
Photo by Minerva H. Trejo
Leena Lee (Lena Ortega Atristain) is an atmosphere artist, researcher, and designer whose work seeks to foster and deepen awareness of our condition as environmental beings. Her practice is informed by slow listening, field observation, and research into the multiple realities that constitute the beings who cohabitate a given space—from historical and biological perspectives, but above all through their affective stories. She explores these topographies through atmospheric embodiment, sound ecologies, field recordings, vocal exploration, and light. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where her research focused on contemporary art that engages with natural phenomena as expressive media, explored through concepts of atmosphere and embodied experience.
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