Studio Orta

For the 60th October Salon, Lucy + Jorge Orta will stage the 47th act of  70 x 7 The Meal. Under the framework of ‘Trace’ curated by Lorenzo Balbi and Dobrila Denegri, this inaugural commission for the biennale has been devised as a collective proposition to create a dialogue between artists, the city's cultural scene and the structures that determine cultural policy at the local and state level.
 
200 guests will convene in front of the Cultural Centre of Belgrade on Friday, October 18, around a table setting which aims to answer questions devised in conversation with Serbian artists and cultural sector workers. Four thematic areas explore the conditions under which artists are working, the role of the artist in society today, the needs of the cultural organisations and how national policies effect cultural practices. To facilitate conversations, guests will find provocations printed on the table runners and embroidered on napkins forming a collective manifesto that will further unfold through interactions during the meal. 
As Dobrila Denegri states, this “collective performative act is a form of a peaceful protest, […] sitting at the same table, sharing bread and food can be a way of drawing attention to some of the burning problems faced by artists and cultural workers in our country.”
 
For further information please download the October Salon press release Serbian | English.

We would like to extend our special thanks to chef Vladimir Zoplet and the embroidery collective NEpraktične žeNE.

My centre everywhere, the special project for Moderne Art Fair as artistes invités, is inspired by the poem ‘Amazonia’ written by British eco-poet Mario Petrucci and based on video footage recorded by Lucy and Jorge in the Amazon rainforest. Commencing in the Andes where mountain glaciers are melting at a faster rate than ever recorded and descending to the Amazon river basin where mercury mining is devasting the river’s ecological balance, Petrucci reconstructs the artists’ expedition through the positionality of Gaia, and Man, a dichotomy between the ecologically-centred thinking and Progress.

The installation comprised of a range of different artworks from the artists’ Amazonia series, forming a interrelated microcosm of mediums and formats that reflect the imaginary and complexity of our natural world. We see trees, plants, flowers, insects, birds rendered in drawing, painting, crafted in textiles, embroidered, and sculpted. The artworks are a compilation of visual and sensory data collected and transcribed from regions of the world the artists have visited, indicative of the interwoven nature of biodiversity they observe first-hand.

You will find further information in the catalogue.

My centre everywhere has been made possible thanks to Hum media, and with special thanks to Frederick Moraux and Flavie Durand-Ruel.

Curated by UCCA Lab, the 2024 Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project takes “Echoes Among Us” as its theme. Against global cultural exchange as a backdrop, the exhibition explores coexistence with complexities of the modern world, creating a “concerto” of echoes that resonate within and around us.

Especially conceived for the biennale, Genius Loci Watch Tower —a new sculpture from the Genius Loci series— will be unveiled by Lucy + Jorge Orta in the Jing’an Sculpture Park in Shanghai. On the watch tower is perched a ‘genius loci’ – the human figure represents the ‘spirit of the place’ traversing time past, present, future, shaping cultural, social, and ecological transitions.

For the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and under the artistic direction of COAL, Plaine commune presents Les Victoires, an artistic project including 6 monumental works along the redesigned banks of the Canal Saint-Denis.

In the series Genius Loci, Lucy + Jorge Orta have created “L’envol”, a life-size bronze sculpture of a child holding a bird in his hand. Placed on the footbridge overlooking the Canal Saint-Denis and the Olympic Stadium, this universal figure symbolises the link between generations, a dynamic and poetic image of renewal for a neighbourhood in the making, at the heart of urban and ecological transitions. It shows us the road ahead and the future with all the fervour of youth.

A project in collaboration with COAL and in partnership with the cities of Saint-Denis, Aubervilliers and Paris.

To celebrate its 15th anniversary, COAL, leading association for art and ecology, presents a major multidisciplinary exhibition curated by Lauranne Germond and Sara Dufour, showcasing nearly 50 artists representing the richness and variety of approaches of the ecological art scene.

For this special occasion, a group of ten "Procession banners 1918-2018" co-created with inmates of London's HMP Downview prison are presented for the first time in France. They commemorate the centenary of the suffragette movement, and more precisely the achievements of the British women who fought for women's right to vote at the dawn of the 20th century. The banners reveal liberating slogans in memory of the 1,000 women who were imprisoned in the same place for fighting for their rights, one hundred years earlier. Side by side, these banners form a clam or that echoes through the ages and reaches us today, imbued with eco-feminist fervor, it is also a call to action for climate rights. 

For the 8th Beaufort Triennial curated by Els Wuyts, Lucy + Jorge Orta have created Gazing Ball: Reflective Dialogues for the Beaufort Sculpture Park, which extends 67km along the Belgium coast.

