Colombian Artist Felipe Macía Makes U.S. Debut with Climate-Focused Exhibition in Chicago
- Embassy of Colombia
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Chicago, 2 June 2025 — Colombian artist Felipe Macía presents his first solo exhibition in the United States, Practices of Place, on view at Watershed Art & Ecology in Chicago through 7 June 2025.
Known for exploring the intersections of art, science, and ecology, Watershed provides a fitting context for a body of work that renders the invisible forces of climate into poetic and sensorial form.
Rooted in ecological sensitivity, technological experimentation, and territorial memory, Macía’s work transforms atmospheric data into immersive installations—blending sculpture, digital animation, and sound to activate landscape as both archive and medium. The exhibition proposes a critical reorientation of how we inhabit the planet, challenging the audience to perceive climate not as abstraction, but as lived experience.
“Practices of Place is, above all, an invitation to reawaken our sensitivity,” says Macía. “To move beyond seeing climate as data and begin inhabiting it as presence. The air we breathe is not separate from us—it’s part of a planetary choreography in which we are deeply entangled.”
Drawing from scientific research and environmental observation—particularly data gathered from the Amazon rainforest—Macía brings together hydrological rhythms, tree-ring growth patterns, and atmospheric flows to compose what he describes as sculptural climate.
His practice is grounded in sustainability and shaped by a multidisciplinary background: he holds a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and has exhibited work at Forecast Journal, Art on theMART, the Museum of Modern Art of Medellín, and the Camden International Film Festival.
Watershed Art & Ecology, located at 1821 S Racine Ave in Chicago, hosts artistic practices that engage with ecological inquiry, making it an ideal site for Macía’s sensorial reimagination of planetary systems.