ALBERTO ORTEGA-TREJO

Mexican artist, researcher and architectural designer.



His work uses architecture, drawing, sculpture, writing and video to explore histories of indigeneity in architectural modernity, the production of extreme environments, the spatial politics of the colonial encounters in North America and the architectures of social experiments. He has been an IDEAS Fellow of the Society of Architectural Historians and a grantee of Jumex Foundation for Contemporary Art, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and DCASE, among others. His work has been shown at Prairie, DePaul Art Museum, BienalSur, Ca’ Foscari Zattere, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Uri-Eichen Gallery, SpaceP11 and Centro de Arte y Filosofía. He has been a guest speaker for institutions and organizations like DocTalks x MoMA for the Emilio Ambasz Institute, the American Institute of Architects, the Society of Architectural Historians, Smart Museum of Art, Materia Abierta, UPenn, MAS Context and CENTRO.


He is a lecturer of Architecture History and Studio at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Program Manager of the Katz Center for Mexican Studies at the University of Chicago and an Independent Spatial Designer.


CURRENTLY: How to see in the dark - CCAM - CoProsperity Sphere - May 2 - June 1, Chicago, group exhibition


UPCOMING: Thus we advance, harvesting our caravans - May 14 - June 15, MASContext, Chicago, Curatorial.



ARTIFICIAL-AGENCY 


Architectural Consultancy
Exhibition Strategy
Research and Publication


Previous clients and collaborators include, Art Institute of Chicago, Singapore Art Museum, Edith Farnsworth House,  Goethe-Institut Chicago, Michael Rakowitz Studio, Black Athena Collective, Dawit L. Petros, and  Center for Latin American Studies at The University of Chicago.

Get in touch by clicking here:       ✉


Keep scrolling for selected projects ↆ

The World Below

In collaboration with Andrea Hunt

Chapter 1: The World Below

A Political History of Mexico City’s Modern Sewage System.

The World Below is an experimental documentary that
revises the contingent political history of Mexico City’s
sewage system to further conversations on racism, modernity
and land sovereignity in the Mezquital Valley. The video is projected over four prefabricated concrete panels.


Videoinstallation, 20 mins.
Full video available upon request*