The Gazing Ball will be installed in the town of Middelkerke. Visitors will be greeted by the contours of a small architecture – open and boundless – it is an inviting artwork into which people can enter through four passage ways. In the nave of the gathering space, resembling a compass rose, is a large reflective sphere that crowns the artwork, capturing the constantly shifting play of light and shadow. As in previous Potential Architecture works by the artists, the reflections offer new perspectives on the landscape while humbly situating the viewers within their surroundings. Seated within, visitors are given a moment for contemplation, self-reflection, and to engage in conversation. Its art on a human scale.
 
‘Gazing Ball: Reflective Dialogues’ also pays homage to adjacent Radio Oostende station. Wireless telegraphy played a crucial role in ensuring safety along the Oostende-Dover route, serving as an essential connection between the shore and ships. The sculpture not only establishes a tangible connection between people, but also a symbolic connection between heaven and earth, past and present.

As part of the 2024 Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale public program, Lucy + Jorge Orta will stage a sohour meal for the local community, making this the 46th activation of their ongoing participatory project 70 x 7 The Meal. 

A long table installation for 300 guests will overlook Wadi Hanifah, a seasonal river and caravan route that historically led pilgrims along the valley to the market sustaining them with food and water along the way. The menu is prepared by Chef Hissa Alhuthaili (Suhail) based on local food traditions and interventions by local Saudi artists, botanists, heritage experts, farmers will punctuate the evening. The table artworks created by Lucy + Jorge specifically for the occasion include a limited edition of Royal Limoges porcelain plates and hand embroidered table centrepieces that draw attention to the natural fertility of the Wadi Hanifah and the garden city of Riyadh, faced with the encroachment of the urban development and loss of traditional knowledge. Field research on the native local species in collaboration with botanists from NCVC, and on the symbolic meaning of traditional Sadu motifs (Atharna), come together in these table artworks through a lexicon of figurative and abstract geometric shapes to share a new language of resilience.

Special thanks to the National Centre for Vegetation Cover Development & Combating Desertification (NCVC); Dr Dlayel bint Mutlaq bin Shafi Al-Qahtani (Atharna); DBF co-curators Ute Meta Bauer, Wejdan Reda, Anca Rujoiu with curatorial assistants Amina Diab, Dian Arumningtyas, Alanood A. Al-Sudairi.

After Rain, 2024 Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale under the artistic direction of Ute Meta Bauer, opens up a moment of revitalisation and renewal, as a nurturing entity, filled with life, while acknowledging the necessity of water for all forms of life that dwell and seek shelter on our planet. The biennale hosts 100 artists and researchers situating their work in a wider narrative of the coexistence of humans and non-humans. All life-forms are exposed to the effects of climate change—torrential rains, lack of rain, unpredictable rain—and its effects of forced displacement, the destruction of habitats and livelihoods, and the extinction of species. Concerns about access to clean water, food, and shelter have become the norm. The biennale amplifies the need not only to listen but also to be heard as well as the capacity to cultivate kinship are therefore essential for a liveable future.

The installation OrtaWater Purification Factory by Lucy + Jorge Orta magnifies shared concerns about access to water, as this severely impacts the habitats of humans and other life forms. The work offers a potential solution for water purification and has already proved that the most polluted rivers and canals of Venice, Shanghai, Rotterdam, Paris, and Singapore can be transformed into clean, flowing life-sources. Here at the Diriyah biennale, the sculpture-assemblage looks out of the large windows to the Wadi Hanifah, an important seasonal riverbed that extends across Diriyah, suggesting a dialogue between this unique landscape.

Special thanks to DBF co-curators Ute Meta Bauer, Wejdan Reda, Rose Lejeune, Anca Rujoiu, Ana Salazar Herrera, Rahul Gudipudi with curatorial assistants Amina Diab, Dian Arumningtyas, Alanood A. Al-Sudairi.

Lucy + Jorge Orta are proud to unveil a new commission by 2024 European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl Salzkammergut Region for the exhibition « Art with Salt and Water » curated by Gottfried Hattinger in Sudhaus.  OrtaWater Plätte Water Filtration Unit is made of a plätte —a boat which historically was used to transport salt also called « white gold » on the river Traun recalling the essential aspect of water in industrial processes— mounted on a steel structure including additional crafted objects from the artists’ vast collection. This artwork is part of the long-term meta project OrtaWater addressing the critical issues of water scarcity and access to clean water.

Photo: Schiffleutmuseum, Stadl-Paura

Traces: Stories of Migration, touring from the Nunnery Gallery, pays homage to the layers of history in London's East End. The work on exhibition at LCF East Bank, the University of the Arts London new campus in Stratford, East London unfolded through a two-year program of community workshops, engaging over 70 local residents who, each in their own way, identify as an immigrant. Participants involved have shared stories of their migratory journeys, describing the complexity of making a home in a city marked indelibly by mobility and constant change. These stories are visible in "Story Cloths" made by each participant, alongside the Portrait Gallery, a new body of work by Lucy Orta on display in the main gallery of Designed for Life.

