Gabriel Orozco: Politécnico Nacional at Museo Jumex, Mexico
The exhibition Gabriel Orozco: Politécnico Nacional, on view at the Museo Jumex in Mexico City from February to August 2025, is part of the trajectory of one of the most innovative and influential contemporary artists today. Known for his experimental approach and his ability to transform everyday objects and spaces into deeply conceptual works of art, Gabriel Orozco continuously expands the boundaries of sculpture, painting, photography, and installation.
LEFT: Gabriel Orozco, Árbol nuevo, 2006, Colección Isabely Agustín Coppel; RIGHT: Gabriel Orozco, La DS (Cornaline), 2013, Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, NewYork/Paris/LosAngeles
The title of the exhibition, Politécnico Nacional, suggests a connection with interdisciplinary experimentation and the dynamic research processes that characterize his artistic practice. His work challenges traditional artistic conventions and fosters a continuous dialogue with architecture, science, urbanism, and nature.
The Trajectory of Gabriel Orozco
Born in 1962 in Jalapa, Mexico, Gabriel Orozco grew up in a culturally rich environment, influenced by his father, Mario Orozco Rivera, a muralist associated with the Mexican public art movement, and his mother, Cristina Félix Romandía, who studied arts at the Universidad Veracruzana. This artistic atmosphere provided Orozco with a unique perspective on the role of art in society and its intersection with public space.
In 1966, his family moved to Mexico City, where he attended schools that emphasized active learning methods, immersing him in the progressive cultural environment of the time. During this period, his father took over the leadership of David Alfaro Siqueiros' workshop at the Castillo de Chapultepec, further reinforcing the influence of muralism on Orozco’s artistic development.
 Gabriel Orozco, Untitled (AirlineTicket), 2001, La Colección Jumex, Mexico. Photo: John Berens
In the early 1980s, he studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas at UNAM (1981–1984) and later at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid (1986–1987). However, unlike many of his contemporaries who followed dominant trends such as Neomexicanismo, German Neo-Expressionism, or the Italian Transavantgarde, Orozco rejected these more conventional approaches and sought alternative paths for his artistic production.
Art Beyond the Studio: Orozco and the Construction of a Method
From the beginning of his career, Orozco rejected the idea of the traditional studio as an isolated space for artistic production. Instead, he developed a practice based on movement, collaboration, and intervention in public spaces and specific contexts.
LEFT: Gabriel Orozco, No, 1999, La Colección Jumex, México; RIGHT: Gabriel Orozco, Empty Shoe Box (Caja vacía de zapatos), 1993, Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris/Los Angeles
This approach began to take shape in the 1980s when he organized the Taller de los Viernes, a collaborative workshop in his home in the Tlalpan neighborhood, where artists such as Abraham Cruzvillegas, Gabriel Kuri, Damián Ortega, and Jerónimo López (Dr. Lakra) explored new ways of creating art together.
After the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, Orozco began a series of public space interventions, such as the installation “Apuntalamiento para nuestras ruinas modernas” (1987), which used scaffolding to reflect on the city's destruction and reconstruction. In 1989, he co-curated the exhibition “A Propósito”, considered the first major site-specific installation show in Mexico.
LEFT: Gabriel Orozco, El jardín delmundo, 1998, Courtesy the artista and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris/LosAngeles; RIGHT: Gabriel Orozco, Balones acelerados, 2005, Colección Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, DiGAV, UNAM
In the 1990s, his practice gained international recognition with works that challenged the spectacle-driven nature of contemporary art. At the MoMA in New York in 1993, he presented “Home Run”, an ephemeral intervention in which he encouraged neighboring residents to place oranges in their windows facing the museum’s sculpture garden. That same year, at the Venice Biennale, he exhibited a simple empty shoebox, questioning the boundaries between art and ordinary objects.
Orozco and Art as a Game and System
The idea that art can function as a “game with its own rules” is central to Orozco’s work. He frequently modifies everyday objects, creating variations that alter their original function and open new possibilities for interaction.
Works such as “Ping Pond Table” and “Oval Billiard Table” subvert traditional games like billiards and table tennis, transforming them into poetic and philosophical systems that challenge our perception of space and time. Similarly, in the “Samurai Tree” series, begun in 2004, each painting follows a strict system of mathematical rules and movements inspired by chess, eliminating subjective aesthetic decisions.
LEFT: Installation view of the exhibition, Gabriel Orozco: Politécnico Nacional.MuseoJumex, 2025. Photo: Gerardo Landa & Eduardo López (GLR Estudio); RIGHT: Installation view of the exhibition, Gabriel Orozco: Politécnico Nacional.MuseoJumex, 2025. Photo: Gerardo Landa & Eduardo López (GLR Estudio)
Urban Space and Nature in Orozco’s Work
Beyond interventions in museums and galleries, Orozco maintains a continuous relationship with urban space and the natural landscape. In 2006, his project “Mobile Matrix” used the skeleton of a whale rescued in Baja California for a monumental installation at the Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City.
Between 2019 and 2024, Orozco coordinated the “Chapultepec master plan”, one of the largest urban parks in the world. His project included the construction of the “Calzada Flotante”, a walkway that crosses a busy highway without cutting down trees, allowing pedestrians to walk at the canopy level. This intervention reflects his architectural approach, where nature prevails over construction.
LEFT: Installation view of the exhibition, Gabriel Orozco: Politécnico Nacional.MuseoJumex, 2025. Photo: Gerardo Landa & Eduardo López (GLR Estudio); RIGHT: Installation view of the exhibition, Gabriel Orozco: Politécnico Nacional.MuseoJumex, 2025. Photo: Gerardo Landa & Eduardo López (GLR Estudio)
Politécnico Nacional: An Art of Processes
The exhibition Politécnico Nacional at Museo Jumex encapsulates many of the fundamental ideas in Orozco’s work. The title evokes an interdisciplinary approach, suggesting that his artistic practice functions as a research laboratory where knowledge is accumulated and transformed into new forms.
Elements such as working notebooks, sketches, and found objects play a central role in the exhibition, illustrating how Orozco’s creative process unfolds in layers: some ideas materialize as sculptures or paintings, while others remain as conceptual records.
Visitors are invited to immerse themselves in his continuous logic of experimentation, where art, architecture, mathematics, and ecology intertwine to create new ways of interacting with the world around us. Gabriel Orozco has established himself as one of the most innovative artists on the global scene, and his work continues to challenge and expand the boundaries of art.
LEFT: Gabriel Orozco, Photo: Ana Hop, 2025; RIGHT: Gabriel Orozco, Photo: Ana Hop, 2025
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