
Photo by Minerva H. Trejo
Lena Ortega Atristain (Leena Lee) is an atmosphere artist, researcher, and designer with a Ph.D. in Art History from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her work specializes in contemporary art that explores nature and natural phenomena as mediums of expression.
Her doctoral research examined these artistic constructs through the concept of atmosphere and the embodied experience of nature. For over a decade, her practice-based research has explored the intricate networks of environmental correlations, now approached from the perspective of cohabitation. Her work primarily focuses on sound ecology, affective topographies, field recordings, and vocal exploration. By integrating slow listening, field observation, recording, and composition, she seeks to foster critical reflection on the spaces we inhabit and the implications of being environmental entities.
Bosque Vacío is her most recent project, developed in collaboration with musician and sound researcher Guillermo Guevara. This initiative investigates the overlapping topographies of significant spaces and affective landscapes, creating immersive atmospheres through harmonic and tonal explorations of sound and light. Their album Cantera Oriente was recently released by the London-based label Flaming Pines.
She also hosts the radio program Sin Superficie, la Piel no es el Límite, dedicated to the active practice of listening. Through this platform, she presents works in sound ecology, sound art, and experimental music.
Lena has taught at the Art History Graduate Program at UNAM, the Environment University, the Faculty of Design and Architecture at La Salle University, and the Faculty of Arts and Design at UNAM. For over a decade, she has collaborated with Arte+Ciencia, an interdisciplinary research group at UNAM that explores the intersections of art, science, and the humanities. As part of her research and creative practice, she has been invited as a visiting artist and scholar in various countries across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, has participated in national and international exhibitions, and has contributed to collective books and academic publications on philosophy, design, and sound art.
LINKS
Radio programs
Sin Superficie and Atmósferas Armónicas
Research Group
PRESS ARCHIVE
A note written on our first Altered Listening Session.
By Diego Espíritu
ComitanCatorce
https://issuu.com/en10minutos/docs/_en10minutos56
http://www.replica21.com/archivo/articulos/g_h/639_galindo_comitan14.html
Bioartefactos, degranar lentamente un maíz. MACO, Oaxaca, Mexico 2014.
http://we-make-money-not-art.com/bioartefactos_desgranar_lentam/
http://letrasexplicitas.com/arte-ciencia/
http://www.noticiasnet.mx/portal/oaxaca/cultura/galerias/216606-maiz-no-es-lo-que-parece
En el umbral ( y a solo a unos pasos de la dimensión sublime de la belleza. Museo Universitaio del Chopo, Mexico City 2014.
http://www.chopo.unam.mx/exposiciones/Umbral.html
http://melimelo.com.mx/solo-a-unos-pasos-de-la-dimension-sublime-de-la-belleza/
http://www.coc4ine.com/2014/07/exposicion-de-tematica-gay-en-el-chopo.html
http://www.notiese.org/notiese.php?ctn_id=7470
Sin origen, sin semilla, MuAC, MUCA ROMA, Mexico City, 2012-2013.
http://eleconomista.com.mx/entretenimiento/2012/12/05/caminos-cruzados-ciencia-arte
http://www.arts-history.mx/semanario/index.php?id_nota=22112012121530