Seeds are hand-blown Murano glass pods, husks, kernels, flowering heads and pollens based on real and imaginary specimens that have been magnified to illuminate their beauty and provide a metaphor for community regeneration, growth and resilience. The exhibition ‘Seeds’ is presented in the Old Kitchen and Pastry Room, spaces that reflect the historic food related activities of the 18th century Harewood House. It follows the 45th activation of 70 x 7 The Meal, co-created with communities of Leeds to foreground the political and ecological aspects of food as well as an agent of community which can carry the potential of positive change.

We are pleased to announce that the 45th act of the artists' ongoing project, 70 x 7 The Meal, will be held at Harwood House as part of The Big Harewood Garden Party on the weekend of 8-9 July 2023.

The project utilises 70 x 7 as a metaphor for meals that bring people together through the ritual of dining in uncommon settings. The symbol functions as a networking device, with each new instance creating a chain reaction of shared experiences and connections that extend beyond the individual events. 70 x 7 The Meal Act XVL on the Terrace at Harewood House draws inspiration from Lucy + Jorge Orta's 'Seed Manifesto', reflecting on the growth and life cycle of the seed. The newly commissioned Royal Limoges porcelain plates will place the seed as a central motif, while the table runner will showcase images and text collected as part of the workshops led by Lucy + Jorge Orta since January 2022. Art students from the University of Leeds will contribute to the design of the napkins, while the menu will be designed and prepared by students at Leeds City College, taking inspiration from the same theme. This table-setting becomes a discursive platform for diverse communities involved in the community engagement.

The Nunnery Gallery presents Lucy Orta. Traces: Stories of Migration an exploration into the diverse migration histories and stories woven into the landscape of east London. In partnership with London College of Fashion’s Making for Change as part of The Portal Centre for Social Impact, Lucy Orta engaged with eighty residents across east London over a two-year period, leading storytelling workshops and using the creative medium of textiles to develop artistic expressions through which first, second and third generation migrant histories and heritage have been honoured.  

The exhibition showcases Lucy Orta’s new body of work, Portrait Gallery created in response to the community engagement. Lucy challenges the convention of portraiture using silk organza appliqué, hand and machine embroidery and beadwork to reflect the unique characteristics of each person involved in the workshops. The Portrait Gallery exposes a myriad of trajectories, the memories accumulated as people journey from one place to another recognising each persons’ lived experience. 

Alongside Lucy’s work the exhibition presents a selection of Story Cloths made by participants. Accompanying the exhibition is a short film documenting the impact of the project and Needle Around Her Neck, a book of poetry inspired by the stories of migration written by author Nathalie Abi-Ezzi.

Downlaod the exhibition catalogue here.

On Saturday 22nd April, the Granary Square in King’s Cross will become the stage for an intuitive, culturally rooted ritual to welcome in Earth Day 2023. Set against the backdrop of the three striking 60-foot Fabulae Naturae draperies adorning the Granary Building, the performance combines costume, dance and drumming to create a visual spectacle that blurs the boundary between body and architecture where the protagonists of the spectacle are ‘The Lost Species’: species that have gone extinct or whose symbolic meanings have disappeared from our collective imagination, or those that are invisible in urban environments.
Granary Square will be filled with rhythmic drumming and performers dressed in Lucy Orta’s immense circular skirts; lavishly coloured designs that mirror the intertwining lost species depicted on the draperies. In collaboration with Alexander Whitley Dance Company and the drummer Beanie, the performers transform the skirts into billowing sails that assemble the species into a joyous ritual, bursting with energy to re-wild the square.

The Lost Species has been commissioned by King’s Cross Artist in Residence Programme 2022-2023, with the support of UAL's Climate Emergency Network and Centre for Sustainable Fashion.

Seeking Blue Gold is a new site-specific installation by Lucy + Jorge Orta that takes shape beneath the dome of the Oratorio di San Filippo Neri in Bologna. Curated by Cristina Francucci and Tatiana Basso, Seeking Blue Gold is one of the main projects of ART CITY Bologna 2023 for the occasion of Arte Fiera, and part of the contemporary art programme at the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna.

The allocation and consumption of water—renamed “blue gold” a term that came to public attention after the documentary film based on the book by Claude Barlow (2003)—are central themes in the Ortas’ poetics, examined in light of the controversial and inequitable development, distribution, and access policies that affect this resource globally. With Seeking Blue Gold, we are asked to become aware of the complex universe disclosed by water. Wooden artifacts from a rural world in which they are still used in traditional irrigation form the centerpiece of the tripartite installation—mounted on steel structures along with contemporary crafted objects from the artists’ vast collection. The installation components arise as symbolic functional totems expressing the inexhaustible confrontation, at times the dichotomy between an ancestral image of the rural past, linked to natural rhythms and the exacerbation of the Baconian ideal of progress that, child of the West, that rages today in many developing countries.

