Being was an exhibition by Damián Ortega consisting of new work commissioned by Ikon. One of the most significant artists to have emerged from Mexico in recent years, Ortega produces works that engage with matter, the condition of sculpture and geo-political concerns. He transforms common, close-at-hand materials through ingenious processes into poetic, often humorous works of art.

This exhibition developed out of the artist’s research into Birmingham’s local industry and manufacturing heritage. On a site visit, Ortega seized upon massive coils of thin copper sheeting that were processed in factories in the vicinity of Ikon Eastside, prior to recent closure. Particularly interested in the physical properties of the metal, together with the wealth of associations triggered by it, he created a group of sculptures from single cylindrical rolls. They were suggestive of futuristic cityscapes, with undulating skylines and towers that stretch upwards into tall peaks.

Although appearing to have mutated organically into quasi-architectural forms, the sculptures retained something of their essence as commodities or raw materials. They fused ideas of this city’s past with its aspiration, suggesting constant evolution and change. Ortega thus resists the condition of sculpture as one of static objects, encouraging instead an understanding of substance as dynamic. He describes his interest in the atomic composition of the metal, indeed of all things, as something constantly in motion: “objects are in process, are being.”