Damián Ortega deconstructs familiar objects and processes, altering their functions and transforming them into novel experiences and scenarios. Ortega’s work addresses scales from the molecular to the cosmic, as he investigates objects and installations as sites where chaos, accidents and instability produce a system of relations in flux. Inverting and dissecting, reconfiguring and zooming in, his inquiries reveal the interdependence of diverse components either within a complex engineered machine or a social system. Envisioning projects through drawings that then take form as sculpture, installation, performance, film and photography, for Ortega the work of art is always an action, an event.
His recent solo exhibitions include Damián Ortega: Matéria e energia, MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brazil (2026); Planets: Battle, Paper, By Art Matters, Hangzhou, China (2026); Pico y Elote, MARCO, Monterrey, Mexico; Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico (2024); Visión Expandida, Centro Botín, Santander, Spain (2022); The Modern Garage, Garage Museum, Moscow, Russia (2018) and Play Time, White Cube Gallery, London, UK (2017). He has also taken part in the group shows Futuros Arcaicos, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico (2025); Espejos de México: Aranda | Cruzvillegas | Lozano | Hemmer | Ortega, Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2024); El tiempo en las cosas, Salas de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2021); Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh (2020); Visiones de la Tierra/El mundo planeado, Colección Luis Paulo Montenegro, Santander Cultural, Madrid, Spain (2018); Art and Space, Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain (2017) and the 14th Bienalle de Lyon: Floating Worlds, Lyon, France (2017).
The artist has works in important public collections, such as Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Tate, London, UK; MoMA – The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA; The Metropolitan Museum for Art, New York, USA; Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, USA; MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo, Brazil; MUSAC – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, Spain; Inhotim, Minas Gerais, Brazil; SFMoMA – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA; MOCA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, USA; CIFO – Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami, USA; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, USA; Museo Muros, Cuernavaca, Mexico; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Centro Botín, Santander, Spain; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Groeninghe Art Collection, College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium; Ellipse Foundation, Alcoitão, Portugal; Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples, Italy and Villa Manin Centro d’arte contemporanea, Codroipo, Italy.