Damián Ortega's First Latin American Retrospective Opens at MASP as Hangzhou Show Debuts

Key facts

• The retrospective 'Materia y Energía' opens at MASP in São Paulo on May 15, 2026, running until September 13, 2026.
• The exhibition is organized in collaboration with MALBA and includes works such as 'Cosmic Thing' (2002), 'Controller of the Universe' (2007), and 'Harvest' (2013).
• 'Cosmic Thing,' a disassembled Volkswagen Beetle, is shown in Brazil for the first time; the Beetle was mass-produced in Brazil and Mexico.
• The show will travel to Centro Cultural La Moneda in Santiago, Chile, from November 2026 to March 2027.
• Hangzhou's Museo de Arte Tianmuli presents 'Batalla, planetas y pergaminos,' Ortega's first solo exhibition in China, curated by Francesco Bonami, from April 30 to October 10, 2026.
• The Hangzhou exhibition features new sculptures made of paper, pulp, and organic materials, inspired by Judas dolls, Transformers, and pre-Hispanic sacrificial figures.
• The works in Hangzhou engage with Mesoamerican mythology, Mexican popular rituals, and geopolitical tensions around rare-earth extraction.
• Nicolás Cabral says of '120 jornadas, cerámica' that Ortega 'explodes the sign,' opening new meanings.