For the first time in France, the Pompidou-Metz will unite the Connector Mobile Village sculpture for the major group exhibition, A Gateway to Possible Worlds. The utopian architectural structure envisions new modes of habitation with mobile and modular potential. The village connects individual personalized bivouacs to a system of linear modules and nodes. Its flexibility allows each individual to exert the freedom of choice, by connecting to or disconnecting reconfiguring into a multitude of  formations.

The major project Antarctica will also be on view with a large installation of dome dwellings from the Antarctic Village - No Borders, each dwelling being hand stitched with sections of flags from countries around the world, along with extensions of clothes and gloves, symbolising the multiplicity and diversity of people. With Antarctica World Passport Office audiences can collect a copy of the world passport and become a member of the world community, acting to defend the environment and values of peace and equality.

To celebrate thirty years of collaboration, Lucy + Jorge Orta are pleased to announce Vita Extremis, a monographic exhibition in the Great Nave of La Patinoire Royale
 
Coinciding with Brussels Gallery Weekend, the exhibition Vita Extremis curated by art and the environment expert Alice Audouin unveils their latest series of paintings and textile artworks entitled Fabulae Naturae, dedicated to flora and the preservation of biodiversity.
 
Vita Extremis is an opportunity to look back over their prolific thirty-years, situating Lucy + Jorge Orta’s practice in a trajectory that holds a mirror to society’s major challenges: water, climate, food, migration, and biodiversity. The meta-themes Antarctica, Amazonia, Life Guard, OrtaWater are portals reimagining ways of living, cohabiting and conserving. On view will be a selection of key artworks, as well as a participative action mobilising audiences around an eco-consciousness that enriches the commons through art.

Further information PRVB, rue Veydt 15, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels
Download the exhibition catalogue here.

As part of the season Utopia, two sculptures by Lucy + Jorge Orta occupy the group exhibition 'Novacene' at the Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille. The theory of Novacene elaborated by scientist James Lovelock, supersedes the Anthropocene, as a new epoch where humans and artificial intelligence work in tandem to save the earth from destruction. The curators Jean-Max Colard and Alice Audoin, have selected the artists' machine-sculpture Zille Purification Unit capable of purifying water and the new Life Guard 'Fuoco' where the hybridisation of man and animal produces a new benevolent being.

The exhibition Prendre la Tangente at MAIF Social Club is imagined as a great choreographed crossing at the heart of new imaginaries linked to travel. In this context, Lucy + Jorge Orta presents a new version of Antarctica World Passport Office, a component of the long-term research project Antarctica exploring topics relating to the environment, politics, autonomy, habitat, mobility and relationships among peoples. For the artists, Antarctica represents Utopia: a continent whose extreme climate imposes mutual aid and solidarity. The immaculate ice landscape is a filter for the kaleidoscope that make up our nations and multi-ethnic identities, concentrating the colours, races and creeds into the sum of light, and a vision of Hope.

Passport offices are constructed with reclaimed wood and found objects including boats, water recipients, suitcases, toys, that tower and bulge over rudimentary structures synonymous with the shanty town and border crossings that artists have traversed in some of remotest corners of the planet. From the passport office are delivered printed editions of the Antarctica World Passport, now totaling 72,000 copies. The passport office at the Maif Social Club was presented at the Pirelli Hangar Bicocca in Milan, Italy for the artists’ survey exhibition in 2008. Since, iterations have been created for museum exhibitions and United Nation forums on climate change and migration.

The MAIF Social Club have commissioned the 7th edition of the passport. For further details about the passport editions and registration process click here.

For a Contextual Art is the first solo exhibition of Lucy + Jorge Orta in the Frédérick Mouraux Gallery, Brussels. The work on show provides insight into concepts that act as keystones of their collaborative practice.

The turbulent social and political landscape during the Argentine military regime from 1972-1984, marked Jorge’s formative years of practice. As well as exploring the new visual languages of performance, video-art, mail-art and tactile poetry, a new genre of painting served as a medium to counteract mounting injustices and to affirm a Latin American identity.
Divided into two, the first part of the exhibition presents four different series of coded paintings that evolved out of this particular context, Geometría Contextual 1972, Trazado De Indias and Triangular AAA both 1973, and Derrame from 1997. The second part includes editioned works –vitrines, tactile poems, reliquaries– that further the artists’ preoccupation with widening access to and reaching new audiences, through poetic objects that can be used on a daily basis.

Further information