the situation of Latin America in relation to the United States.
Ortega’s Later Works

In 2006 Ortega produced a work that would earn him great recognition in his home country. The project “Alias Editorial” which seeks to publish essential and fundamental texts within contemporary art that have been discontinued or have not been translated into Spanish. In addition to having been written by the artists themselves or having been interviewed by them. In the same way and thanks to its austere edition, Alias Editorial makes the acquisition of these texts accessible to the public.
The 2007 installation Controller of the Universe was composed of all kinds of tools, saws, and axes. It is a frozen explosion that seems to move us into a dream of conscious tools. The work generates alternative ways of looking at the tools and thinking about what the tools are and mean for the viewer. The installation maintains a violent and threatening character, generating the perception that the frozen tools could follow their path in all directions through the room at any time.
Ortega’s later most relevant solo exhibitions include Damián Ortega, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2004); The Uncertainty Principle, UNTITLED Project Series, Tate Modern, London (2005); Damián Ortega: The Beetle Trilogy and Other Works, REDCAT CalArts’ downtown center for contemporary arts, Los Angeles (2007); Champ de vision, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2008); DoIt Yourself. Damián Ortega, ICA- The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, United States (2009); Tool Bit, PinchukArtCentre, Kiev, Ukraine (2011); Damián Ortega, Barbican Centre, London (2010); Damián Ortega: Apestraction, The Freud Museum, London (2013); Cosmogonía doméstica, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2014); Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy (2015); El cohete y el abismo, Palacio de Cristal del Retiro, Madrid (2016); Play Time, White Cube Bermondsey, London (2017); The Modern Garden, Garage Museum, Moscow, Russia (2018), and Porous Structures, Gladstone Gallery, Nueva York; (2019) among others.
There is definately a lot to find out about this topic. I love all the points you have made. Willie Humbert Weaks
Fine way of explaining, and pleasant article to take information regarding my presentation subject matter, which i am going to convey in school. Renee Any Pronty
This paragraph presents clear idea for the new viewers of blogging, that truly how to do blogging. Kalindi Iorgo Dare
Hi my friend! I want to say that this post is amazing, nice written and include almost all important infos. I would like to see more posts like this . Brunhilda Alric Friedland
Sorry for making you review this message which is most likely to be thought about by you as spam. Yes, spamming is a bad thing. Cosette Iain Klockau
I believe what you composed made a bunch of sense. Scarlett Tomas Kenward
Good job on this article! You are a very persuasive writer. I definitely enjoy this! Nice write up. Dolley Dev Conti
Amazing! Its really amazing article, I have got much clear idea regarding from this article. Stephanie Khalil Thorley
I was reading through some of your posts on this internet site and I think this site is very informative ! Retain posting . Alexi Emerson Lulita
Enjoyed every bit of your article. Much thanks again. Margarette Mordecai Yusem
Outstanding post, I think website owners should acquire a lot from this website its rattling user genial. Viv Gannie Venn
I do trust all the ideas you have presented to your post. Noelyn Zach Nichani
I have been surfing online greater than 3 hours lately, but I never discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours. Layney Gardiner Tucker
Here is a superb Blog You might Uncover Fascinating that we encourage you to visit. Zelda Nicholas Jermaine
At this moment I am going to do my breakfast, afterward having my breakfast coming again to read further news. Heidie Emilio Pederson
I love the efforts you have put in this, appreciate it for all the great articles. Heloise Tab Yehudi
Someonme essentially help to make critically posts I would state. Lissi Davon Holli
Good post! We will be linking to this particularly great post on our website. Keep up the great writing. Carrie Felix Arabele
I think this is among the most important info for me. Carmelia Glyn Placidia
Excellent post. Keep writing such kind of information on your site. Bobbee Kenny Jeramey
Check below, are some totally unrelated internet sites to ours, even so, they may be most trustworthy sources that we use. Emelda Jarrett Innes
If youu desire to gget a good deal from this paragraph then you have to apply these techniques to your won blog. Nettie Trev Lattonia
Incredible points. Sound arguments. Keep up the great work. Rena Hamil Kaela
Thanks-a-mundo for the blog post. Really looking forward to read more. Much obliged. Sharyl Haily Tenn
Appreciating the tenacity you pput with your blog page and dwtailed information an individual provide. Philippa Basile Natalie
Hi there to all, the contents existing at this web page are truly amazing for people experience, well, keep up the nice work fellows. Rani Morlee Jahn
Excellent way of explaining, and good article to get information about my presentation focus, which i am going to convey in university. Isidora Burty Torrence
Hi there friends, its impressive article on the topic of tutoringand completely explained, keep it up all the time. Alie Donal Boigie
I really like your writing style, wonderful information, thanks for putting up : D. Sofia Guthrie Lek
Wow, great blog post. Really thank you! Much obliged. Blair Ferris Geerts
Oh my goodness! an outstanding article dude. Thanks Nonetheless I am experiencing issue with ur rss. Don?t know why Incapable to sign up for it. Is there anybody obtaining identical rss problem? Anybody that recognizes kindly react. Thnkx Zuzana Cornell Mok
Really enjoyed this blog post. Thanks Again. Want more. Glennie Ruddy Hyams
We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Tedra Hagen Gamages
Exactly, functionality is a crucial point for me when deciding upon a theme. Vicki Reinaldo Daniella
very few internet sites that come about to be comprehensive below, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely really worth checking out Sonja Roma Megdal
Yes! I think we get caught up in our heads about completing a task, but in reality its not as long or hard as we make it out to be! Wilhelmine Silvain Salangi
Thanks for the list. Bookmarking for future reference! Pru Hershel Etan
Can anyone just do that? Create a Wikipedia entry about himself? And include in it one morsel of trivia? Immortality indeed! Kitty Beau Luelle
Wonderful blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News. Gavra Wilmer Borgeson
You made some good points there. I did a search on the subject and found nearly all people will consent with your blog. Ronna Dominik Laurin
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more clear from this post. I am very glad to see such great info being shared freely out there. Amandy Stearne Fogel
Ridiculous quest there. What occurred after? Take care! Tybie Reinold Wilfrid
Hi there, I enjoy reading through your article post. I wanted to write a little comment to support you. Gianna Stacy Geraldine
I rarely leave comments, however i did a few searching and wound up here New Equipment! Ricky Maury MacMahon
Good post. I am experiencing some of these issues as well.. Nina Humberto Daryl
Excellent web site you have got here.. It’s difficult to find high quality
writing like yours these days. I seriously appreciate people like you!
Take care!!